The apartment we were renting was sold — with us still inside it. We stayed for a while, but the new owners eventually decided to move in themselves, so we had to find another place.
We got lucky. The new apartment was only about 300 metres from the old one. We had been living on the twentieth floor of a huge condominium with around 400 apartments and a luxurious distant view. Now we were moving to the second floor of a small condo with only about 40 apartments. The view became much closer. Life became much quieter.
There was only one problem left: moving all our things.
The brilliant plan
In five years in Singapore, we had accumulated an astonishing amount of stuff. The apartment had been rented unfurnished, so all the furniture was ours. Then there were clothes, appliances and an incredible quantity of children’s toys.
We received the keys to the new apartment in advance and started packing. In Singapore, you can buy used moving boxes on local marketplaces from people who have just finished their own move. We were even luckier: neighbours in our condo had just moved and gave us their boxes. New boxes from IKEA and other shops are surprisingly expensive.
A professional moving company, including proper packing, would have cost around S$2,000–3,000. We decided that spending this amount was unreasonable and that we could do everything perfectly well ourselves.
I am no longer certain this was the correct decision. Today, I would think very carefully.
Singapore has Lalamove, a kind of cargo taxi. You can order almost anything through it: a courier, a van or a large truck with movers. The service has become so efficient that sometimes a vehicle arrives within ten minutes of placing the order.
The prices below are what we paid for our particular bookings at the time, not standard or current Lalamove prices.
A small van with a driver who helped with loading cost around S$20–30. We packed whatever we managed to get through during the day, ordered a van in the evening and took another load to the new apartment. Sometimes we unpacked everything immediately, so we could take the empty boxes back and use them again.
This continued for three, four, or perhaps five evenings. Security opened the gate, the small vans drove calmly into the underground car park, and we unloaded right next to the lift. Nobody asked a single question.
The system worked perfectly. Only the largest items were left.
What could possibly go wrong?
The second truck
Then came the day of the big move. We packed everything that remained: sofas, beds, mattresses and a mountain of boxes that no longer fitted into the small vans.
I ordered a large truck and three movers through Lalamove. It cost around S$240 — still much cheaper than a professional move.
The moving crew arrived in good spirits. The first thing they asked was:
“Mister, do you have permission from the condo to move?”
“We don’t need any permission. We’ve been bringing things over for several days, and they always let us in.”
They looked around the apartment.
“Oh, Mister! You have a lot of things. This will never fit into one truck. But we can call another truck and two more movers. They can come right now.”
I looked at the mountain of possessions and agreed. The second truck cost about the same again.
Loading took a long time. We lived on the twentieth floor, so the movers constantly had to wait for the lift. A few items were damaged during the move. But the team worked cheerfully, and eventually both trucks were packed almost to the roof.
By five or six in the evening, almost everything was ready. Two enormous trucks collected our five years of Singapore life and set off for the new condo. We later discovered that even after those two trucks, we still needed several more small trips.
The distance was about 300 metres.
Do you have permission?
At the new condo, we were met by a very principled security guard.
“Do you have permission to move in?”
“No. But we’ve already been coming here and unloading for several days.”
“I don’t know anything about that. It is late now, and the trucks are too large to enter the underground car park. You will have to unload outside. There will be noise, residents will complain, and I will not let you in.”
The funniest part was that the distance from the gate to our block was about thirty metres, perhaps even less. You walked along a short driveway, turned a corner, and the lift was right there. There were no stairs, narrow corridors or other insurmountable obstacles. The trucks could easily have stopped by the entrance, and the movers could have finished in an hour.
I tried every possible way to negotiate. The guard looked at me as if I had completely forgotten which country I was in.
“Sir, this is Singapore. Cannot.”
We asked him to call the condo manager. The manager confirmed it: without advance permission and a booked time slot, unloading was not allowed.
I looked at the movers. They had already understood the situation perfectly.
“Mister, our entire evening is booked. Tomorrow morning is booked too. You are depriving us of a huge profit. Now we will have to drive somewhere with all your belongings, keep both trucks overnight and return in the morning. This will cost at least S$1,200.”
We negotiated for a long time. Their first estimate was at least S$1,200. From my point of view, the night-storage plan sounded expensive, but at that moment they had all our furniture and we had very little bargaining power.
In the end, we paid about S$800 extra.
We had nowhere to sleep. There were no beds left in the old apartment, and there were no beds yet in the new one, because the beds and mattresses were inside the trucks. So we went to a hotel.
At that moment I was paying for two three-bedroom apartments, a hotel room and two trucks containing everything we owned.
I had never felt so rich. Or so homeless.
The savings
The trucks returned the following morning, and we were finally allowed in. The terrifying thirty metres passed without incident. Unloading took about an hour. Nobody made much noise, the lift did not break, and the residents did not rise in revolt.
But rules are rules. A move into a Singapore condo must be arranged with the management in advance. You need permission, a booked time slot and a clear understanding of where the truck can actually go.
On paper, our plan to do the move ourselves had looked reasonable. A professional move would have cost around S$2,000–3,000. The small Lalamove trips cost S$20–30 each, and the large trucks with movers cost about S$240 each.
But we spent several days packing, carried boxes across in the evenings, unpacked them, brought the boxes back and packed them again. A few items were damaged during the move. Then we paid another S$800, stayed in a hotel and had to sort out the entire warehouse ourselves in the new apartment.
So, did we save money? Probably.
Was it worth it? Today, I would think very carefully.
As the old wisdom goes: penny-wise, pound-foolish. Especially when a principled Singapore security guard stands between the two.
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