Can anyone give me a rough idea of cost of removal firms?

[Hayls]

Before I make an ass of myself by ringing any of them up and getting a shock from the cost? Got a 3 bed, 2 reception semi and only moving a few streets away but have only me and dh and a 2 year old- nobody available to help us
ANy rough ideas of cost or experiences? Am i mad to consider doing it on our own?

Don't know but would be interested to find out as we will have to do this soon.

Local move with you packing the boxes and them loading and unloading the van about £500 I think. That is London prices though. If they pack the boxes it is more..

My friend, who had young twins at the time got one of those companies that come in and pack up each room, move the stuff and unpack it into each room - sounds like heaven to me. No idea how much it cost but they are quite well off so I'm sure it cost lots.

We've packed most of the house up and will do the rest nearer the time so no need for them to pack for us. It's only round the corner (can walk quicker than drive if I cut across the park)but it's the manual labour we need help with! Quite shocked at £500!!

Oh and not London prices (glos) but even then it still sounds expensive. MIght have to rethink it

Eeeek!
£500!

We're moving 60 miles away too.

My other mate employed her 17 yr old nephew and 2 of his mates to lug stuff into and out of a hired van and she paid them £40 each which they were thrilled with. Any nearby teenager you could take advantage of?

Shop around for prices though as when we moved approx 4 years ago (distance of about 70 miles)we were quoted between £550 and £1000+ !

I've offered a couple of teenagers £40 but they weren't too keen. I work in a youth club so do have a bit of choice but would rather not ask most of them! My line manager apparently knows a few that might do it and are trustworthy so he's looking into it for me. Fingers crossed- it's meant to be 2 weeks today and we've still got loads to do

I suppose that was about 4 yrs ago, has the teenage index risen so much that £40 isn't much to them anymore

If you do hire someone - whether it's a 'man and van' - or proper removals - make sure they've got insurance to cover your goods.......I have a friend that didn't and the result was a little like that edition of "Changing Rooms" when they had a hanging shelf with precious teapots - except hers wasn't teapots.

We moved about 15 months ago and prices were anything between £500 - £1,,300 for pickfords and that was only to go up the road. We are moving next week and are doing it ourselves this time.

we moved 60 miles in january(surrey to sussex) from a 3 bed terraced which we'd been ruthless with when packing (ie loft and shed virtually empty, all packing done ourselves and using the minimum amount of boxes, garden toys all dismantled) and it cost about £700.

We moved about 10 miles in London, and paid about £500. We didn't get them to pack, just to load, drive and off load.

Don't bother getting the big chains to quote (i did and they quoted hideous amounts). Look around for small local removal firms.

The quote we're going with is just under £700 inc packing, liability and a cancellation fee waiver thingy (we pay £80 quid to avoid £600-odd if the move goes pearshaped.) Hampshire area.
For a disorganised mum of 2 tinies like me, NOT paying someone to pack is a false economy.

£800 for packing, removals & storage for 1 week. That is in North Bucks.

When we moved 6 years ago they charged hourly. It was £25 per hour and then VAT on top.

i think a complete rip off up here in North Wales then

When we moved a year ago, packing, transport and insurance, about 100 miles, cost us £3500. It is based on the cubic footgage of your goods, plus the man hours needed to pack, load and unpack.

I have just had quotes for this as moving in six weeks. It was £500 for a local removal firm including all boxes and packing materials(reputable, insured etc) and another £200 for packing. Other quote was from a '2 men and a van' type thing and that was £80 per van load. Decided to go the cheap option and just take the really fragile stuff in our car (only round the corner from current house so easy to do a couple of runs) Argos do cheap packing kits with all the boxes you need. Good luck with your move!

ours cost about £1,000 to go about 20 miles and have packers. (moved from London to Surrey).

Moving from London to Bristol I have had quotes ranging from £400 to £1400. This is for a basic move. I think the quotes of £400 are a little ambitious now. We might do it ourselves, by hiring a van, but I am not keen. Or my mother is trying to insist on paying. Not keen on that at all either.

I moved from Cumbria with our three children and non-driving partner to my mum and dad's and stuff into too-small storage while we house hunted. Total journey there and back was 500miles and I did the journey at least 10 times. I did three trips in one day plus packing and on the final day's leg up and back down, started my new job at 7am after travelling through the night down the M6 and arriving at 5am ready for work! What fun.

We had two days and nights of help from my parents the rest was all done with kids and cats in tow.

I would NEVER do it again. However, driving the van was fun and DP and I felt like Thelma and Louise (maybe I mean Lewis!) at times and kind of enjoyed it.

I am proud of our achievement (sorry, I am a little weird) looking back and I would say do it and save yourself a whole load of money because removal isn't cheap and DIYing it is fun in a sadistic kind of way.

I know somebody from mumsnet who tried to do it on the cheap and had her piano and other bits scratched by the removal people. She said it wasn't worth the hassle to economise.

Good Luck whatever.