Short answer
Check the licence first — removalists are not licensed in Australia, so check qualifications and public liability insurance instead. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 898 Australian removalists in this directory, only 5.5% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 4.5% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Removalists handle packing, loading, local and interstate furniture removals, and storage. This is what to check before you let someone load everything you own onto a truck, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
There is no removalist licence — so check something else
Removalists are not licensed in Australia. The credential that does exist is AFRA — the Australian Furniture Removers Association — which requires members to meet equipment, training and insurance standards and can be checked on AFRA's own member list in under a minute. Transit insurance is separate from public liability and is the one that pays when your furniture is damaged in the truck.
There is no government licence to check. AFRA publishes its member list publicly, which is the closest thing to an industry credential. Beyond that, confirm the ABN on the national register and ask for the transit insurance policy in writing — not the public liability policy, which does not cover your furniture.
What 898 Australian removalists actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For removalists:
| What we checked | Removalists | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 5.5% | 9.8% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 42.3% | 39.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 4.5% | 4.8% |
| Website responded when we checked | 60.6% | 64.7% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 81% | 94.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 98 | 29 |
What goes wrong with removalists
- Quotes by volume that grow substantially on moving day
- Transit cover assumed to be included when it is a paid extra
- Goods held in storage against a disputed invoice
- Interstate moves subcontracted to a carrier you never agreed to
What to ask before the work starts
- Are you an AFRA member, and is transit insurance included or extra?
- Is this quote fixed, or an estimate that can change on the day?
- Will your own staff and truck do the whole job, or is any of it subcontracted?
A removalist who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.
The median matters more than the average
The median removalist in this directory has 98 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.
It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.
Where the removalists are
Sydney (166), Melbourne (130), Brisbane (86), Perth (65), Gold Coast (49), Adelaide (33). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best removalist in the country is no help if they are four states away.
Where to check a licence, by state
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICVictorian Building Authority, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Common questions
- Do removalists need a licence in Australia?
- No. Removalists are not licensed in Australia. The credential that does exist is AFRA — the Australian Furniture Removers Association — which requires members to meet equipment, training and insurance standards and can be checked on AFRA's own member list in under a minute. Transit insurance is separate from public liability and is the one that pays when your furniture is damaged in the truck.
- How do I check a removalist's licence?
- There is no government licence to check. AFRA publishes its member list publicly, which is the closest thing to an industry credential. Beyond that, confirm the ABN on the national register and ask for the transit insurance policy in writing — not the public liability policy, which does not cover your furniture.
- What percentage of Australian removalists have a verifiable ABN?
- 5.5% of the 898 removalists in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 9.8% across all trades.
- How many reviews should a removalist have?
- The median removalist here has 98. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Compare removalists near you
898 removalists, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.
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