Local movers in Manila, and across the islands
A domestic move here is decided by two things that have nothing to do with distance: whether the building will release its service lift, and whether the route involves water. Asia Relocation Philippines settles both before quoting a day.
Nothing about a domestic move here is decided by kilometres. A unit on the fourteenth floor of a Makati tower and a house with a driveway can be the same volume and not remotely the same day, because one of them depends on a service lift released by appointment and a dock that another tenant may already have booked.
Then there is the water. An archipelago means a household can move to another region without leaving the country, and the crossing turns a drive into a multi-stage operation: sealed at the address, driven to the port, carried across, driven again. Every one of those handovers is where damage is created, which is why we reduce their number rather than their speed.
Asia Relocation Philippines is where the company began in 2011, with its own crews and its own warehouses in Metro Manila and Cebu. The domestic side is not a sideline here — it is the work the company was built on.
What goes on the truck, and what does not
Half of an honest quotation is the list of what it does not cover. That list is the right-hand column.
Carried by the service
- A survey at your address, which in a tower means the dock and the lift as much as the rooms.
- Packing chosen for the route: a crossing puts a load through handling that a drive across the city never does.
- Dismantling and reassembly where a lift door or a stairwell will not take a piece whole.
- Everything the property manager asks for at both ends: lift, dock, notice, and a subdivision permit where there is a gate.
- Unloading, placement and the clear-up, so that the flat is usable the same evening.
Each line appears in the quotation with its own limit.
A different service
- A move that leaves the country. That is where a customs file appears, and an inventory an inspector will read: moving abroad from the Philippines.
- A vehicle you own. Shipping it between islands runs on a separate booking and its own paperwork: vehicle transport.
- Pets. Health documents and a carrier, never a removals truck: pet transport.
- A workplace. Servers, workstations and a weekend switch-over are quoted apart: office relocation.
- Cover, and the weeks in between. Moving insurance is its own line, and storage in the Philippines takes the load when a handover slips.
Any of them can be added to the same file. Mention it in the inquiry.
Five ways a household moves inside the country
The volume barely moves the answer. The building, the gate and the water do.
Condominium in a tower
The commonest expatriate move in Metro Manila, and a building decides it. Makati, BGC and Ortigas towers allocate the service lift and the dock by appointment, frequently outside office hours. Two buildings means two sets of rules, and we hold both before quoting a day.
House inside a subdivision
Easier access, more volume, and a gate with its own procedure: a permit, a vehicle registered at the guardhouse, sometimes a restriction on truck size. The village office is the equivalent of a property manager, and it is asked in the same week.
Across Metro Manila
A short distance and a long day if the hours are wrong. Loading is scheduled around the peaks wherever a building will allow it, because the constraint on a crosstown move is the road rather than the load.
Luzon to Visayas or Mindanao
Manila to Cebu, Manila to Davao. The load is sealed at the address and crosses on a roll-on roll-off ferry with the vehicle rather than being handled loose at the quay, then driven to the far address. Sailings and weather set the date.
A partial move
Half a household going ahead of the rest, or a second home being set up. It is surveyed like a full move and charged on what actually leaves the door.
From the walk-through to the last carton unpacked
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The survey, and the access it finds
Volume, lift, dock, carry distance, and whether a forty-foot vehicle can reach the door at all. In a tower the answer usually comes from the property manager rather than from the flat.
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Slots and permits, before the date
Service lift and loading dock at both ends, the subdivision permit if there is one, and the hours each building actually allows. Fixed while the date can still move.
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Packing, and a photographic record
Cartons labelled by destination room, and the packing and loading photographed as they happen. It is what makes an insurance conversation short if one is ever needed.
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The run, by road or by ferry
Crosstown it is a matter of hours and traffic. On an inter-island route the sealed load stays on the vehicle across the crossing, and you are told where it is rather than left to guess.
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Placement, and the debris
Furniture reassembled and put where you want it, floors and lift doors protected, cartons and wrapping removed the same day rather than stacked in a corridor.
Four expatriate households, four different problems
Changing towers in the same district
A short move and the hardest to schedule: two property managers, two lift bookings, two docks, one day. Distance is irrelevant here and access is everything.
Assignees transferred to another island
Manila to Cebu is a company decision with a ferry in it. The family has to be functional on Monday, so the crossing is planned first and the packing is built around it.
Households leaving the capital for the provinces
Remote workers and long-stay residents heading for a quieter province or a coastal town. Usually the largest domestic volume we move, and the one where the road is longest.
Families between two leases
One ends before the next begins, which in a market where handover dates slip is routine. The load moves once, waits in our warehouse, and lands when the keys exist.
Two home cities, three island groups
Crews and warehouses in Metro Manila and Cebu, and deliveries across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
Most domestic moves start in Metro Manila — Makati, BGC, Ortigas, Alabang, Quezon City — because that is where the leases are. The routes that repeat are the crosstown ones, the run to a province, and the crossings to Cebu and to Mindanao, and each is quoted on its own constraint rather than on a distance table.
Having our own warehouse in Cebu as well as in the capital is what makes an inter-island move a single operation. Without it, a load has to be entrusted to whoever is available at the far end, which is precisely the handover where things go missing.
Questions that come up before the truck is booked
Does a move between islands still count as domestic?
How does an inter-island move actually work?
What do you need from our building before the date?
Does Metro Manila traffic change the plan?
Does the typhoon season affect a domestic move?
Do we need to be present for the whole move?
What will you not carry?
Why do two moves of the same size cost differently?
Two pages next to this one
You are leaving the country
A border means a customs file, an export inventory and a sailing. A different plan from the first day.
Moving abroad from the Philippines →The whole moving service
Seven services in the Philippines, and which of them your move actually needs.
Moving services in the Philippines →Send us the addresses, and the building rules if you have them
We survey on site, deal with both property managers, and come back with a written scope: crew, vehicle, packing level, and the day.
Request your moving quote →