DIY Removals

zagubov

There are exceptions to the parsimonious principles we push on this board. Saving money  on this is like saving money on dental anaesthetic by drilling your own teeth.
Economy can be your faithful servant but a terrible god.

pinkteapot

zagubov said:

There are exceptions to the parsimonious principles we push on this board. Saving money  on this is like saving money on dental anaesthetic by drilling your own teeth.
Economy can be your faithful servant but a terrible god.

😂😂

Stardustjunkie

We were quoted almost £800 for removals. It was when my partner and I moved in together so it was collection from two houses and moving in to one flat up a lot of stairs -6 or 7 flights.

We decided to hire a van from a mates van hire company and paid our brothers. They were all exhausted (I have spine problems so my job was unpacking and cleaning, and my MIL monitored the van so no one pinched anything!), and we treated them to Pizza Hut and snacks throughout the day. They did a tag team sort of thing where they each did a couple of flights of stairs. The hardest things were the sofa, washing machine and fridge freezer. Quite a few bits of our furniture is now dented because they aren’t experts haha, but it doesn’t matter.

If you can afford removals, do it. If not, pay friends and family a fair amount to help - it’s hard work.

hazyjo

Stardustjunkie said:

If you can afford removals, do it. If not, [rewritten below]

If not, eat bread and drink water for however long it takes to find the money.



There, corrected that for you lol

(Pinch of salt please before anyone lynches me.)

Windofchange

I moved house last month and did it DIY. I can only really echo what many on here have said, and say the next time I will absolutely be getting in a company to it for me. We were moving from a small 2 bed rented house into our new 4 bed one, and it did work out ok in the end, but my body still feels like it has been in savage gym class some three weeks after the event. We had a 2 week overlap between completion and end of tenancy, and my plan was to do it all bit by bit over those two weeks. Now, as above, I did manage to do it, but it probably didn't work out any cheaper. Petrol for my car doing 5 - 6 trips back and forth a day (2 miles each way), boxes, bubble wrap, hiring a big transit for a day to get the sofa and beds over. Reckon I probably spent about £200 - £250 all in, and the quote I had for two blokes and a Bedford van was £280. 

If you are going from a privately owned house to another then it is an absolute no brainer. I cannot imagine if I had only had the morning to get everything out. It would have been impossible, even with a few mates to help. Our sellers were actually still moving the last of their things at 2:30pm when we showed up and they had had a huge lorry and 4 blokes for the morning. When the time comes to move out of this house in a couple of decades, I will not be doing it myself. Fullstop. 

jellie

Another vote here for not doing DIY moving.  I'd also highly recommend a full packing service, makes an already stressful day much easier.  There's plenty of things to save money on, house removals isn't one of them.

billy2shots

Always DIY. 

All things packed up in the week before. 
Hire the biggest vehicle you are allowed to drive. Previously arrange some storage at friey and families house. 
Pickup the vehicle the day before and load it. Drop a load or two off at storage points. Load van/lorry again apart from final night things. 
In the morning load the overnight essentials usually mattresses and kettle. 

Wait for call then drop first load off at new gaff. Go and pick the other stuff up from storage points or if too tired do this the next day. 

2 or 3 days Udrive hire and elbow grease Vs professional removers, I'd do it myself any time. 

babyblade41

Firstly it would be impossible for me to exchange and complete on same day and I like to complete on a Monday .

On a Friday I get everything collected by removals apart from bed and sofas and kettles etc,  this give me the weekend to get the house cleaned and paint touched up  and any minor scuffs and scrapes repaired .

On move day a small van will collect beds , sofas and remaining essentials and that is what we have to move in with the rest stays in store for a week so we can get some minor alterations done and lay floors where necessary (we don't do carpet)

After a week we get the rest of the stuff moved in and everything is done without stress.

We also have a shopping delivery booked for the evening so we will have full larders etc to keep us going.

Yes it's expensive but if the cost is built into the move then it's doable and so much less hassle 

Racky_Roo

Have you looked on a site like anyvan? they do removals and are often really cheap. For my last move it would have been £100 to hire a Luton and DIY it or £250 for 2 men in a fully insured van. Went with the 2 men and van, really glad I did as there was a banking issue and the funds took until 4pm to be passed up so I could get my keys. There's no way we could have done more than one journey as we couldn't get into the new place.