You’ve spent a year or two choosing every surface in the house. The oak floors were sanded and finished three times. The island bench is a single slab of marble you chose at the stone yard. The joinery was drawn, redrawn and built to the millimetre. Then, on the day you finally move in, a team of people you’ve never met carries a fridge, a piano and forty boxes across all of it.

Moving day is the moment a new custom home is most at risk. I run a removals company in Queensland, and our crews move a lot of families into new builds and major renovations. The damage we see in new homes is rarely dramatic. It’s a dragged scratch down a hallway, a chipped mitre on a benchtop, a dent in a freshly painted door frame. Small things, but expensive and frustrating to fix, and almost all of them are preventable.

Here’s how to protect the finishes you’ve invested in, from the week before the move to the day the last box is unpacked.

Before Anything Moves: Document The House

The single most useful thing you can do takes about an hour. Before a single piece of furniture comes through the door, walk through the house and photograph every surface: floors, benchtops, stairs, door frames, walls and joinery, with close-ups of anything that already has a mark.

There are two reasons. First, new builds almost always have some minor defects at handover, and you want a clear record of what was there before you moved in. That matters for your builder’s defects period and, in Queensland, for any claim under the QBCC Home Warranty Scheme. Second, if something does get damaged on moving day, dated photos make it a simple conversation with your removalist rather than an argument about whether the mark was already there.

Do the same at the house you’re leaving, especially if it’s being sold or handed back to a landlord.

Floors: The Biggest Surface, And The Most At Risk

Floors take more damage on moving day than everything else combined, because every item in the house crosses them.

Timber floors. The real enemy isn’t the furniture. It’s grit. A single grain of sand under a boot or a dolly wheel will leave a scratch across a new finish faster than anything else. Protection starts at the door: a good mat outside, another inside, and a rule that the floor is covered before the crew starts carrying.

Freshly finished timber needs extra care. Most floor finishes are dry to walk on within a day or two but take much longer to fully cure, often a couple of weeks or more depending on the product. Until then the surface is softer and more easily marked. If your floors were finished in the last few weeks, ask your floor finisher how long their product needs to cure, and plan the move around it if you can.

Use breathable floor protection rather than plastic sheeting on new timber. Plastic can trap moisture against a curing finish. Purpose-made protection boards and breathable rolls are better, and they lay flat, so nobody trips. Avoid sticking tape directly to a new finish too, because some adhesives will lift it when the tape comes off. Tape the protection to itself, or use a tape your floor finisher recommends.

Polished concrete and stone floors are harder, but not indestructible. Grit still scratches the sealer, and heavy items dropped on an edge can chip them. Rubber wheels can leave marks on some sealed concrete, so ask whether your mover’s dollies have non-marking wheels.

Large-format tiles are tough on the surface but can chip at the edges and corners, particularly around doorways and steps, where a trolley wheel can catch.

Carpet is more forgiving, but new carpet shows every track mark. Runners in the main walkways keep it looking new.

Whatever the floor, the most important rule is simple: nothing gets dragged. Every piece should be carried or moved on proper equipment, and every heavy item should go down onto felt pads, not straight onto the floor.

Stone Benchtops: Tough On Top, Fragile At The Edges

Stone feels indestructible, which is exactly why it gets damaged. The flat surface of a benchtop will cope with almost anything. The edges and corners won’t.

Mitred edges, where two pieces of stone are joined at an angle to make a thick-looking edge, are the most vulnerable part of a modern kitchen. A knock from a fridge, a dishwasher or a box corner can chip them, and chips in a mitre are hard to repair invisibly. Before moving day, fit foam corner and edge guards to the island and any bench that sits along a main walkway.

A few other things worth knowing:

– Benchtops are not shelves. It’s tempting to put boxes on the island while you unpack, but a box with a staple or a gritty base can scratch, and a heavy box set down on an edge can crack it. Set up a folding table for unpacking instead.
– Marble etches. Natural marble reacts to acids, so a leaking bottle of vinegar or juice in a kitchen box can leave a dull mark. Pack liquids in sealed tubs, and unpack the pantry somewhere other than the marble.
– Sliding appliances in and out of their cavities scrapes both the floor and the edges of the surrounding stone and joinery. Appliances should be lifted into place with protection on the cavity edges.

Joinery, Doors And Walls

Custom joinery is one of the most expensive parts of a new home, and the finishes are usually softer than people expect.

Painted cabinetry, especially the two-pack polyurethane finishes common in modern kitchens and wardrobes, can chip if it’s knocked. Handleless push-to-open doors are particularly exposed, because there’s nothing sticking out to take the hit first. Keep a clear path past the kitchen and robe walls, and cover any joinery that sits along the route the crew will be carrying through.

Doors and frames take a lot of knocks on moving day. Door jamb protectors are cheap and worth it on every doorway along the main route. Large pivot doors look like they’d make moving easier, but they’re heavy and their hardware can be damaged if they’re forced past their stops or leaned on. Ask the crew to secure them in the open position rather than relying on someone holding them.

Freshly painted walls are softer than they look for the first few weeks while the paint cures. Corners along hallways and stairwells are the danger spots. Corner guards help, and so does a crew that has already walked the route and knows where the tight turns are.

Stairs, Glass and Lifts

New homes often have features that make moving harder than in an older house.

Floating stairs and open treads look wonderful and are awkward to carry heavy furniture up. The treads may also be finished timber or stone, with the same risks as the floors. Cover them, and measure the turning space at the top and bottom before deciding which pieces go upstairs.

Glass balustrades are strong, but a heavy item swung into the edge of a glass panel is a real risk. Protect exposed glass edges along the carry route.

Residential lifts have weight and size limits. Check them before moving day and don’t assume a heavy item like a safe, a piano or an exercise machine can go in the lift.

Plan Where Everything Goes Before The Truck Arrives

The more decisions are made in advance, the fewer times furniture gets moved around on new floors.

Give your removalist a simple floor plan with the main pieces marked in each room. Measure the big items against the new openings, including doorways, stair turns and the gap between the island and the joinery. Custom homes often have generous spaces but surprisingly tight access points, and it’s much better to find out a sofa won’t make the turn on paper than in your hallway.

High-value and unusual items deserve their own plan:

– Artwork, sculpture and mirrors should be properly wrapped or crated, and hung or placed by someone who knows what they’re doing.
– Pianos and safes need specialist equipment and should go straight to their final position.
– Wine collections don’t like heat or vibration. Move them on a cool day and let them rest before opening anything special.
– Smart home equipment such as AV racks, network gear and wall-mounted screens is best disconnected and reconnected by your installer rather than the removal crew.

Timing The Move Around The Build

Building timelines run late more often than not, and a move that’s booked for the day after handover leaves no room for anything to go wrong.

If you can, leave a gap between handover and moving day. It gives you time to do the defects inspection and photograph everything, lets floor and paint finishes cure further, and means trades can finish any last items without working around your furniture. If your old home sells before the new one is ready, storage between the two takes the pressure off.

Pay attention to the storage environment, though. Queensland’s humidity is hard on timber furniture, leather and artwork, and it’s worse in the tropics. If you’re building or renovating in the far north, experienced removalists Cairns homeowners use will understand how the wet season affects both storage and moving day, and can help you plan around the weather.

Check your insurance too. Make sure your home and contents cover is in place on the new house from handover, and ask your removalist what their cover includes while your belongings are in transit and in storage.

Choosing The Right Crew For a New Home

Moving into a custom home is a different job from moving between two rentals, and it’s worth asking different questions.

Ask whether the company will do a site visit before quoting, so they’ve seen the access, the stairs and the finishes. Ask what floor and wall protection they bring, and whether it’s included in the quote or extra. Ask about their insurance, and whether they’re a member of the Australian Furniture Removers Association (AFRA), which means they’ve met accreditation standards and agreed to a code of practice. And ask how they handle damage if it does happen, because how a company answers that question tells you a lot.

In Brisbane, access is often the hidden challenge. Many new homes are on steep blocks, battle-axe lots or narrow streets, and that affects how close the truck can get and how far everything has to be carried. When you’re comparing removalists Brisbane homeowners recommend, ask how they’d approach your specific site. A good crew will want to know about the driveway gradient and the parking before they give you a price.

On The Day

A few habits make a big difference:

– Be there for the walk-through at the start, and point out the finishes you’re most worried about.
– Lay protection before the first item comes in, not after the first trip.
– Keep the house clean as you go. Have a broom and a dust mop by the door and sweep the main route a few times through the day.
– Keep the kitchen island clear. Use a separate table for unpacking.
– Do a final walk-through with the crew before they leave, and check the floors and walls along the main route while everyone is still there.

The Finish Line

A new custom home is the result of hundreds of careful decisions. It deserves the same care on the day you move in. Photograph everything, protect the floors, the stone edges and the joinery, plan where everything goes, and give yourself a little time between handover and moving day. Do that, and the only marks on your new floors will be the ones that come from living in the house, which is exactly how it should be.

Kyle Campos is a director of R2G Transport & Storage, an AFRA-accredited removals and storage company that has been moving Queensland homeowners from its Brisbane and Cairns depots since 2014.