Most of our quotes are given from photographs. It is faster for you and, done properly, more accurate than a walk-round by somebody trying to be polite about how much is in the loft.
But photographs only work if they show the right things, and most people photograph the wrong ones.
What people usually send
A tidy living room, taken from the doorway, in good light.
That tells us almost nothing. The living room is rarely where the volume is.
What to send instead
Every room, from the doorway, with the door fully open. Not a corner. The whole room, including the floor.
Cupboards and wardrobes open. We clear the insides, so we need to see them. A wardrobe that is full is a different item from one that is empty.
The loft hatch, and inside it if you can safely. The loft is the single most common reason a quote moves. A photograph up the hatch with a torch beats any description.
The garage, the shed and anything with wheels or a motor in it. Mowers, bikes, tools.
The garden, if it is part of it. Overgrown gardens hide furniture.
Anything heavy or awkward. Piano, safe, chest freezer, gym equipment, a wardrobe that was built in the room.
A slow video walk-round with the doors open is better still, and takes three minutes.
Then tell us four things
The postcode. How many bedrooms. Whether there is a loft, garage, shed or garden. And whether anything stays.
What you get back
A figure with the load count it is based on, the set-charge items listed, and VAT shown separately. Free, and it commits you to nothing.
Why we will not give a number over the phone without seeing anything
Because it would be invented. A house is not a web page and nobody describes their own loft accurately. A number given blind is either padded to cover the worst case or wrong in a way that surfaces on the day, and both of those are worse for you than three minutes of photographs.