Craig Robinson Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 Hi everyone, I thought it would be good to give an update of my move back to Scotland for those that are considering coming back over. In April of 2015 we made the decision as a family to come back "home" (I am the only native Aussie). Anyway we started asking around for prices and so on for moving over, things like shipping, housing, insurance, customs etc. All in all we found it to be a lot cheaper doing it all ourselves, less hassle and it meant we could take about 80% of our belongings except our car. We were quoted $5,500 from many shipping companies to ship 12m2 over. That would have meant living pretty much everything behind. After speaking to a friend who had just gone back to Ireland they said there is a far more cost efficient way and that is do it yourself through a customs broker. The gave me the details and I got on to them for a quote. One big thing to do is have all this sorted at least 6 months prior to moving. No they won't book it in 100% but at least it means they can pencil something in for around that time. The broker I used was Fremantle Customs brokers in WA for everything, container cost, shipping costs and other port costs. We hired a 20ft container and we were able to fill it to the roof and doors. We loaded it ourselves which saved a heap of money and we shipped it the week before we left in January. All up it cost $4,076 which is way better than the likes of Allied Pickfords etc could do for even 12m2. Once here we needed to contact our local customs broker in Scotland and storage facilities which was again pretty easy to do and the sooner you can sort it out the better. Again I contacted both of these guys in July 2015 so they were aware of what was happening and when.The brokerage fees here and the storage facility (no room on our street for a container, keep that in mind) was 600GBP plus another 150 GBP for storage. We unloaded the container ourselves but paid 50GBP to get the bulky items delivered to our house. Make sure you check the man with a van adverts because they again could save you a small fortune. The rest of the items we have just finished doing lots of little loads in our wagon. So for absolutely everything it has cost us around $5,500 depending on exchange rates of the day. The biggest issue for us was having to do absolutely everything for ourselves and what was great is even though it was daunting we learned very quickly and most people were extremely helpful. I seriously recommend everyone consider doing it this way as it can save you heaps of cash that you could do with elsewhere. The shipping time was just over 6 weeks which again gave us plenty of time to sort out a house and confirm all the other details. Best wishes for everyone who is doing the move and remember you can do it. Regards Craig p.s. were we scared? YES! Yet saying that we love it and it feels like we never left and we still keep in contact with all of our friends back in Oz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 I agree 100%, we did it all ourselves and saved an absolute fortune. There were some hoops to jump through clearing it this end but a very nice lady from UK Customs phoned me and talked me through it and it was painless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 Hi everyone, I thought it would be good to give an update of my move back to Scotland for those that are considering coming back over. In April of 2015 we made the decision as a family to come back "home" (I am the only native Aussie). Anyway we started asking around for prices and so on for moving over, things like shipping, housing, insurance, customs etc. All in all we found it to be a lot cheaper doing it all ourselves, less hassle and it meant we could take about 80% of our belongings except our car. We were quoted $5,500 from many shipping companies to ship 12m2 over. That would have meant living pretty much everything behind. After speaking to a friend who had just gone back to Ireland they said there is a far more cost efficient way and that is do it yourself through a customs broker. The gave me the details and I got on to them for a quote. One big thing to do is have all this sorted at least 6 months prior to moving. No they won't book it in 100% but at least it means they can pencil something in for around that time. The broker I used was Fremantle Customs brokers in WA for everything, container cost, shipping costs and other port costs. We hired a 20ft container and we were able to fill it to the roof and doors. We loaded it ourselves which saved a heap of money and we shipped it the week before we left in January. All up it cost $4,076 which is way better than the likes of Allied Pickfords etc could do for even 12m2. Once here we needed to contact our local customs broker in Scotland and storage facilities which was again pretty easy to do and the sooner you can sort it out the better. Again I contacted both of these guys in July 2015 so they were aware of what was happening and when.The brokerage fees here and the storage facility (no room on our street for a container, keep that in mind) was 600GBP plus another 150 GBP for storage. We unloaded the container ourselves but paid 50GBP to get the bulky items delivered to our house. Make sure you check the man with a van adverts because they again could save you a small fortune. The rest of the items we have just finished doing lots of little loads in our wagon. So for absolutely everything it has cost us around $5,500 depending on exchange rates of the day. The biggest issue for us was having to do absolutely everything for ourselves and what was great is even though it was daunting we learned very quickly and most people were extremely helpful. I seriously recommend everyone consider doing it this way as it can save you heaps of cash that you could do with elsewhere. The shipping time was just over 6 weeks which again gave us plenty of time to sort out a house and confirm all the other details. Best wishes for everyone who is doing the move and remember you can do it. Regards Craig p.s. were we scared? YES! Yet saying that we love it and it feels like we never left and we still keep in contact with all of our friends back in Oz. Well done and congrats on a successful relocation. Bonnie Scotland is a fine place to live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JockinTas Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 Well done and congrats on a successful relocation. Bonnie Scotland is a fine place to live. It is that! :smile: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortlepuss Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 Good for you for being so organised. We left a great deal of stuff behind - sold or gave it away. We had a part container with OSS and the 6-10 weeks quoted has morphed to far longer after they received their money. I now anticipate end May for getting our stuff across and wish I had found a more efficient way to ship rather than trusting suppliers to keep their word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Well done and it sounds like you have settled in well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namron1 Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Hi Craig interested to know how it worked for you doing the DIY removal, did the shipping company supply the container or had u to hire that elsewhere, was it delivered to ur property for packing and if yes how long did u have it at your property and did this cause any issues. Also what information did u have to provide for Aus customs and UK customs? At the UK end was there an option to have the container delivered to your house and in hindsight if that were an option would it have been a better way of doing the receiving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STEVEPEACOCK Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Has anyone just booked capacity and got a good deal. i see the quotes for 12m3 above. we will be looking at selling or dumping most gear as it has seen better days. We will however have Clothes, Tooles & Electronics to ship and looking for the best option. These will be all packed by ourselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Has anyone just booked capacity and got a good deal. i see the quotes for 12m3 above. we will be looking at selling or dumping most gear as it has seen better days. We will however have Clothes, Tooles & Electronics to ship and looking for the best option. These will be all packed by ourselves. A move cube would probably do that. We used the smallest one and it fitted 8 decent sized tea chest type boxes, plus some other bits and pieces. They come in 3 sizes and the large would even have taken some furniture plus electronics plus boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Robinson Posted April 6, 2016 Author Share Posted April 6, 2016 It is John. It really feel like we have come home. I only lived here for nearly 7 years but feel like this is where I am supposed to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Robinson Posted April 6, 2016 Author Share Posted April 6, 2016 Hi Craig interested to know how it worked for you doing the DIY removal, did the shipping company supply the container or had u to hire that elsewhere, was it delivered to ur property for packing and if yes how long did u have it at your property and did this cause any issues. Also what information did u have to provide for Aus customs and UK customs? At the UK end was there an option to have the container delivered to your house and in hindsight if that were an option would it have been a better way of doing the receiving. The hire of the container was all included in the price from Fremantle Customs Brokers. It was dropped off at our friends where our stuff was in storage. The main issue is making sure your local council doesn't require you to have a permit to have the container there. We didn't have an issue as it was private land. We had the container for 3 full days to pack it.They arranged the delivery and pick up with the customs tag as well. We had to provide customs in Oz and the agent in the UK with a complete inventory of every item we were bringing with us. As we loaded the majority of our things on pallets that was really easy to do. Customs may want to inspect the load on arrival so best to be prepared anyway. As we loaded we marked every box and container with what was in it on the outside then shrink wrapped it all. Did it all by hand as well although our friends neighbour had a forklift for final loading into the container. Yes there is the option to have it dropped off at your home however that is only if the semi trailer can get in there to do so. As there was no way we could do that having it delivered to storage was the only option. Each persons circumstances will differ so keep that in mind. One important thing to find out is if the trucking company will off load the container from the trailer at delivery as that is not always a given and you may need to climb up to the container to unload. It all depends on how organised everything is at this end for example house, storage, help to unload and so on. We were given only 3 hours to unload and didn't have the use of a forklift but even still we managed to do it all in just under two hours. Ye we were knackered but at least it was done. Whether you do the physical work or not is completely down to you however if you have a good relationship built up with your agent here they may help find one. In Scotland we used T.Ward Shipping who are based in Edinburgh and Callum there was extremely helpful. So if your goods come into Grangemouth even for the north east of England and Scotland I highly recommend them. Best wishes for anyone that is going to take this route and if you need further info I am more than happy to help where I can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Robinson Posted April 6, 2016 Author Share Posted April 6, 2016 Thanks for correcting my 12m2 to 12m3 I didn't even notice that when I read it back hahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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