Man and van?

Sphynx

Well hopefully we should be moving on Friday 13th (subject to completion and exchange which is a pain in the bum due to our solicitor). Anyway, do those with experience think it's worth hiring a man and van? We can't afford the whole we pack for you deal, and were planning just to borrow my brothers big van and do many trips. However I rang some men with vans yesterday and was quoted £110 for one large load (Luton van) and man or £250 from another company for two vans for the whole day and two men. I am a bit worried about the time scale doing the one load thing as we don't know how long the exchange will take...

Any thoughts or experiences?

Doozergirl

Have you had any proper removals quotes? When I moved a five bed house we paid £500 and that was fully insured, with one of those huge removal lorries and a luton van, with three men for the entire day. As much free packing materials as we could use as well!

Really good value for money, IMHO. I knew my stuff was safe and insured, that they had all the right gizmos in the lorry to keep our stuff safe and I just pointed where I wanted things to go when we got to the new house. Every move before, H had insisted us doing ourselves - apart from one time when he agreed to a man and a van and he didn't turn up :eek:. I have a bad back as a result of the move before this one And every move except this last one, something had been broken as a result of not being tied properly or over packed in and cost me more money.

NEH

Doozergirl wrote: »

Have you had any proper removals quotes? When I moved a five bed house we paid £500 and that was fully insured, with one of those huge removal lorries and a luton van, with three men for the entire day. As much free packing materials as we could use as well!

Really good value for money, IMHO. I knew my stuff was safe and insured, that they had all the right gizmos in the lorry to keep our stuff safe and I just pointed where I wanted things to go when we got to the new house. Every move before, H had insisted us doing ourselves - apart from one time when he agreed to a man and a van and he didn't turn up :eek:. I have a bad back as a result of the move before this one And every move except this last one, something had been broken as a result of not being tied properly or over packed in and cost me more money.

:eek:


Wish I lived where you did, our 3 bed house move 120 mile sup the road is costing us £900 odd without insurance and they were the cheaper by far in a 20 mile radius and it's going to kill us to pay for it...


Anyway OP it is a big house you're moving from and are you going locally?

Removal companies offer just the moving part iyswim and i wondered if it would be worth calling around for a couple of quotes..

neas

ired man and van service in plymouth.

40 quid an hour for 2 guys to lift all my boxed and eavy stuff to van.

And moved 10 mins away into a new home... took 1.5 hours cost me 60 quid .

Was brilliant.

Man and vans can be very cheap... get an hourly rate one and see how it fairs...

LittleMissAspie

We're going to hire a man with van for our large furniture and move the rest ourselves over the next week or so. I think the guy we use is £30 an hour and we'll only need one hour. Bit more if you want a second guy but my boyfriend can help carry things. We only have a 1-bed house though.

If you're in the middle of a chain do you have time to do multiple trips?

Edit: Okay just checked his website and he's still only £25 an hour. I swear he hasn't put his price up in 5 years. Weird.

Doozergirl

NEH wrote: »

:eek:


Wish I lived where you did, our 3 bed house move 120 mile sup the road is costing us £900 odd without insurance and they were the cheaper by far in a 20 mile radius and it's going to kill us to pay for it...


Anyway OP it is a big house you're moving from and are you going locally?

Removal companies offer just the moving part iyswim and i wondered if it would be worth calling around for a couple of quotes..

Yes, it's definitely worth calling around. I used some random comparison site. It was a local move so not a lot of diesel to consider.

Pickfords wanted £2000!!

NEH

Doozergirl wrote: »

Yes, it's definitely worth calling around. I used some random comparison site. It was a local move so not a lot of diesel to consider.

Pickfords wanted £2000!!

We got 3 people in to quote orginally for it going into storage and this company as about £200 cheaper than the rest if not more..Now we have found a house we didnt' get the other companies back to quote again as they were so much more than last time...

The comparison site you used will send off the form to local companies but they usually call you back...

Sphynx

See I would go with the hourly rate charge if I knew when the exchange was going to take place and when we could get into our new place. I just don't know how to organise it if we have no idea of the time to book them for.

Doozergirl, we only have a 3 bed end terrace and have chucked loads of stuff out, we were quoted £385 for a whole house move, but part of me is thinking that would be money for new floor somewhere...

I am not going to do heavy lifting, I have been drafted to cleaning duties lol. We are moving locally. There are quite a few people to help, my brother, Dad, nephew, FIL, male friend. But I think they will get all stressed and fall out :rotfl:

Evilm

You don't have to use the packing service from the removal company and it will be cheaper without it.

They are also experienced in getting it sorted in the smallest space and smallest time so it is worth the extra over a man and van honestly. Plus if you get to the otherside and because of the way it has been packed something has broken they are responsible not you.

Chinkle

Its back-breaking work physically moving all your possessions; getting things up and down stairs, into van and doing it all again at the other end. I would suggest only doing this yourself if you have plenty of time to move ie over at least two or three days and assuming you aren't going too far.

If you are in the middle of a chain forget it - you'll probably have a timeframe of 2-4 hours to get out. I did it within this time frame with two men and a luton van when I moved out of a 1-bed flat - by having everything packed up and ready for loading. With a 3 bed house you would definitely need this as a minimum, probably larger, as you'll unlikely to be able to do more than 1-2 trips within that time frame.

Re time slots, I find nothing really happens before midday - so book an early afternoon slot for the movers.

henpecked1

I once hired a man with a van from Ikea at Wembley after we purchased two sofas in the sale and were intending to get on the train with them

The van that turned up looked like something from the Columbo era. It had rust holes everywhere.

Me and the ex clambered in side and the space was tight with all three of us and the driver said "don;t worry, you can rest your foot on my wooden leg".

Probably the most uncomfortable 1 1.2 hour journey I have ever experienced.