Tips for Hiring Quality Movers & Packers in Dubai
When moving to a new office location, hiring a reliable moving company in Dubai can save both time and effort. Many managers and owners, especially those handling the task for the first time, underestimate the time required for such endeavors.
Another common mistake office managers make is hiring just about any packer and mover they can come across. What they don’t realize is not all contractors are created equal. Therefore, there needs to be a hiring process for them too. In this article, learn about some proven tips that’d help you select the best movers in Dubai for your business.
Get quotes and estimates from multiple contractors
When looking to hire a packer and mover in Dubai, you should always contact multiple contractors. Many managers select the one they come across through a Google search or reference. By doing so, you might be missing out on a better deal.
By soliciting quotes and estimates, you can compare the service providers in juxtaposition and select the best contractor. Its recommended that you get quotes from at least five contractors in Dubai. Explain to them your requirements in writing and ask them to submit their proposal. You can also disclose that you’re checking with other service providers as well. It will force the agencies to be more competitive in their offerings.
Check the legitimacy of the companies
The next tip is also something that many owners and managers fail to undertake. Before you work with a packer and mover, you must verify their legitimacy. By legitimacy, it means they must be operating ethically with proper business licenses.
When moving your office stuff, you would also be moving sensitive documents and hard drives. When outsourced to an unethical contractor, they may tamper with it and leak information out. This can be disastrous for data-sensitive businesses involved in sectors like healthcare, law, and finance.
That’s why many people trust contractors that come through reference. But that shouldn’t be an excuse for not doing your own due diligence. Check for their reviews online and verify the business licenses. Ethical contractors often take care of these two things. If possible, you should talk to the owner and the employees of the business before handing out the contract.
Always hire an experienced contractor
It should go without saying, but many business owners end up working with inexperienced contractors. There are multiple reasons why. As already mentioned, some owners and managers do not do any due diligence. Hence, they do not verify their experience. Others fall for the trap of lower price as inexperienced packers and movers charge considerably low fees.
Experience matters a lot when shifting things. The handlers, drivers, and managers should have some level of experience. It would reduce the likelihood of the items going missing or breaking in between. So hiring an experienced mover is also safer.
To check their experience, you can simply go into their respective websites check the founding date and year. Most websites have that displayed in the About Us section. For further confirmation, you can check their license-issued date. This would give you an approximate timeline.
Read through the contracts
When working with a packer and mover, you should enter into a contract. This will hold both parties accountable in the legal context. The contract would also point out the obligation and liabilities of each party.
Creating a contract isn’t labor-intensive. There are many templates available online that you can edit and start using. These documents have everything contained within them. You’re required to provide the company name, address, details, and make a few adjustments. Depending on your location, the contracts stay valid in courtrooms. If it’s the packers and movers in UAE who are creating the contract, then read through them before signing. There may be a few lines within the document that’d put you at risk or would increase your liability if things go wrong. So read the contract and sign it only if you agree. But always enter into a contract irrespective of how small the requirement is.
Don’t pay big deposit fees
When hiring movers and packers in Dubai, a few contractors may ask for a big deposit price as booking fees before starting the work. Its recommended that you avoid such scenarios because they involve huge risks. What if they didn’t get the job done properly? What if a few of the items go missing? Will they be returning the amount? It could put you on the losing side.
Instead of paying large deposit fees, you should negotiate and pay once the moving process is complete. If there’s any booking amount involved, it shouldn’t be more than 10% of the agreed cost.
Consider getting insurance coverage if possible
Getting insurance coverage for office supplies is a good move. Moving such items all at once is a risky endeavor. And there are many ways they could sustain damages. Some of the ways like bad weather are out of anyone’s control. In such cases, insurance can pay for the new supplies and reduce your financial obligation.
If you already have insurance coverage, it’s necessary to talk with your agent regarding the coverage when you’re moving. Some companies and plans include such coverage while others don’t.
A few packers and movers can arrange an insurance service provider for you. They may offer the coverage from their own end if you allow them to handle packaging too. But all of this comes at an added cost. So look into the options available and select the best option for your company.
If you’ve got a larger order, start with test orders
Mid-size and large corporations have hundreds of items in their offices. When they move to a new location, they need to move such a large number of items. Consequently, the price would be on the higher side as well. In such cases, a useful tip is rather than handing out the entire contract, you can start with small test orders. This would allow you to gauge whether the service provider is competent enough to handle such a task.
This way of moving things is also agile. You can stop the contract from proceeding further and test other service providers. Smaller offices usually don’t need test orders since they tend to have fewer things to move.
Seek advice from the contractor
While this isn’t a tip for hiring a packer and mover in Dubai specifically, it’s more of a tip for the owner. When planning the move, it’s worth bringing in the expertise that the packer and mover. Since they’re experienced and have carried out several dozens of such operations, they can advise on many things. It’s better than simply handing out the boxes to them and asking to ship them.
On what fronts can the contractors advise? Anything from packaging to sorting to labeling to offloading. If you’ve handed out the contract to them, they’d be more than happy to help plan the move.
As you might have realized by now, hiring local movers in Dubai is a lot more work than usually thought. There’s planning, due diligence, and some guesswork involved in hiring the right contractor. However, you should always strive to keep things simple rather than making them complicated.
