DIY house removals or bring in the professionals?

olgadapolga

My DH and I have moved ourselves three times. The first time was easy as it was our first house and we didn't have a lot of stuff. The second time was awful, we had three children and a house full of stuff. The third time was worse than awful as we had four children and a house full of more stuff.

Apart from the first time, self-moving was stressful, hard work and took way longer than expected. During the last move, some items also got damaged (not that we were particularly bothered about those items but nonetheless we still caused some damage). When we move house again, I am having professionals in to move us. 

AdrianC

We DIYd the move from our old place to here... Four hour drive between them, too.

We managed to get a week of overlap - and did six return trips in a Luton-bodied rental Transit in six days... It was knackering.

[Deleted User]

I've done about three removals using a luton van, transport police got us for overloading and it was knackering last time.  Also got a cheap firm to move us., didn't know what they were doing, total disaster.  Next time I will be having professionals do it.  You get to the point when you just can't lift anymore and you have to because the van is still half full.  Although it does depend how much stuff you have.  As already advised, have a brutal clear out beforehand, its amazing how much space stuff you don't really want but couldn't be bothered to sort out takes (and its all in boxes you have to lift).

eidand

I've done DIY once. Took much longer than anticipated and this was to move from a one bed flat. Didn't have children back then either, just a heavily pregnant wife. 
two words .... never again, the small cash saving is not worth the time and hassle.

SuperHan

We did DIY last time, 4th floor flat to 4 bed house about 40 mins away. We took sofa, beds, mattresses and a couple of chests of drawers/sideboards as furniture. 
We were not moving on completion day though as we were keeping the flat which gave us some flexibility, but in the end we did 95% of it on moving day. We got one van and had two cars, did 3-4 trips and there were three of us for most of the day.
It was fine and suited as we were money poor time rich, but I won't do it again. If we move now we'd pay for movers hands down. Navigating stairs, carrying heavy furniture... it's a task I'd rather not relive! 

Mnoee

I've always packed myself, got movers to move. I can find things much easier when unpacking if I've packed and labeled myself, and it's a compromise between money saving and convenience. I found a few guys on nextdoor who quoted me half the price of anyone else, but were still professionals (website, insured and did a great job!), so be sure to check out nextdoor, Facebook groups and similar for local recommendations. It's very easy for good local businesses to get buried online. 

coffeehound

Do your due dilligence when selecting a removals firm.  

One 'two men and van' outfit I hired were brilliant.  The legitimate removals firm I used next time were cowboys who stole items including an Apple computer, and also damaged furniture.  Wish I had self-moved that time.

MovingForwards

When I relocated I did it myself, loaded up the car and off I went.
Moving from that flat it was a few mates, two cars and a van.
Last time it was a local removal company for the furniture and they reassembled furniture / put things in each room / position and the rest went in my car; which took several trips and a load of bags / boxes (had to keep costs down due to buying and not having much left over)

If I ever move again, I will be happy to box everything up, but will get a local removal company to move everything in one go.

NewShadow

kasqueak said:

It’s 5 miles from our current place...I’m getting quotes for removal men for £500-750. Whereas van hire is around £60-80 for the day. 

I'm feeling much better about my plans now - I'm paying £850 for a 7.5 ton van and I'm moving 200 miles...

scottishblondie

Paying the professionals was absolutely worth it for us.  I've used the same firm for both of our moves, the first time I packed myself, the second time I paid them to pack.  First move we only went about 2.5 miles along the road, last move was literally 0.2 miles.  My IL's thought we should move ourselves as we were going such a short distance, but we never would have been able to get it done.  We lost one picture frame (broken glass) and one lampshade (got squashed), everything else was perfect.