Help hiring movers

weevil_

I think I'm going to have to hire movers in September when I move from Sheffield to Norwich. My stuff will no longer fit in in a hired van and be lifted only by me. A female friend helped me move to the flat I'm in now but the only furniture I had then was a sofa. My belongings have trebeled in mass since then. Plus I have noone when I get to Norwich and could be up stairs.

Apart from the old fashioned way of looking through yellow pages and comparing quotes I'm not sure how to find the best ones. I'd need them to let me ride with them as well as I have no transport, and do they provide boxes in advance to pack your small things? I guess I'd have to have the new landlord meet me there so I will be able to get in, unless I can do that stuff in advance.

People review everything these days, are there any sites around that review movers or does anyone have any recommendations?

never_enough

I found freecycle handy for recommendations, don't know if they have a chat or cafe board on your local or the Norwich one? Gumtree also might be good. Or just ask friends.
Never had to travel in the lorry with my stuff so you'll need to check thats ok with them/their insurance.
They usually provide boxes/packing stuff in advance, unless they're doing the packing for you on the day.

dander

I've had Bishops Move and found them very good - but you pay a lot for the big name removers. You need to get a mover based where you currently are really, because they'll come round and see how much stuff you've got to give you a price and assess how many boxes you'll need - which they'll supply. However, I went and picked my own boxes up from their depot, I guess they'll add it into the price if you need them to deliver. I suspect you may have problems with riding in their van - partly because of insurance, and partly because they may well have all the space taken up with the removal men. They sent three along to do my move.

RX-78

We moved recently and were very happy with our removers - unfortunately, it'll be too far away from your neck of the woods. Just to give you an idea, we had 4 man crew, x2 trucks (3ton & 7.5ton I think) moving from upstairs flat with no lift to a house 30 miles away. Had approx 30 medium size boxes, fridge, sofa, couple of tables, beds, large tv, chest, bicycles and few more things!

It cost £450 for the lot, they moved everything and very professional - came on time, put things where we asked, used special transport bag for the sofa (even though ours is 10 years old crappy one that's not worth a penny). I had few cheaper quotes but went with personal recommendation from a friend - and we were glad we did!

weevil_

I don't have quite as much stuff as that, just bedroom and living room furniture and depending on the place I find to move into I might have to get rid of some of it. Maybe I still can do it on my own.

dander

If it's just a couple of rooms worth, then you might find a man and van type outfit can do it. Someone small like that are more likely to let you ride in the van as well. Maybe look for someone who has a Luton or that sort of size of vehicle. If you go with that type of mover, you'll need to provide your own boxes - supermarkets aren't very good for boxes these days, so you'd probably have to buy some.

ormus

id be surpised if a single person in a one bed flat, cannot fit all their stuff into a luton type van.

Peartree

I found that the price varied a bit by area. I was living in Leeds and moving to a small town 20 miles away. I found that the quotes for companies based where I was moving to, were much cheaper than those in Leeds. It doesn't make much difference to the movers as they have to do the journey both ways whatever. It might be worth seeing if the prices are lower Norwich than Sheffield.

Also, if you can, try and do it at the beginning or middle of the week. A lot of buyers/sellers complete on a Friday which makes it the busiest time for movers.

RX-78

weevil_ wrote: »

I don't have quite as much stuff as that, just bedroom and living room furniture and depending on the place I find to move into I might have to get rid of some of it. Maybe I still can do it on my own.

Unless you've already packed, do be careful about underestimating the amount of possessions. When we finished packing, we were amazed with the number of boxes we had - easily more then double what we thought (and thats after throwing away masses of old stuff)!

The last thing you'd want is to find out you have too much stuff and cant fit them into a small van. If you end up throwing away £100-200 worth of things inorder to accomodate the move, you've already lost out the savings going for a small van!

weevil_

It might be that I have to give up some stuff (sofa most likely even tho I love it) because where I'm moving to will be smaller.

I know about how much more your stuff looks when all packed up, I've moved far more than I'd liked to in the last couple of years and have always been shocked at how much there is and those times I didn't even have the furniture that I have now.

Yet I'm still wondering if hiring a long wheel based van and doing it myself might do the trick. Maybe getting friends of friends to help since they can come with me as its often cheaper to bring hire vehicles back to where you got them than pay for a one way charge.

I just don't like dealing with workmen of any sort, I have terrible anxiety and am not a "blokey bloke". The idea of sitting in a lorry with strangers like that all the way to Norwich terrifies me.