Common Moving Mistakes in Jeddah
Most of what costs people extra on a move does not happen on moving day. It happens in the week before it. This page lists the mistakes that recur most often and puts an approximate riyal figure against each.
Mistake one: accepting a verbal price with no written quote
The most common, and the most expensive.
A verbal price is given before anyone has seen the property, and it changes once half the furniture is already on the pavement. At that point the customer has no real bargaining position, because stopping costs more than paying the difference. This is not a rare case; it is the dominant pattern in moving complaints.
The alternative is simple: an itemised written quote before any work. Know the vehicle, the crew, the dismantling, the packing and the storage if any, each with its own figure. Compare it with the published bands — a two-bedroom flat SAR 500 to 900, three bedrooms SAR 800 to 1,400.
| Move size | Estimated price (SAR) | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Pickup / single items | 80 – 250 | One or two pieces inside Jeddah, loading and unloading |
| Studio or single room | 350 – 600 | Dismantling, packing, loading, transport, reassembly |
| Two-bedroom flat | 500 – 900 | Full crew with a closed truck |
| Three-bedroom flat | 800 – 1,400 | Larger crew and extended packing |
| Four to five bedrooms | 1,200 – 1,900 | Sometimes two days depending on floors |
| Small villa | 1,500 – 2,500 | More than one truck and an extended crew |
| Large villa | 2,500 – 4,000 | Scheduled over two days with full packing |
Prices are estimates and are fixed after a free survey. The agreed figure is written down before work starts and does not change afterwards.
Mistake two: not mentioning the floor and the lift
Asking for a price with nothing but "a two-bedroom flat" means the number you hear assumes the best case: a low floor, a lift that takes a bed frame, a vehicle parked at the door. Any departure from that changes the time, and time is what gets priced.
- Always give the floor number, at both ends rather than one.
- Say whether the lift takes a bed and a dismantled wardrobe.
- Say whether the stairwell has a tight turn.
- Say how far the parking point is from the entrance if it is any distance.
Those four change the price more than anything else, and stating them in advance protects both sides. The full case is on moving with no lift.
Mistake three: dragging heavy furniture instead of dismantling it
Dragging looks free and is not. It scratches tiles or parquet, twists wardrobe carcasses and breaks drawer runners. The irony is that dismantling has a known, capped price — a bedroom set SAR 150 to 300, a sliding wardrobe SAR 100 to 250 — while repairing the damage afterwards is open-ended and unknowable in advance.
| Item | Estimated price (SAR) |
|---|---|
| Bedroom dismantling and reassembly | 150 – 300 |
| Sliding or IKEA wardrobe | 100 – 250 |
| Aluminium kitchen | 200 – 400 |
| Whole-flat package | 400 – 900 |
The package covers dismantling and reassembly only; transport is priced separately using the table above.
Sliding wardrobes suffer worst in DIY attempts; the detail is on sliding wardrobe moving.
Mistake four: leaving drawers and wardrobes full
The usual argument is that clothes will not hurt anybody. In fact the internal weight is exactly what breaks drawer runners and twists a carcass while it is being carried, and the crew will end up emptying them on site at the cost of your time.
The rule: everything that moves is emptied before the crew arrives. The one acceptable exception is hanging clothes inside a proper wardrobe box, which adds no weight to the runners. Whatever comes out goes into labelled cartons, not open bags.
Mistake five: unlabelled cartons
An unlabelled carton is not a problem on moving day; it is a problem for the two days afterwards. The move ends with thirty boxes in the living room that nobody can identify, and all of them get opened in search of the kitchen things. The time lost there is yours, not the crew's.
- Write on each carton the room it is going to, not the room it came from.
- Mark the day-one carton with a different tape colour: medicines, chargers, bedding, basic utensils.
- Write "fragile" on the side, not only the top, because boxes get stacked.
- Tape the bottom as well as the top; an open base causes most of the spills.
Mistake six: choosing the wrong vehicle to save money
Booking a small van for a whole flat to save on the rate ends in two or three trips whose total exceeds one properly sized vehicle. Worse, repeat trips double how many times each piece is handled, which raises the risk of damage as well as the cost.
The right comparison is not the price of one trip but the total of the expected trips. Ask for the number of trips to be written into the quote, not just the vehicle type. See dyna versus closed truck.
Mistake seven: putting off the storage decision
Many moves start on the assumption that everything will fit in the new home and end with one room that cannot be used. The deferred decision turns into a second job later to get the surplus out — transport paid twice for the same pieces.
| Stored volume | Monthly rent (SAR) |
|---|---|
| One to two rooms | 150 – 300 |
| A full flat of furniture | 250 – 450 |
| A villa of furniture | 400 – 800 |
Storage is billed monthly under a written agreement, and warehouse access is by appointment.
Monthly storage is cheaper than an extra moving job in most cases, and it should be settled at the survey rather than after the move. See furniture storage in Jeddah.
Mistake eight: not clearing it with building management
In towers and gated compounds there may be set moving hours, a service lift that needs reserving, and access clearance for the vehicle and crew. A crew arriving outside permitted hours either waits or is turned away, and the waiting comes out of your day.
- Ask management about permitted moving hours before fixing a date.
- Ask whether the service lift needs a booking or a refundable deposit.
- Send vehicle and crew details to security the day before, not that morning.
- Confirm where the vehicle can park, especially if the basement ramp is low.
Mistake nine: moving on handover day itself
Scheduling the move for the same day the old flat is handed back or the new one collected leaves no margin at all. Any small delay — collecting the key, the paint finishing, the lift booking — turns into furniture on the street or in a vehicle overnight.
Leave at least one day between the move and the handover. Where that is impossible, a day or two of storage is far cheaper and safer than the gamble. Anyone facing overlapping leases should read phased moving.
Mistake ten: not checking before the crew leaves
Signing the work off before inspecting effectively ends any later claim. The check takes minutes, but it has to happen while the crew is still there.
- Open and close wardrobe doors and drawers, sliding wardrobes especially.
- Inspect glass and mirrors at the edges, not only across the middle.
- Switch on whatever can be switched on; leave the fridge some hours after standing it upright.
- Count the cartons against your list if you numbered them.
Preparation guidance is on the moving checklist, and rates on moving prices.
Mistake eleven: estimating by rooms instead of by pieces
A common reason the vehicle that turns up is too small.
"A two-bedroom flat" describes the property, not the volume. Two flats with the same room count can differ enormously: one furnished to a minimum, the other with a full store room, a furnished balcony and kitchen cupboards holding years of accumulation.
A more precise description settles the argument early: number of bedrooms, number of wardrobes, whether there is a store room or a furnished balcony, and a rough carton count. Four facts are enough to pick the right vehicle first time.
- Count the wardrobes and beds; they drive both volume and time.
- Mention the store room and balcony explicitly — they are the most forgotten.
- Estimate the carton count, even roughly, after emptying one cupboard as a test.
- Send photographs of the rooms instead of a written description where you can.
Mistake twelve: leaving air conditioners to the day
A split unit is not furniture, and disconnecting and refitting it needs a specialist technician with his own appointment. Asking on the morning of the move means either delaying the move or leaving the unit where it is.
The right sequence is to state the number of units at the survey and have them booked as a separate line in the quote, carried out the day before or at a fixed time on the day. See air conditioner removal and installation and appliance moving.
How one message prevents nearly all of this
Six facts sent before booking replace most of the argument later.
Almost everything above is a gap in information rather than a failure of execution. One WhatsApp message with six points is enough to produce an accurate written quote and removes most causes of dispute before they arise.
- The floor number at both addresses, and whether a lift takes large pieces.
- The number of wardrobes and beds, and whether any is a sliding wardrobe.
- Whether there is a store room or furnished balcony, with a rough carton count.
- Permitted moving hours at the new building, and whether a service lift must be booked.
- Whether split air conditioners are included.
- Whether you need storage for anything with no place in the new home.
The survey after that is free and carries no obligation, the price is written before work starts and does not change once agreed, and anything appearing mid-job that was not visible in the photographs is put to you before it is done.
Frequently asked questions
Accepting a verbal price with no written quote. The figure changes once the furniture is already out, and at that point you have no bargaining position left.
Usually because key facts were missing when the price was given: the floor number, no lift, a tight stair turn, or a long distance from the parking point to the door.
No. Dismantling has a known price — SAR 150 to 300 for a bedroom set, SAR 100 to 250 for a sliding wardrobe — while repairing a twisted carcass or broken track is open-ended.
Yes, everything that moves is emptied before the crew arrives. Internal weight is what breaks runners and twists carcasses during the carry.
Write the room the box is going to, not the one it came from, mark the day-one box with different tape, and write "fragile" on the side rather than the top.
No. A small van for a whole flat means two or three trips totalling more than one correctly sized vehicle, and it doubles how often each piece is handled.
At the survey, before the move rather than after it. Monthly storage of SAR 150 to 800 by volume is cheaper than a second job to remove the surplus.
Permitted moving hours, whether the service lift needs booking or a deposit, and what is required to clear the vehicle and crew through security.
Leave at least a day between them. If that is impossible, a day or two of storage is cheaper and safer than leaving furniture in a vehicle or on the street.
Wardrobe doors and drawers, sliding wardrobes especially, glass and mirror edges, any appliance that can be switched on, and the carton count against your list.
Do not stop at the room count. Give the number of bedrooms and wardrobes, say whether there is a store room or furnished balcony, add a rough carton count, or send photographs.
Book a free survey today
Send photos on WhatsApp and get a written, itemised quote before you commit — the survey costs nothing.