Removal company or van hire?

Solsol

I know there have probably been loads of similar threads but would just like some opinions on hiring a removals company Vs hiring a van and doing it yourself?

I'll be moving from a 3 bed mid terrace to a 4 bed semi with garage which is only about a 1/4 of a mile away. I work part time so would have plenty of time to pack up etc myself so considering going with DIY removal to save money but I do have an 18 month old son so don't want to cause myself unnecessary stress!

Any tips or opinions would be welcome thank you guys

pmlindyloo

Unless you have plenty of help and someone to look after the 18 months old then a removal van every time!

Robisere

Excuse the questions, I don't know all your domestic circumstances & I need a bigger picture.

Do you have an OH?
Family & friends to help?
More children than the 18 month one?
Would you be doing the van driving?

I ask because I have moved home 5 times in my life and i know what a really stressful time it can be. The first 3 moves were close: within the ¼ mile you speak of, they were relatively easy as I was in my original home town and had loads of family to help. Next, however, I moved to another county, about 70 miles away. I moved a lot of stuff in my car and it was hell, I was recovering from an industrial injury and partially disabled, OH, DS & DD were still working. Then we moved here to a smaller bungalow about 3 miles from the last, large place. We had a removal service for that and the only real hassle was what to sell or give away!

Depending on your circumstances regarding the questions above, if you cannot get enough help, I would have a removal van. Ours even connected the washer, fridge and TV, because we were good to them, gave them tea & biccies, etc. They said that very few people did that, most treated them like servants. I gave them a good tip, budgeted for it. (You never know when ...)

Hope that helps, good luck!

DRP

unless you've done it before and/or got *lots* of help i would always say it is well worth the money to get a removal firm.

Ours were brilliant, we simply couldn't have done it.

Even with lots of help, the last thing you want on moving day is the stress of organising enthusiastic amateurs.

SailorSam

The last time was just hiring a van, it was only a few miles and much of the smaller stuff had already been moved over a period of a couple of months by car. So it was realtively easy. If i were to move again the help i had may not be available so definitely get some sort of removal firm.
I wouldn't have a clue what they cost though ?

trailingspouse

Advantages of doing it yourself - it's cheap.

Advantages of paying someone to do it - they know what they're doing, they're insured (for damage to your stuff, and to both houses), they're quick, they won't be trying to look after a small child at the same time, they won't hurt their back/give themselves a hernia doing it, and they know what they're doing.

Get quotations from 2-3 removal companies before deciding if you can or can't afford it. Bear in mind that if you're doing it yourself the biggest van you can hire is a Luton, which doesn't hold as much as a standard removal van, so you may need to have it for 2 days at least. And you'll have to source all the packing materials yourself.

Personally, I'd pay a removal company every time.

Solsol

Thanks everyone for your replies
I have a (tall strong!) husband and lots of family nearby who would definitely help plus my mother in law would almost certainly look after my little boy and have him overnight which would help immensely
This is our first big move as we moved into our house a few years ago and had hardly any stuff back then (not so much the case now!)

I'm definitely not against doing it myself although removals would make it a lot easier it's just the cost that is putting me off as we've got a lot of work to do on the new house so trying to save every penny we can really!

Thanks again for the advice I think I'll get a few quotes from removals companies and if I can find any that aren't too much more than DIYing then I might go for it but it really depends on the cost as I'm sure it varies hugely!

poppasmurf_bewdley

When I last moved, almost four years ago, I employed a man and van (man and boy actually) from the local newspaper.

Previously, I'd always used Pickfords when the company I worked for picked up the bill, but this time I was paying.

I had a two bedroomed flat on the second floor of an 18th century building, and they moved everything out of there into my new place within the day. I took the delicate things like large flat screen TV's and computers in my car. I'd boxed and bagged everything up previously myself.

Everything went well, and only a couple of pots were broken.

They charged £100 all in, which I was extremely pleased about considering there was a foot of snow on the ground.

I wouldn't hesitate to use them again, but I do hope I don't have to.

tom9980

Moved recently did all the small stuff myself, i then went to Anyvan.com and used the comparison and reviews to find a guy who i paid £150 to move the big stuff sofa, beds, kitchen stuff etc cant fault it but of course it depends on the individual guys you hire how well it goes.

Mrs_Soup

Did a very similar move myself a few years ago except I was pregnanat as well as having a 2 year old. We got a removal company who packed as well- expensive but worth it. Our vendors had decided to move from a cluttered 4 bed semi to something smaller and do it themselves- they were in the proerty long after we had got the keys and started moving our stuff in and ended up leaving things in the neighbours garden.

jackomdj

We did it ourselves from a very packed 3 bed into a 3 story 5 bed house. We did it ourselves as the removal company prices were ridiculous. We were fortunate as the house we moved into was empty (as they were emigrating, and everything had been moved a few days earlier) and we were going to rent our old place out so had no new people trying to get in.

Our children went to school, then they were collected by one friend, passed to another as they had swimming lesson, returned to the first friend who fed them then brought them to the new house.

We did the majority of the move with just OH and I, then a friend came to help move the bits I could not do (I have a bad wrist and know my limits (I can cope with heavy boxes but not wardrobes as I can't get the angle right with my wrist!)

I was careful how I boxed things up, it had detail of which room it needed to go in and an indication of what was in the box.

All in all it was relatively easy and even better as we saved over £1000!