u/Second-handBonding

Found this out the hard way. Got a quote for £1,400, signed what I thought was a contract, invoice came in at £1,790 because the job "took longer than surveyed."

Turns out most removal quotes are estimates by default. Price can change if the job runs over, access issues, more boxes than the surveyor counted. Company is protected. You're not.

You can ask for a fixed-price contract. Some won't offer it but plenty will if you push. If they won't fix the price, at minimum get in writing exactly what triggers extra charges and how much. A verbal "we'd only charge more if it was massively different" means absolutely nothing when you're standing in an empty house holding a bill.

edit: in England

took me an embarrassingly long time to let go of the idea that if I felt bad enough about what was happening in the world, that somehow counted as doing something.

it doesn't. the anxiety isn't solidarity. it's not a form of caring. it's just your nervous system running hot and eating through the resources you'd actually need to, like, vote, donate, call someone, show up.

the people who stay effective over years of engaging with genuinely awful things aren't the most anxious ones. they're the ones who figured out how to process the distress without drowning in it.

calm isn't indifference. it might actually be the prerequisite for anything useful.

I feel like I am seeing the same ideas over and over again.