Professional biography
Steve O'Connor has personally surveyed and managed hundreds of household and commercial moves for Smart Move Removals since 2012. He is very experienced and has worked teams in Leeds, Manchester and Merseyside himself and is the point of escalation for moving-day timing across the business.
As the business is expanding he is becoming more office based to focus on the project management of day-to-day removals operations. That hands-on background still shapes how Smart Move quotes, crews and coordinates jobs across Leeds, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside.
Beyond day-to-day removals, Steve is the editorial voice behind every guide on this site. If you are reading a piece on moving to Roundhay, the Headingley student HMO playbook, or the Leeds moving-cost breakdown, Steve has either written it or signed it off before publication.
Company history
- 2012
Steve begins surveying and managing household and commercial moves for Smart Move Removals across Leeds and West Yorkshire, working directly on the jobs he quotes.
- 2014
Expansion into Greater Manchester and Merseyside. Fleet grows to three vehicles; the first full-time removals crew joins the business.
- 2018
Commercial and office relocations added as a dedicated service — weekend and out-of-hours moves for Leeds and North West businesses.
- 2021
Containerised storage brought in-house — chain-break moves no longer routed through third-party facilities.
- 2024–26
Leeds becomes the operational and editorial hub — flagship suburb coverage across Roundhay, Alwoodley, Adel, Moortown, Headingley and the wider LS postcode. Long-distance work runs UK-wide from the same base.
Qualifications and credentials
- Has personally surveyed and managed hundreds of household and commercial moves for Smart Move Removals since 2012.
- £1,000,000 public liability and £100,000 in-transit cover insurance carried on every job, with named-item cover on request.
- GDPR-registered data controller (ICO). Every customer's data is handled to that standard.
- Briefs and supervises the crews Smart Move sends on the moves he surveys.
Areas of expertise
Chain-day timing
Coordinating five-property Yorkshire chains where keys land late in the afternoon and every household downstream is depending on the same 20-minute window.
Access surveys
Reading a property before moving day — gated drives, gravel, mansion-block lifts, conservation-area parking, single-track lanes and the shuttle-vehicle decisions that follow.
Piano, antique and fine-art handling
Uprights, baby grands, grandfather clocks, marble tops and framed art — the crating, wrapping and lifting practice that keeps them intact.
Commercial relocations
Weekend office and retail moves in Leeds, Manchester and Merseyside where the tenant needs to be trading on Monday morning without a missed beat.
Storage and chain breaks
Containerised storage between exchange and completion when a chain falls through — logistics that turn a crisis into an inconvenience.
Why customers trust Smart Move
Independently reviewed
Rated 5.0 on Google from 80 customer reviews and 9.74/10 on Checkatrade from 85 customer reviews. Figures last checked 27 July 2026.
Insurance you can actually claim on
£1 million public liability insurance and £100,000 in-transit cover as standard. Extended cover may be arranged at additional cost, subject to insurer approval and policy terms.
Named coordinator on every move
The person who quotes your move is the person you speak to on completion day — no call-centre, no ticket queue.
Fixed price, held to the quote
Every quote is written and fixed after a proper survey. Late keys, extra stairs and awkward loading do not change the price.
Read the customer feedback that sits behind these commitments on the Smart Move reviews page.
Editorial review process
How every guide on this site is written, reviewed and kept current.
- 01
Written from operational experience
Every guide starts as a working note from a real Smart Move job — a survey, a completion day, a chain that slipped, an access problem we had to solve on the pavement. Nothing is written from a keyword tool.
- 02
Reviewed against current practice
Before publication Steve reviews the piece against how Smart Move actually runs that type of job in 2026 — pricing bands, vehicle choice, insurance limits, crew size, parking rules — so the advice matches what a customer would experience if they booked us today.
- 03
Dated and re-checked quarterly
Every article carries a visible Published and Last Reviewed date. Costings, catchment notes, council parking rules and school admissions references are re-checked every quarter and updated in place — we do not silently republish stale content with a fresh date.
- 04
Corrections handled openly
If we get something wrong — a school catchment tightens, a parking scheme changes, a road layout is altered — the article is updated and the Last Reviewed date is moved. Material corrections are noted at the foot of the piece rather than hidden.