Removal Company vs hiring own van : which is best

SingleSue

In all of our moves, we have roped in friends and parents and their cars...very handy that one of our friends had a huge transit van!

Our last move was quite a few years ago now and again it was done all in the cars but with us by then having 3 children there was not a lot I could fit in mine plus I had to keep stopping to breastfeed every 2 hours! It turned out to be a very stressful and tiring day and at the end of it all, we turned around to each other and said "Next time we hire removal people"

Someone mentioned tea chests and books, I remember our first move from our lovely big flat into our very tiny rabbit hutch of a 1 bedroom house. We had hundreds of books and I was merrily packing the books into the tea chests, right to the brim - come moving day, other half tried to budge one of the tea chests and couldn't even shove it an inch let alone pick it up! A family friend was able to pick it up on his own (along with our washing machine - at different times of course!) although I think that action contributed to his double hernia a few years later! :rotfl:

sillyvixen

when i moved i was 2 months post op after abdo surgery and could not lift a lot of my boxes of stuff .. i hired a van and bribed people to help with the loading and unloading - my mum has artheritis but did her bit by driving round with food to be heated up in the microwave for everyone (oven not delivered till the next day)friends helped and we had a few cans and bottles after everything was in place - as it was only a local move most people were in walking distance and alcohol was freely providied once the work was done.

a few can and bottles of wine plus my mums home cooked dinned and van hire was much cheaper and more efficiant than getting in a removal company for a local move!

Welshwoofs

I've done more moves than I care to think about. Your best bet is this:

1. Hire a transit for the weekend (approx £60 for a short wheel base).
2. Drive your transit to your local B&Q at closing time on a Friday night and 'borrow' s flatbed trolley. You'll find they have large, upright poles to stop them being 'borrowed' but they are simply attached by screws.
3. Use the flatbed trolley to transport your stuff to and from the transit and then return the trolley back to dear old B&Q with the pole screwed back in place

Bosh. Move done. :money:

hamstercheeks_2

having just moved in june (and never again...) i wd deffo recommend getting someone else to do it for you.....
still suffering from sore back....

rachnbri

I moved house in 2003 and decided to save money by hiring a van and moving everything myself with my ex bf and my mum. It took us an entire day from 7am to midnight and I swore never again. My children ended up staying over at my parents house because I was still re-assembling their beds at 1.30am. It was a nightmare and we all hurt for days afterwards. If you can get a van and two men for under £200 go for it. They'll be used to doing house moves and will know all the tricks, they won't waste precious half hours arguing about the best way to get the wardrobe out of the front door and it will be less stress all round.

NickWarren_2

Get your mates to help!
I did, paid £34 inc. VAT fro 24 hours LWB Transit hire, Did it in 4 hours (2 bed terraced) easy as you like.
Another tip is that some (but not all!) UPVC Doors are designed to be lifted straight off of the hinges to make it a bit easier!

boggie40

from experience we went for the cheapest we could find - then we had to put up with all our possesions stinking of cigarette smoke.
then he left our 4 seater on the grass cos he said it would not go in the house so we would have to sell it.
i said if i can get it in i;ll knock £20 off the cost and he said ok.
so my wife and i picked it up walked through the garage to the back of the house, settee went through patio doors and right into our lounge.
he turned round and said "you didn't say we could use the patio doors" to which i replied your supposed to be the f*****ng experts...
although it was heavy we still got £20 knocked off.

we too were only moving 5 mins down the road but we had too many possesions to move ourselves.
go with a reputable removal firm - check their insurance level for your possesions as something always gets broken.

hollydays

Moved ourseves once-never again but then we had lots of stuff.
I suppose it depends how efficient and organized these friends are.Will they do it,or drop out at the last minute?
Are they the type to badly load your polished table so it gets scratched,or scrape the walls on the way out and in.

emg

My vote is for the removal company. I have moved between 4 one bed flats over the past few years and last summer was the first time I used professionals. They were amazing. What would normally be a whole day of lugging stuff around and going backwards and forwards was condensed into a couple of hours and done so quickly and efficiently. They arrived at 8.30 and had the van packed in an hour and a half (this was 30 boxes, white goods, suite, bed, etc.). They unloaded into a first floor flat and were gone by noon. I hadnt lifted a finger so was full of energy and actually had everything unpacked by bedtime.

It was so stress-free, quick and easy I would never do it myself again. Worth every penny.

Sailor_Sam

This is going slightly off topic , but our removal tale. From about 25 yrs ago.
The people we bought off had been pushing us , if we could not be ready they would get another buyer. As it got nearer the day, their new build was'nt ready and they started slowing things down. Finally moving day came.
We had hired a van to do it ourselves, arrived at the house the husband had gone to check to see if they could move, was the new house ready, the wife would not let us in, just in case they needed to stay there.
We told her it was our house, she had to let us in, but she said no ! It was a Saturday morning, we could'nt get the solicitor, so everything was dumped in the garden. Luckily a couple of hours later the husband turned up with the keys to their new house, they were able to go.
Don't know what would have happened if they had not got out, as that ever happened to anyone ?