House move costs: two very different quotes and when to pack?!

[ThisMustBeMyDream]

Please can you tell me what kind of costs you have had for house moves - no packing? Local move, 3 bed semi, no garage. Had one quote for £750. Another for £270. The second one was recommended by two friends when I asked for recommendations on FB. Further friends have confirmed that they know people who have used them and had very good service. But I'm wobbling as that is a big difference. The first people came to the house, but this guy asked me for a list of furniture which I gave and I said I was unsure about how many boxes but reckoned at least 50 minimum but probably more as I'm using smaller boxes for quite a few things. But he said that was fine, he could still quote from what I said. I also sent photos too.
In a separate wobble - we are due to move 1st Feb. Exchange not happened yet though. Short chain, ftb buying mine, and the house I'm buying they are buying a house with no chain. So exchange should happen mid Jan at the latest I'm told. When the feck does one start packing? We did the shed. Am going to do the loft. Have also made a start in some rooms. But the issue is - there is nowhere for the boxes to go! How do you live in a house that you can't get around?! I am totally stressing over it all. We will probably have around 60 boxes I reckon as at least 25 will be boxes of the kids toys. I've 56 kallax boxes for a start which are mostly filled with toys (probably about 8/9 which aren't!). Please tell me how you managed! I have one big living/diner which I can put boxes in, but the furniture is still there... I'm basically emptying the furniture with nowhere to put the stuff once out!
Can you tell I am very stressed right about now?!

That seems exceptionally cheap. How much furniture?

Can you stretch to getting them to pack? I’ve always done that and it hasn’t added much to the quote.

Mine was closer to the higher quote. A bit more but I paid for packing too which I always do as then you don’t have to worry about when to start packing as they do it all for you normally the day before the actual move.

There have been several items in the news about people using cheap movers who pack up their van then demand extra money to unload your stuff, holding it to ransom.
40+ kallax boxes of toys suggests that you need to declutter before packing!

I'm pretty sure when we moved the removal men took drawers out of chests, moved the chests and then put the drawers back in? Presumably that's not possible with Kallax? Otherwise it would be very convenient.

£270 seems remarkably cheap but if you've had personal reviews that would make me feel better. Could you message one of the people who said they were good and ask more about what experience they had?

When we moved we didn’t empty drawers of furniture such as dressing tables, we just taped them closed. Put the Kallix boxes into the unit backwards then tape it all up. Put a post on FB asking if anyone has any packing boxes going spare - if not, buy some. They’re far sturdier than any old cardboard box and as they’re the same size are easier to stack in the house and on the moving van!
However, now’s the time to start culling stuff. Go through your kitchen cupboards, wardrobes and toy boxes. Be ruthless! Pack all your summer clothes into your suitcases now.
When we moved after 25+ years in the same house, we packed about a month beforehand because we were going on holiday immediately before the move, so we spent a couple of weeks with packing boxes piled high in our dining room and bedrooms. It’s a pain but it’s doable.

Hahaha
I’ve NEVER seen a story like this!

I think it was about £900 and they were well worth the money. It was like a military operation when they arrived. We had a lot to move. I would be wary of the cheaper option. Does that include insurance?

www.theguardian.com/money/2022/nov/17/beware-removal-firms-that-offer-unusually-low-prices

I think you need a third quote.
I'd ask the middle guy how much extra if they pack. We went for a middle quote of 950 (except we upgraded to 1300 to have full packing) for a 4 bed earlier this year. Can't remember how much the cheaper one was, but DH was likely to be away when we moved, and I was uncomfortable with the cheaper guy, and said no way. The third one was massively more.

I'd go through the house NOW and get rid/sell/charity/recycle as much as you can.
Our house took about 30 man hours to pack. Do not underestimate how much work it is.

I paid £180 2 years ago for a local (under a mile) move (small van, 2 guys, 3 trips) so could be right

I'd be a bit suspicious, especially as he hasn't actually seen your stuff, just gone off what you said. We moved last year and one company visited to quote, the other two did a video call walk around of the whole house. All my previous moves they've visited to quote and see for themselves - it's very very easy to underestimate how much stuff you've got.

Ask your friends for further details, when they used the company and why they recommend them. Of the three we got quotes from - two were around £5.5k and the other £4.5k and the cheapest was the one recommended by friends. They were an absolute nightmare and with hindsight we shouldn't have gone with them - it was cheaper because they did it as a slapdash 3 day move rather than a 4 day. We ended up with stuff not where it should be and loads of chaos to sort out. They also did the thing where they drove off with our stuff into storage for the night and then wanted extra money the following day, effectively holding us to ransom. It later emerged our friends had used them several years earlier rather than recently!

Don't be freaked out by the prices above - ours was a large house move plus two outbuildings' contents going 200 miles, hence the high cost!

It's well well worth paying for the packing service as it eliminates the problem of where to put all the stuff you've packed. They come the day before and do the packing, leaving you with just the stuff you need for the night. It also includes the packing materials so no need to source those either. Every time I've moved the packing cost has been about 10% of the cost of the move.

Well, turns out he is a total dickhead. Long story short I had him collect a super king bed, set of drawers and corner sofa today that I'd bought 2nd hand. He made it all incredibly stressful whilst I was at work. I told him I wanted it done tomorrow, and he agreed. Then he messaged to ask could I do Friday but I said no as I was in work. He insisted I didn't need to be there. So the guy I was buying off agreed to lunch time today. Well, all afternoon I got message after message, phone call after phone call. Saying he couldn't dismantle the bed. Then it was can't get the sofa out. Then can't get the drawers down the stairs without taking them apart (he did send a picture and it was fair enough, it would have required them to be dismantled so I said to leave them). Then it was can't get it in the flat (had given the key to my OH's flat where we will store them til the move). He was adamant the sofa didn't come apart. I ended up having to Google the instructions and sending them to prove you could. He was mithering about needing to go to other jobs so I told him to leave it on the van and my OH would meet him at the flat this evening and dismantle himself and take it in. He just carried on messaging. Eventually he said he would take it apart for another £20.
Bloody tosspot. I've got a raging headache. But at least now I know I won't be using them for the move!
I've got 2 more people coming tomorrow to quote.
Oh, also when he collected the key last night he looked around and said it would be a bit more - £340 which was fine. But then he said it would be 2-3 runs! Errrr... nooooo! I want the van packed and ready to go with all the stuff! Sounds faaaaaar too stressful to be doing back and forth runs!