How to Choose a Moving Company Singapore: 12 Checks

You have two or three quotes on your phone and they don’t look anything alike. One is a single WhatsApp number, one is a neat PDF, and the gap between them is a few hundred dollars. This guide is for exactly that moment. It is not a list of company names — it is the 12 checks that separate a mover who will turn up with the right lorry and enough crew from one who will renegotiate your price in the void deck on moving day. Work through them before you pay a deposit, and the rest of the move mostly takes care of itself. That, in practice, is how to choose a moving company Singapore households can actually hold to its quote.

Checks 1–3: Is this a real, insured business?

Before you compare prices, confirm you are comparing companies.

1. Look up the business entity. Every legitimate mover is registered with ACRA and has a UEN. Run the name through ACRA’s free BizFile entity search and check the entity is live. A mover who won’t give you a UEN for the invoice is not a company — it’s a stranger with a lorry.
2. Ask what insurance actually covers your goods. There are two different policies in play: public liability insurance (damage to the building — many condos require proof of it before they’ll approve a move) and goods-in-transit cover (damage to your items). Ask for both, and ask for the certificate, not a verbal “yes, we’re insured.”
3. Check the track record where reviews can’t be deleted. A steady history of reviews across years beats a burst of five-star ratings posted in the same month. Read the negative reviews specifically for how the company responded — disputes handled professionally are a better signal than a spotless score. And check the review history matches the entity name on the quote: an outfit that changes names every year or two is usually shedding a reputation, not rebranding.

Checks 4–6: Get a quote you can enforce

4. Insist on a site survey before a firm price. A serious mover surveys the job — in person or by video call — before committing to a number. A firm price quoted off two WhatsApp photos is not firm; it’s an opening bid.
5. Demand an itemised quote, not a lump sum. The quote should state the vehicle size, the number of crew, the number of trips, packing materials, and any charges for stairs, long carry or bulky items — each as its own line. A lump sum hides the assumptions, and hidden assumptions are where day-of surcharges live.
6. Check the manpower and lorry size are written down. “One trip, 14ft lorry, four crew” is a promise you can hold someone to. “Whole house move” is not. If the vehicle and crew count aren’t on the quote, the mover can shrink both and still claim they delivered.

Quote A vs Quote B: how the same move hides two different jobs

Here is the comparison most people never make. Both quotes below are for the same 4-room flat, and the cheaper one is the one that costs more by evening.

Quote B isn’t cheaper. It’s just quoted for a smaller job than the one you actually have — and the difference gets settled in cash, under time pressure, while your wardrobe sits in the corridor.

Checks 7–9: The operational details that decide the day

7. Lift booking and protection. HDB moves and most condos need the service lift arranged, and MCSTs commonly require lift padding and floor protection, plus a move deposit. Ask who books this — a mover who handles lift arrangements weekly will raise it before you do. If they don’t mention it, that’s a tell.
8. Ask about storage between homes. If your move-out and move-in dates don’t line up, you need short-term storage — and a mover with its own warehousing and storage keeps your goods in one chain of custody instead of handing them to a third party.
9. Ask about disposal of what you’re not taking. Almost every move sheds a sofa, a mattress or an old wardrobe. A mover that runs its own disposal service can clear those on the same trip — cheaper and faster than arranging a separate contractor after the fact.

Checks 10–12: Money terms and red flags

10. Deposit, not full payment. A reasonable deposit to lock a date is normal. Full payment before a single box is lifted is not — you’d be surrendering your only leverage on service quality.
11. Know the claims window. Ask how damage claims work and how long you have to report them. Photograph high-value items before the crew arrives, and note the condition on the inventory as items come off the lorry.
12. Walk away from the classic red flags. Price jumps on moving day. A quote that only ever exists in a chat thread. No UEN, no invoice, no insurance certificate. Pressure to confirm “today only” pricing. Any one of these is survivable; two together is a pattern.

The 12 checks as a one-minute script

If you only save one part of this guide, save this. Send it to each mover on your shortlist and watch how they answer — the answers matter, but the hesitation matters more:

1. “What’s your company’s UEN?” — for the ACRA check.
2. “Can you send your goods-in-transit and public liability certificates?”
3. “How long have you been operating under this name?”
4. “Can we do a video survey before you confirm the price?”
5. “Can the quote list each charge as its own line?”
6. “What vehicle and how many crew are you assigning, in writing?”
7. “Who books the service lift, and do you bring lift and floor protection?”
8. “If my dates slip, can you store my things — in whose facility?”
9. “Can you dispose of the items we’re not taking, on the same job?”
10. “What deposit locks the date, and when is the balance due?”
11. “How do damage claims work, and how long do I have to report?”
12. “Is this price final if nothing about the job changes?”

A professional outfit answers all twelve in one reply, because they’ve been asked before. Evasion on any of the first six is disqualifying; vagueness on the rest is negotiable but should cost the mover your benefit of the doubt.

When to book — and why timing changes your shortlist

Good crews are booked out at the same times: end-of-month weekends, school holidays, and the weeks around Chinese New Year, when everyone wants to be settled before reunion dinner. Book two to four weeks ahead for a weekend move and you choose the mover; call three days before month-end and the mover chooses you. If your dates are flexible, a weekday mid-month move gets you better crews and calmer pricing from the same companies.

One more timing discipline: collect your quotes in the same week, against the same written scope — same item list, same addresses, same access notes. Quotes gathered weeks apart, off slightly different descriptions, aren’t comparable, and the “cheapest” one is often just the one quoted off the thinnest information.

Office moves: the same checks, plus two more

Everything above applies to commercial moves, but add two requirements when you brief office movers: after-hours capability (most commercial buildings only allow moves at night or on weekends, with a permit and proof of insurance) and a plan for IT — workstations and servers packed last, reconnected first. An office mover who can’t talk fluently about loading-bay bookings and building management rules hasn’t done many.

What a Relo quote includes

We built our quote format around these 12 checks because we’d rather answer them up front than argue about them in a stairwell. A Relo moving quote states the vehicle (van or 10ft, 14ft or 24ft lorry), the crew count, the number of trips, packing materials, and any access charges — after a site or video survey, never off two photos. Storage in our own warehouse and disposal of unwanted furniture are quoted as line items on the same job, and we carry the insurance your building will ask about. It’s the same one-stop logic that has made us the movers Singapore households and offices book for everything from a studio flat to a full corporate relocation.

Frequently asked questions