Removal Costs - Moving from Brighton to Edinburgh

Haggis_Lover

My family and I are moving from Brighton to Edinburgh in a few weeks and are trying to arrange a removal firm. All the online companies say they can move us for £1,200 to £1,500, however we have had reps from two companies come to see us and they priced the job up at £4,300 and £4,600.

We are loathe to go with the online companies as we feel they may not turn up on the day, however we think that £4k+ is potentially way too much. We are moving the contents of a 5 bed house to the same up north.

Does anyone have any experience of such a move or can anyone give us some advice on getting the best deal?

Thanks for any help

Lunchbox

3 years ago I had the contents of a 3 bedroom flat moved 12 miles for just over £800 - the other quotes I had were more than your online quotes. They do seem extremely low.

mwarby

I moved a 1 bed flat from Oxford to Edinburgh a couple of years a go a man with van was around £700, 2 men plus van around £900. This was for a luton van

julicorn

Not quite the same, but a colleague's partner moved from Reading to Brighton with Bearded Bros (they're based in Brighton) for £600 or so. She was very happy with the move, and we've used them before as well and they were great. Might be worth seeing what they would charge to Edinburgh.

buglawton

My last move was a DIY one, rented 7.5 tonne van and really useful, a stair climber sack truck that made short work of moving things like fully assembled furniture to the bedrooms. In the past I’ve also used a man and van team to move a household into storage but they weren’t as careful as DIY. However the DIY approach does need borrowed muscles from family/friends.

Murphybear

We moved from Devon to Dorset recently, about 85 miles. We used a family firm that had 5 star reviews and a lot of personal recommendations. It wasn!!!8217;t the cheapest but worth every penny. They did a brilliant job, included extras such as providing large padded covers for things like settees, TVs etc.

You have a large house and a long move. Use personal recommendations if you can, find a company that is a member of BAR and don!!!8217;t just go for the cheapest.

buglawton

Btw OP, if you get a moment could you add your thoughts on ‘Nicest place to live in the UK’ https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5826949/where-are-the-nicest-places-to-live-in-uk as you’d be speaking from experience!

PasturesNew

You have a large house and a long drive.

Loading up will probably cost 4 blokes a whole day... then an expensive van, with expensive fuel, has to drive over 450 miles. Drivers have to, by law, stop after X hours' driving.

They'd then also probably need to cover the cost of secure parking a big wagon and a couple of blokes in a hotel.

You've then got possibly 2 blokes unloading the van - which will take longer than 4 blokes loading it.

Then the blokes have to drive all the way home again - and the expensive van is off the road for another whole day.

It all adds up.

agrinnall

My move from Perth to Birmingham cost around £2500. That was the contents of a 3 bed house (but in 2 locations in Perth, a rental flat and storage)) to a 3 bed house, with some packing done by the movers. Three of them packed on Monday and set off mid-afternoon with two on board, stopped somewhere overnight, arrived on Tuesday morning, unpacked through the day, and headed back to Scotland in the afternoon (I don't know if they has another stop on the way back). For a 5 bed move there would certainly be some additional cost.

One thing I would suggest is that you contact one or two local companies up north to see if they could do the move at a better price than the nationals and the companies around Brighton. I used Flemings of Rosyth for my last 2 moves and Broughton Removals in Edinburgh for the two before those (over a period of 15 years).

dunroving

You didn't mention details like (a) how much packing you/they will do, (b) whether they include insurance, (c) whether there are any awkward arrangements at either end (long driveway, three flights of steps, etc.) All of these can make a difference to the quote.

I recently got quotes from 6 companies for a move from the Glasgow area to the Midlands. Key aspects of the quotes: (a) awkward set-up at my current house (15 steps; though can set up a ramp from the house to the side of the van); (b) fragile and kitchen pack only; (c) insurance included; (d) 3-BR semi.

Quotes ranged from £1,700 to £2,922, and one company didn't send a quote.

Look into Home Removals (formerly flat2flat) - that's who I am going with. They are based in Edinburgh and do a lot of "south to north" moves, where "north" means Scotland. If you Google flat2flat, you will find some complimentary threads about them on MSE.

I was also impressed with Britannia and they were my second choice.

hazyjo

I'd expect it to cost £2,500 minimum without packing.


I paid around £1100-1200 for packing and moving around 40 miles. My neighbour/friend moved to Ireland from London and some were quoting an absolute fortune. Cheapest was (I think) £5/6k. They ended up doing it themselves (mad - 2 young kids and a dog!).