I'd like to consult the group wisdom as we are planning a move from the UK to Wellington, NZ early next year.
We don't have that much stuff and most of the big items are 'hand me down' furniture, but we have gotten as far as to get a removal firm around for a quote. They said we with what we have now we wouldn't fill a 20ft container so they also quoted us with a groupage rate of £800 less than the full container. The issue is that, on reading the small print, with groupage it could take upto 16 weeks for our stuff and that delay isn't really an option as we have young children.
So any suggestions on what we could do to keep the costs down or use the extra space for to make it more worthwhile? It it worth buying quality new stuff here (UK) and it shipping out or trying to buy once over there?
We have done some price comparisons (NZ vs UK) and quality furniture (e.g. sofas, draws, dressers) 'seems' much cheaper in the UK and we are considering getting an oak bedroom set, but I don't think even that would fill the extra space. Good quality beds seem to be crazy prices in NZ (~$3,000 NZD) compared to the UK (max of £1,000). Leather sofas less so but still pricer.
A side point was is it worth getting a bedroom wardrobes? Most of the places I've seem in NZ/Wellington seem to have them built in? Is this the norm?
Many Thanks!