Home help in Richmond

What we assemble

• Beds — frames, storage and ottoman beds, bunk beds, children's beds and cots
• Wardrobes — two-door, plus PAX and sliding-door wardrobes built by both of us
• Chests of drawers, bedside tables, shoe cabinets
• Desks, dining tables, coffee tables
• Chairs, stools, bar stools, office chairs
• Freestanding bookcases and shelving units
• Sofas, armchairs and footstools that arrive boxed
• Children's furniture — cots, changing tables, highchairs
• TV units, storage systems, open wardrobe frames
• Garden furniture and barbecues

Small household jobs we take on

• Doors that stick, cupboard doors out of line, loose handles and hinges — adjusted and tightened
• Curtains taken down and re-hung on existing poles
• Light bulbs changed — anything we can reach from a step stool; smoke-alarm batteries
• Furniture moved, a room rearranged
• Shelves added inside an existing wardrobe
• Pictures and mirrors hung on existing fixings or with adhesive hangers

Also on the same visit

• Dismantling before a move — and reassembly at your new address
• Kitchen cupboard doors realigned, hinges and soft-closers adjusted
• Handles and hinges replaced
• Wobbly furniture tightened — squeaking beds, unsteady tables and chairs
• Feet and castors replaced

Good to know

• We don't fix furniture to the wall on this visit — no drilling yet. We'll leave the anti-tip kit with you and mark the fixing points
• We can't take packaging away, but we'll flatten and stack it neatly for your recycling
• Assembly and dismantling only — no plumbing, electrics or gas

What it costs

What we set up

• Televisions — unboxed, stand assembled, connected and tuned, with Netflix, iPlayer, Prime and Disney+ signed in. Soundbars and set-top boxes connected, cables tidied away
• Wi-Fi — your provider's router put somewhere it actually works, the network renamed, a password you can read out loud, and every device in the house connected
• Printers — unboxed and talking to every phone, tablet and laptop in the family, with scanning set up
• Smart devices that plug in — speakers, plugs, bulbs, battery doorbells and cameras, smart thermostats where the fitting is already there
• A new tablet, laptop or phone — switched on, signed in to your own account, apps installed, and shown to you properly
• Written down before we go — a card with your wi-fi name and password, and a short note of what we set up and where

Who it's for

Anyone who'd rather not spend a Saturday on it. People who've just moved in and want the router, the TV and the printer working the same day. Families who bought the thing three weeks ago and it's still in the box. Someone helping a parent who lives on their own and would rather not ring a helpline. It isn't about age or being good with computers — some things are simply quicker when someone does them with you.

How we handle your passwords and your things

• You type your own passwords. We don't write them down, photograph them or keep them
• We'll never ask for your bank details, and we never buy anything on your card. If you want a subscription, you set it up yourself while we're there
• We never erase, reset or take away your old device
• We never take remote access to your computer. We work in person, in your home, with you there
• Anything we set up is in your name and on your email — never ours

Good to know

• No electrical work. We plug into the sockets and points you already have — we don't fit or move sockets, aerials or wiring
• It isn't a repair service. We don't fix broken devices, remove viruses, recover lost files or reinstall Windows
• Televisions on walls are coming soon. For now we set them up on a stand or on a bracket that's already there
• If something stops working in the week after we visit, ring us. The first ten minutes on the phone are free

What it costs

Most jobs take about an hour. A moving-in pack takes an afternoon.

Where people usually start

• Wardrobes and clothes — everything out, tried on if you want to, folded and hung back by type so you can see what you own
• Kitchens — cupboards, the pan drawer, the spice jars from 2019, and a layout that matches how you actually cook
• Children's rooms and toys — sorted by what they've grown out of, with a system they can put back themselves
• Paperwork, photographs and the drawer of cables — filed, boxed or shredded, and you'll know where the passports are
• Lofts, garages and the spare room — the ones that need a full day, not a morning
• Before or after a move — packed room by room and labelled properly, or unpacked and put away on the other side, so you're living normally by the weekend instead of camping between boxes
• Getting a place ready for the photographs before it goes on the market

How a session works

1. You tell us what you'd like to tackle when you book — which room, how long it's been building up, and roughly how much there is
2. We start with one area, never the whole house. Finishing one wardrobe changes more than half-starting four rooms
3. Four piles — keep, donate, sell, recycle. You make every decision, we do the lifting, sorting, folding and carrying
4. What stays goes back in a way you can keep up with. A system you can't maintain is just tidying with extra steps
5. Before we go, the donations are bagged, labelled and the collection is already booked

Getting things out of the house

This is where most decluttering stalls — the bags sit in the hall for a month and everything creeps back. So it's part of the job, and we don't charge for it:

• British Heart Foundation and Sue Ryder collect furniture and electricals from your door for free — but they're strict. Upholstered items need their fire label still attached and undamaged, nothing stained or torn, electricals have to work. We check each item against their rules before booking, so nothing gets turned away on your doorstep
• Their local store usually rings back within five working days, so we book the collection before the session rather than after. You shouldn't be living around eight bin bags for a week
• Richmond Council collects bulky items at £85 for up to five, then £9.90 each. If you're over 60 it's £29 for the same five, up to five times a year — most people have no idea that rate exists
• A few bags for the charity shop we'll walk round ourselves
• If it's a genuinely large clear-out we'll arrange a van and quote you before anything is booked

Good to know

• One of us, not two. In this work the pace is set by your decisions, not by our hands — a second person doesn't halve the time, it just doubles the bill. For packing or unpacking a whole home, where there's volume and nothing to decide, we come as a pair and quote for the job
• Nothing is thrown away without you saying so. Not one item
• Anything you're unsure about goes into a box marked with today's date. You look at it again in six months, not under pressure at 4pm
• We don't buy storage boxes and baskets and add them to your bill. We'll tell you what would actually help and where to get it — or send us and we'll charge what it cost plus £15 for the trip
• It can be a heavy few hours, particularly after a bereavement, a separation or a parent moving into care. We work at whatever pace you set and we don't pass comment on anything we find
• We're not a house clearance firm. If a whole property needs emptying, we'll say so and point you to someone who does that properly

What it costs

Three hours is the shortest session we take. Any less and we've emptied the wardrobe and run out of time to put it back.