Pickfords or Man with a Van?

GeordieBird

Advice sought please!

I'm moving house shortly and need to move some furniture as well as clothes etc. across the Pennines

What's the cheapest way, bearing in mind it's only me doing the moving?:huh:

Thanks

MJMum

We got several quotes, and it was actually quite time consuming, because most reputable companies want to come and have a look at how much stuff you have (or, in our case - hadn't!) In the end we used Alliance, who were not the most expensive, but were up there with "the big boys" and not man-and-van priced. We packed ourselves, although this only saved about £150 I think, and they still supplied the boxes, paper and tape, which were dropped off about 10 days beforehand (IMHO, try to get them earlier than this!) It cost us just over a thousand to move the contents of a 4 bed house 200 miles, but we were happy with the service. Two guys turned up, packed the van in about an hour, stopped for one cuppa, drove down and unpacked the same day, even though we were supposed to wait until the next day to get in. They were cheery and courteous, and FAST, and I'd certainly recommend them.

Having said that, we may have to move ourselves this time, as we are on a complete shoestring. I guess it depends on (a) how much stuff you have to move (b) how many mates to help you shift it. You can hire up to a 7.5t truck on a normal licence. As I said, this last move we used a professional firm, but the two moves before that we did ourselves using a Luton van with a tail-lift - just about squeezed everything from a 3 bed house in (before we acquired two kids and all their "stuff" - I think most of what we moved was toys lol).

Good luck.

Alan_M_2

The last time I moved (flat to a house) was the first time I'd used a removal firm. I will now never move myself again, they were worth every penny.

I didn't go tot he big boys or a man & Van but somewhere in the middle, an established local firm that had a solid reputation and were charging a sensible amount of money.

Dave_liverpool

What are you moving from.....................to?

small flat to house is different from house to house

If you have more than 2 rooms per person then you will need help.

Will you want to pack, drive, unpack in 2 days?

amyandoli

weve had a couple of moves with mates helping, hiring a van (afford) - useful to pop to shops like ikea, b&q etc and pick up extras too. had a 2-man and van one time, were useful as big lad friends were busy, but we ended up moving most of the stuff with them anyway. my friend moved up to scotland and offered anyone whod help a free hol, he was inundated with offers-anyone take you up on a freebie? good luck on move x

space_rider

I got man with a van.I have 3 kids and all their usual stuff. Never again, it was too much hard work. Well not until it`s time for me to move to a bungalow on my own!

ratcrazy

Last time we moved we hired a large box trailer and it worked well for us and is cheaper than a van. We are moving again soon and will do the same:)

dfdemello

We used a man and a van to move from a two bedroom terraced into a three bed semi....never again.

1. We paid by the hour so when there was a delay in an exchange of keys I started worrying
2. It was extremely knackering
3. It was extremely knackering...
4. We had to buy the packaging materials ourselves (about £80 in the end)
5. When we arrived at the new house because of the time constraint we ended putting everything in the living room for speed (and alot of it stayed there due to 2.!!!)
6. Comparing it to the proper removal service the people who were moving out of our new house had, there was no comparison....about 6 men (two lorries) with everything boxed up....I was running around like a nutter and she was laughing and joking since she didnt have anything to do!

She left the invoice by mistake and it worked out that she probably paid about £250 more than we did....but looking back I would have paid that, and more, due to the stress....amazing the new names you can come up with for your partner when something is not going quite right during a house move

Good luck!!! and remember.....write on each box whats in it!!

MortgageMamma

When I moved into my current house two years ago we used a local firm but they had to do two trips because of all our stuff, but to be honest they were absolutely brilliant. The year before that we moved and did it ourselves and felt like we'd done 13 rounds with mike tyson for about a week after. We are moving into a much bigger property on 17th february, and we are going to use the same small local firm (they have a bigger lorry now). Using a good firm does take all the stress out of moving, now I just need to kennel my two dogs for the weekend and farm my kids out to some relatives!