While hiring a removal company generally makes removals easier and more convenient, hiring a removal company can also cause a lot of headaches if you are not careful. Aside from inferior services, they could also surprise you with extra charges.   In order to avoid extra charges you need to do as much as work as you can. For instance, you can avoid appliance service fees by disconnecting appliances yourself. If you cannot do it at least ask someone who will do it for free. You can also avoid auxiliary service fees by making sure that parking will readily be available when the movers get to both your old and new place. If you observe a low clearance in your building, you should notify the company early on so you can either use a smaller vehicle or one with lower height.   If you have items that need special attention such as a big piano, you should ask the company if they have the people to do it or they would only hire other people to do it. If they don't have the people, you would be better off hiring those people instead. This way, you would be paying them at their rates instead of the removals company charging markup.   If you currently live in a few flights up, you can't do anything but get ready to pay elevator carry charges. Just be sure that you agreed on the exact amount and everything is on writing so there will be no surprises later on.