About Us
Family Movers Ethio is Ethiopia’s trusted moving and packing company. From single apartments in Addis Ababa corporate relocations across Bishoftu and Sululta- we handle every move with care.
Contact Us
A villa move isn’t an apartment move with more boxes. It’s a different kind of operation — multiple rooms across multiple floors, larger furniture that often pre-dates current doorways, gardens with outdoor furniture, garages with tools, and frequently a level of personal value (antique pieces, family heirlooms, art collections) that elevates the stakes beyond logistics.
Family Movers Ethio has run villa relocations across Addis Ababa since 2018. We move 3-bedroom homes, premium villas, and multi-building compounds — including diplomatic residences, embassy compounds, and high-net-worth family estates. Pricing starts at ETB 45,000 for a small villa and is fixed before you commit.
Villa & House Moving Pricing in Addis Ababa
Villa pricing is locked, written, and inclusive of everything we typically need to complete a move successfully — full crew, appropriate vehicles, protection materials, disassembly and reassembly of standard furniture, and floor-to-floor handling. The only items not included by default are cleaning (an optional add-on), high-value declared insurance, and specialty handling for items like grand pianos or large safes.
What’s included in every villa move:
- Free in-person site survey at both origin and destination (we always visit larger homes in person)
- Written quote with locked pricing — no changes on moving day
- Full-time trained crew (not day labour) appropriate to the size of the move
- Multiple vehicles where needed (we don’t compromise by squeezing a 5-bedroom move into one truck)
- Premium-grade packing materials: heavy-duty boxes, custom crating for fragile items, mattress and sofa covers, dish-pack inserts
- Disassembly and reassembly of standard furniture, including beds, dining tables, wardrobes, bookshelves, and outdoor patio sets
- Floor and door-frame protection at both locations, including tile and parquet protection
- Garden and patio item handling (planters, grills, outdoor furniture, garden tools)
- Basic liability coverage for damage caused by crew error during loading or transport
Optional add-ons: Move-in/move-out cleaning (Villa: +ETB 15,000), high-value declared insurance for items above ETB 50,000, specialty crating for art and antiques, piano moving (additional crew + equipment), short-term storage between move dates, and weekend or evening scheduling.
For compound moves and multi-building estates: Pricing is always custom — every compound is structurally different, with different security protocols, different access constraints, and different timelines. We schedule a longer site survey (60–90 minutes) and provide a written multi-phase quote.
What We Move in a Villa Relocation
Villa moves involve substantially more variety than apartment moves. Beyond the standard furniture, appliances, and personal items, we routinely handle:
- Bedroom furniture: King and queen beds, custom-built four-posters, large wardrobes (often requiring disassembly to clear doorways), dressing tables, bedroom safes
- Living and dining room: Sectional sofas, marble or solid-wood dining tables (often 6 to 12 seater), large bookshelves, entertainment units, antique cabinets, grand mirrors
- Kitchen and pantry: Built-in appliances, free-standing fridges and freezers, wine fridges, large pantry inventories, fine china and crystal sets
- Home offices and libraries: Desks, filing cabinets, book collections (we recommend dedicated book boxes — books get heavy fast), monitors, printers, server equipment for home-based businesses
- Children’s rooms: Bunk beds, cribs, toy collections, school equipment, outdoor toys (bicycles, trampolines, slides)
- Outdoor and garden: Patio furniture, BBQ grills, planters and large pots, garden tools, lawnmowers, outdoor heaters, swing sets
- Specialty items: Pianos (upright and grand — additional crew and equipment), safes, art collections, antique rugs, sculptures, exercise equipment, sound systems and home theaters
- Garage contents: Tools, workbenches, motorcycles, scooters, large boxes of stored items, seasonal decorations
For items that require special handling — grand pianos, large safes, fine art, antiques, or anything with declared value above ETB 50,000 — we schedule additional crew, equipment, and insurance during the site survey.
What we don’t move: Hazardous materials (gas cylinders, fuel, garden chemicals in quantity, paint thinner), large quantities of perishable food, live pets (we recommend a separate pet transport service), illegal items, anything our crew leader considers unsafe.
Our Villa Moving Process
Every villa move follows a refined version of our four-step process. Larger moves require more preparation — the site survey is longer, the quote is more detailed, and moving day often spans multiple vehicles and multiple phases.
Step 1 — In-person site survey (45–90 minutes, free). A senior team lead visits both your current villa and (where possible) your destination. We measure all access points, identify which furniture will need disassembly, note anything fragile or oversized, plan vehicle parking and turnaround for the truck, and identify any unique handling requirements (steep driveways, narrow gates, garden access, security checkpoints). Video surveys are available for international clients but are not preferred for villas — we get better-quality quotes from in-person visits.
Step 2 — Detailed written quote (within 48 hours). Villa quotes are typically more detailed than apartment quotes because there’s more variation in scope. You receive a quote that lists crew composition, vehicle schedule, materials breakdown, day-by-day timeline (for multi-day moves), specialty handling for any flagged items, and add-on options. The price is fixed. A 30% deposit confirms the booking; the balance is due on completion.
Step 3 — Pre-move preparation (1–3 days before). For villa moves we usually arrive 1–3 days ahead to deliver materials and pack non-essentials (kitchenware not in daily use, books, decorative items, off-season clothing). This reduces moving day to mostly furniture and core items, which is faster and lower-stress for the family.
Step 4 — Moving day execution. Crew arrives at the agreed time, in uniform, with all materials prepped. Floors and door frames are protected before any furniture moves. The team works in zones — typically loading the master bedroom and living room first while a parallel team packs the kitchen, then progressing through the rest of the house. Multiple vehicles are loaded in stages to coordinate with destination unloading.
Step 5 — Reassembly and walkthrough. At the new villa, beds and major furniture are reassembled, rooms are placed per your floor plan, outdoor items are positioned, and we walk through every room with you before leaving. Final payment happens only once you’ve signed off. For larger moves where unpacking continues for several days, we schedule a follow-up visit to remove empty boxes and packing materials at no extra charge.
Villa Moves Done Right: Furniture Disassembly, Garden Logistics & Premium Care
This is the section where villa moves either succeed or fail. Three operational areas matter most:
Furniture disassembly and reassembly. Many premium villas in Addis Ababa contain furniture that was either built in place or has dimensions exceeding modern doorway standards. Wardrobes that came up the staircase 15 years ago may need to come out through a window today. Dining tables with single-piece marble tops require specialized handling. Our crew leaders are trained to identify these challenges during the site survey and plan disassembly sequences in advance — we don’t discover problems on moving day.
Garden, patio, and outdoor handling. Villas come with outdoor inventory that apartment moves don’t have: planters, grills, garden tools, swing sets, outdoor furniture, and patio shade structures. We protect plants in transit, drain BBQ propane lines safely, package garden tools to prevent damage to other items, and reassemble outdoor sets at the destination. Plants stay vertical during transit; pots and statuary are wrapped to prevent chipping.
Premium care and family heirlooms. Many villa moves involve items with substantial personal value beyond their financial value — wedding furniture, items inherited across generations, hand-crafted Ethiopian pieces, art collections built over decades. We treat these items as if they were our own family’s. Specialty crating is available for paintings and antiques; declared-value insurance covers any item above ETB 50,000 in worth. The crew leader on every villa move is briefed on the family’s high-value items before the truck arrives.
Compound moves specifically. Diplomatic residences, embassy compounds, and large family estates often have unique requirements: security protocols (background-checked crew, controlled access lists), staggered timelines (the family is moving over multiple days due to work schedules), or international shipping coordination (some items go to a shipping container, others stay locally). We’ve handled these scenarios for clients across Bole, Old Airport, Kebena, and the embassy district. Compound move quotes are always custom and built collaboratively with the client.
Common Villa Move Scenarios in Addis Ababa
Most of our villa relocations fall into one of these patterns. If yours matches, we’ve done it before — many times.
- The growing family upgrade: Moving from a smaller home or apartment into a 3 or 4-bedroom villa. Common in Yeka (Kotebe, Meri), Lemi Kura (Ayat, Goro), and outer Bole (Bole Bulbula, Bole Arabsa).
- The premium villa relocation: Moving between high-end villas, typically driven by a new build, a significant upgrade, or a relocation closer to schools or work. Common in Bole (Atlas, Old Airport, Friendship City) and Yeka (Shola, Ferensay Legasion).
- The diplomatic or embassy posting: International or domestic relocation tied to a diplomatic posting or contract end. Often involves combined local + international shipping coordination, embassy security protocols, and tight timelines tied to a posting handover.
- The compound or estate move: Multi-building family estates or diplomatic compounds, usually multi-day phased operations with custom quotes. Common in the embassy district, Old Airport, and parts of Yeka.
- The post-construction move-in: Moving into a newly built or recently renovated villa where the builder just handed over keys. We frequently coordinate with cleaning crews and final-touch contractors for these moves.
- The downsizing or estate transition: Empty-nester families moving from a large family villa to a smaller home, or moving belongings into storage as part of an estate transition. We handle the emotional sensitivity of these moves with extra patience and care.
Add Move-In/Move-Out Cleaning to Your Villa Move
Villa moves are one of the situations where adding cleaning makes the most difference. A 4-bedroom villa with marble floors, three bathrooms, a kitchen, and outdoor terraces can take a dedicated cleaning crew a full day to handle properly — and trying to clean while you’re also packing is a recipe for missing things.
Villa cleaning add-on pricing: +ETB 15,000
The cleaning crew arrives in parallel with the moving crew on moving day. As the moving team loads up the old villa, the cleaning team works through it room by room — floors, bathrooms, kitchen surfaces, fixtures, windows, and outdoor terraces. By the time the moving truck pulls away, the old villa is ready for the landlord or new owner to inspect.
If you’d rather have the cleaning happen at the destination (cleaning the new villa before you unpack), we can arrange that instead — same price, just different timing. Mention your preference during the site survey.
Cleaning is offered exclusively as an add-on to a villa moving booking. We don’t take cleaning-only jobs.
Frequently Asked Questions
AboutVilla&House Moving
Get Your Free Villa Moving Quote
Ready to book your villa move? The next step is a free in-person site survey — typically 45–90 minutes — so we can give you a written quote with locked pricing. Site surveys for villas and compounds are always done in person; we don’t quote villa moves remotely because the variation between properties is too significant to assess from photos.
Have Any Queries ?
Contact Our Office
Visit Our Office
Ayat, Lomyad Building,
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia