Shocked at quote from removal firm

[Daffodils9]

We’re moving house nearly 400 miles, so it’s definitely a big move. Thanking our lucky stars that DH’s work will pay most of the relocation costs including for the removal firm to pack for us. We needed to get 3 quotes so work can sign off on one of them.

We have a four bed house and it’s a bit cluttered. Probably more than the average number of books, for example.

We’ve had our 3 quotes and I was expecting them to be high because of the distance. It will be 1 day to pack, 0.5 days to load, 1 day to travel, 0.5 days to unload and then 1 day to travel back, so 4 days total for each firm.

One firm has quoted £11,000!!!

The other two quotes are £6,000 and £7,000 which I thought were pretty high themselves. We’re not keen on the £6,000 one as their service has been pretty bad so far just trying to get the quote booked in.

We’re getting a fourth quote as the £11,000 seems ridiculous. Do they just not really want the job? They are a national firm so it doesn’t really make sense to me.

All the movers know that a company is paying rather than us so I don’t know whether they put the prices up a bit in that case. Do they expect us to haggle or is what is quoted the final price?

Looking at calculators online I was thinking more £1500 for the packing, £1000ish for the travel and then some more for the labour and accommodation for the movers. So maybe £4000 total. Perhaps it’s the fuel costs that are pushing it up? Or am I completely unrealistic about how much such things cost?

Thanks!

I always found AnyVan very reasonable

Exactly and it’s because people willing to pay this much these jokers will continue.

Having worked in the industry and knowing how quotes are assembled I would suggest that you could look at the quote breakdown, how many men have been quoted for the pack ? The load? How many are going in the lorry etc? Because all those chaps are costing you £15-£20 per hour each from when they arrive at the depot and start loading the packing gear in the truck so before they even set off to your house. The fuel costs will be substantial as will the packing materials on a ‘busy’ 4 bed house. Also access counts too as an awkward unload can add hundreds to labour costs. Then the company needs to make a profit after paying all these men and keeping big vehicles on the road and their depot. £7k sounds ballpark to me assuming sensible access and nothing awkward like a piano or a hot tub on the inventory.

Well yeah.... But, I am still waiting for the proof that these prices exist. A five-figure (stealth brag) sum like £11,000 for a 400 mile house move. Really...? Until someone provides the proof/evidence of these prices, I can only surmise that these prices are fiction. It is the internet after all. Anyone can say anything, and present it as truth. (To try and make themselves sound minted/well off/rich la la la.) 😎

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@Daffodils9 my comment wasn’t directed at you but @PurpleButterflyWings who priced up a move and couldn’t get it anywhere close so doesn’t believe you.

I agree that the 11k quote was more because they dont want the job.

My job involves going out and quoting for work for the company (not this field though) and my boss doesnt like us ever saying no to work. So if we dont have the staff/space in the scedule, their attitude is quote high enough and if they accept, then we'll make it work.

Perhaps its the same thing youve experienced?

Are you selling and buying?

Anyone who is selling and buying can’t take the risk of it not fitting in as you never own both houses simultaneously. Also not an option for long distances.

Good luck with your move though!

@EggInANest We are selling and buying but only moving across town and the new owners aren't moving in that day.

We also have the keys for the property we're buying so it's possible to do a second trip if necessary, but it's not planned.

We've just got a quote for £7000 with no packing as all packed in a storage unit, no white goods, sofa or double mattress to move 250 miles. 11 years ago we moved the same distance, including packing for my goods and it cost us £1400, same company. 13 years ago we moved from an island, 600 miles including ferry and several overnights for £4000. I cannot believe how much removals companies have increased. We are now completing on a house and cannot move our furniture as we had only budgeted £1.5k!

Sorry I know this is old, but are they reliable? I am nervous allowing a man with a van access to all our items! But at the moment they have come in with several quotes around £1k compared to £7k for well known removals firm

We moved Denmark to UK for £7500 in 2022 -

My FIL has just spent £3900 ( including packing) for a 3 bed house in Kent to move to their storage- also in Kent and put in storage for 7 weeks approx and then it will be a further £2900 to move from storage to Somerset- this was the same people we used from Denmark - a biggish firm with a big fleet who do loads of international moves, but we found extremely good and very thorough and you get an individual project manager guy in advance for personal contact - thoroughly recommended - we have used twice now.
Moving is not cheap unless you are doing it yourself and within 20 miles

We're paying £8.5k to do a full pack of a 5 bed house and move 100 miles away. 2 days to pack and 1 day to travel and unload. That was the cheapest quote we got from a reputable company.

Anything you pack yourself is not covered by the remover’s insurance, so make sure your own covers you.

When does it get to the point where you might as well chuck all your stuff away and buy new stuff at the new house.

Then just hire a transit to take the important stuff like grannys tea set.

£1,000 to move 400 miles? No, no one on earth would do it for that money, particularly as it includes packing and unpacking the whole house.

@SunnyLimeKoala Err, the OP was looking to move two years ago. In 2023. I don’t know why you commented.

I paid £1200 last September to move a 2-bed flat to a 3-bed house approximately 3 miles. And I did all the packing myself.

Honestly, removal firms feels like a bit of a racket.

When I moved (large distance) I did all the small stuff myself and got a removal firm to do the big stuff. The small stuff was a long way away but a Transit was easy to hire. The big stuff was a in a storage bunker not far from the house, maybe 10 miles or so away. It was £300 to move it into the bunker and £300 to get it out IIRC.

It would be interesting to find out how much the OP finally paid, but I can't imagine paying that much unless I had a load of heirloom furniture or something.

If you want to be insured against breakage in transit, you need to have them pack. We went with a cheaper quote for packing and moving (back to UK from overseas so more complicated) and regretted it. One bed broken, and 3 damaged plus some pilfering of stuff. Luckily we had paid for the packing service so could claim. We didn’t get reimbursed for everything though as, like most people, it took us a while to unpack all the boxes and we kept thinking “it’ll be in the next box”!

@Cyclistmumgrandma we did a cheapo on way out to Denmark ( awful job by cowboys and not that cheap)

on the way back we used Matthew James -2k more- beautifully packed and all room coded- not as much as a broken glass and a great job

@Crikeyalmighty, yes, we live and learn! The removal firm were not happy at needing to cough up for a £70 bottle of single malt which had been bought for less than half that price in what was, pre move, our local French supermarket.

@Cyclistmumgrandma ha ha- I’ve learnt on moves I’m very much for the middle ground - can’t run to Pickfords financially if I’m paying but certainly on overseas moves or even UK of any distance - it’s not worth skimping .

We moved just to the opposite side of the street about 15 houses down and did all the packing and 99.9% of the moving ourself. We had a cluttered 3 bed house and it took two of us 10 days of constant work to tidy/declutter/pack and move stuff. We did 10 full car charity shop runs and about as many runs to the local dump.

We hired a removal company to move the big/heavy things we couldn't do in our car which was the washer (really insanely heavy), king size mattress and 3 piece suite (3 seat sofa and 2 armchairs)... the cost to move that 0.1mile (1 minute) down the road was £125.

To pack a whole house (especially a cluttered one) and move it 400 miles I would fully expect it to be extortionate.