Packing services and materials
The packing chapter decides breakage statistics: professionals wrap kitchens and fragile items in a fifth of the time, and the right materials cost less than replacing what cheap ones fail to protect.
The mixed formula
Most people pack clothes and books themselves and pay for the kitchen, artwork and electronics. It is the sweet spot of the budget and the risk curve.
Materials that matter
Double-wall boxes for books, dish-pack inserts for glassware and mattress covers: ask the company's price for the kit against buying it yourself — the margin is usually small.
Label like a pro
Room plus contents plus fragile markers on every face. The unlabeled box is the one opened first at midnight in the new home, inevitably containing the wrong things.