![Virgil Removals team standing in front of trucks](https://mygungahlin.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Team-images-e1638779625146.jpg)
The skilled team from Virgil Removals are ready to hit the road. Photo: Virgil Removals.
Budding employees at one Canberra business have to step-up and graduate from ‘Removalist University’ before they’re allowed to touch so much as a tea cup.
Virgil Removals owner Ian Walter ensures all his new staff – whether they’ve previously worked in the removalist industry or not – complete a week-long intensive training course before they enter a customer’s home.
The course covers customer service, presentation, packing, dismantling and reassembling furniture, and all things removal.
“The new employees learn how to pack the truck time effectively and to take the utmost care of customers’ belongings,” says Ian.
“No matter how much removal experience one has, we train them in-house – university we call it.”
On the last day of training, prospective employees put their skills to the test by completing house packing and moves for charities such as St Vincent de Paul, as well as public housing tenants or domestic violence cases.
“This is the practical side of the course, which is supervised by our head ‘university teacher’ to ensure the principles are applied to practice,” says Ian.
“If this step is approved by our team leader, staff are granted approval to go and do jobs for our business.”
Moving house can be an overwhelming and exhausting process, and Virgil Removals staff are trained to take the stress out of moving.
“Packing up an entire home and putting it into a new home is daunting, and it is essentially the last process in moving after buying a house, selling a house, dealing with conveyancing lawyers and banks,” says Ian.
“A lot of the time customers are just over the whole process by the time it comes to moving.”
Ian says a lot of jobs carried out in Canberra and surrounds are ‘turnkey’.
“We do the entire packing, unpacking and removal of furniture and household contents for customers,” he says.
“They can essentially walk away from their house as-is, leaving clothes and food in cupboards, furniture in place, and we’ll do everything and have it all ready for them at their next home – clothes in wardrobes, linen folded in cupboards, furniture in place and beds back together.”
Ian says taking the DIY component out of moving means the entire move is done professionally, with reduced risk of injury, breakage and loss.
“There are just too many things that can go wrong during a DIY move, such as damaged walls and furniture, truck-hire problems, or an unreliable friend who forgets to show up,” he says.
“Having our fully trained in-house staff gives us ultimate control over the quality of our work.”
Virgil Removals has been operating interstate for 11 years. Ian purchased the business in 2020, expanding into Canberra.
Five trucks – ranging in size from small to extra large – carry out moves across all of the ACT, as well as interstate to Sydney, the NSW South Coast, Melbourne and regional areas such as Wagga Wagga and Albury.
Some people perceive removalists as careless and rushed, and many people have had items damaged or lost by contractors, but that’s not the case with Virgil Removals.
The team carefully packs and transports your precious belongings to their final destination and, in the unlikely event your furniture or belongings are damaged, the company will pay to have them repaired.
“The fact we only employ in-house staff, and the fact we extensively train our staff, sets us apart,” says Ian.
Virgil Removals team members are friendly and fun, getting together every Friday afternoon for a steak at a local pub, a hit at the golf driving range or a spin around the go-kart track.
When it’s competition based activities such as putt-putt golf or go-karting, the company offers up a $250 gift voucher for the winner.
Visit Virgil Removals for more information, including about the company’s unbeatable triple-guarantee.
Original Article published by Katrina Condie on Riotact.