Removal companies charges

Franbern. I had quotes from Pickfords, Britannia and Fox. Pickfords and Britannia have branches all over the country but Fox is in the West Midlands. Fox would pack and move me same day. Britannia pack on moving day deliver the next day. Pickfords pack up the day before completion and then deliver once you have the keys. Fox was the cheapest and Pickfords the dearest. After talking to my children I went for Pickfords. Because the way they want to do it would not exhaust me. As I want to make sure the house was clean before I handed over the keys.
I would advise you to take out all the insurances they offer especially the cancellation/ postponement one. As I have had to cancel my move 3 times now and haven't been out of pocket.
If all goes well and my sale and purchase go through this time. I am having my stuff put into storage as there are 2 fitted wardrobes in what will be my bedroom and all the carpets need replacing. Makes sense to have that done then all my furniture can just be put in place. The total price for this is £1,788.14. Then it will be about the same to have it delivered. I am moving from the West Midlands to Liverpool. Hope this is of some help

I know when we moved we talked with the company we settled on about the whole overnight thing. We moved from Essex to Norfolk so a 2 hr drive. By packing everything but the bed the previous day we didn’t need an overnight and that reduced costs substantially.

I can see why you might need to pay for one overnight but not 2. If they packed the day before , you don’t pay for that night, and then they drive down , offload, you pay for that night then they drive home?

We were really pleased with the company we chose, we did haggle a bit and they were open to that. They packed for us , disassembled wardrobes etc and put them up in the new house as prt of the price.

Good luck !

I moved from my sons house last year to my own house, 7 miles away, just the living room furniture, bookcases x 2, a large trunk like coffee table, and and the contents of the bedroom and living room, approximately 20 medium packing cases a small van and two chaps the charge was £650. On the other hand I have recently moved back from Cyprus, a 20 cubic foot container full and I mean really full, including packing that end, shipping, marine insurance and unloading this end, customs clearance, storage for a week and putting some of the furniture together again was £6500. I reckon the ones that quote a high price don't want the business.

my cost was £1800. No packing involved, 2 good men and a long sprinter van, 6 trips over 3 days. It was a very full house and workshop. I needed a low van because of a low archway at the old house. They assembled anything I asked them but tbh I did most assembly myself. They were very obliging. Cheap at the price taking the number of round trips into account. Local small company who have several different sized vans

Is there a cheaper more local company you could use? The big name companies charge a fortune. Basically you need a man with a van plus an extra helping hand at either end as you're not taking much.

We're doing exactly the same journey, what a coincidence! Ask for Danny Beck at Pickfords Barking. I can give you his mobile number. Brilliant service for a fair price.

Jane10, tempting though it may be to opt for a man with a van and a helping hand, there may not be insurance for damage, certainly won't be cancellation/postponement insurance as is offered by professional moving companies. Having moved a fair few times, can I just say that they have, without fail, been the best money spent in the whole process, far better value than the solicitors and estate agents. We have always found Pickford's to be expensive, but I have heard good reports of their service, get a couple more quotes and remember to pack a box for your own car. This box must contain a kettle, mugs, tea bags, sugar ( all removal men in my experience take at least 3 sugars, must be their energy source), biscuits, loo roll. Good luck!

Can recommended GB Liners. The gentleman who visited to count up all the furniture and effects was very professional and the actual move went very smoothly. All the staff were very respectful of our 'stuff' and there was not so much as a scratch on anything. We packed the boxes ourselves as we had the time to do it but we had full instructions and all the packing materials we could need! It was not cheap but we felt that compared to a much simpler house move we had done 10 years previously the price was perfectly within our expectations.

It was the local company that has come in at the four grand!!! I am going to contact them as this is the company I would have chosen, all things being equal. Have today, at a Gransnet meet-up, been given the name of another local company, and will get a quote from them.

DD2 has just moved and a month ago she gave one company a provisional date. She rang 10 days prior to the date to firm up and was told they had doubled their price 'as it's the busiest time of the year'.

We moved from metropolitan Essex to Lincolnshire almost three years ago, downsizing from a large 4-bedroomed house to a small 2-bedded one, so only about half our furniture made the move. I packed all the household "stuff", the removals men packed garage/shed/garden stuff (because OH c.b.a.).

We opted for South Park Removals of Ilford (PM me if you'd like the phone number) who charged just short of £2000 plus VAT.

They arrived about 8am on a Saturday; had packed and loaded by lunchtime and stored our stuff at their premises over Sat/Sunday. They delivered to the new house on the Monday, arriving about 11am. Everything was unloaded and placed in the rooms we'd labelled it for within less than 2 hours. They were brilliant: careful, cheerful and absolutely nothing got broken. Not one chipped mug or shattered wine glass.

A friend said at the time we were planning this that she thought the price outrageously high. I think they were great and worth every penny!

13 moves under my belt! Back in the day they were funded by my husbands employers. We always used Pickfords, they were always outstanding.
I would ask them to match your lowest quote. It’s money well spent. Xxx

Our last big move was from SW France to the UK. We got a few estimates, french and british, and chose Bishopsmove.
They charged £5k, for a very full house of furniture and belongings. They did the packing and it took them 2 days as the weather was so awful.
I think they manage to keeep their prices low by combining 2 or three loads at once, from different clients.
I fully recommend them. They work locally in the UK too.

We used Bishop’s Move too. They wanted to take three days, don’t know why for a journey well under two hours. They did agree to two days, but would not reduce the costs, as they said they would need to put more men on for the packing. We had done a lot of the packing ourselves
( endless boxes of books). They packed on day one and took the van to their depot. We travelled down and stayed nearby overnight, then met them at 8am next day. All unloaded and gone by 1 pm. They were very competent, but a bit pricey.

This takes me back to the awful time when our goods were being transported to Bulgaria and the driver had a row with his boss. Abandoned the lorry and went home to Turkey.
Of course I had no idea this was happening until I phoned the uk to ask where my goods were. ?

We have had 2 quotes. One from a local private company whom we have used twice before many years ago, & the other from Britannia. Lanes.

Our move will be over two days too. Packing everything this end - Cornwall, & travelling to Somerset the following day. We have an average sized house & garage & are taking about 16 garden pots including chiminera etc. The quote from the local company including all packing & VAT is £1,350 versus Britannia at £1,800.

Still waiting for completion date though!

My mother-in-law had a better quotes from reputable companies in the place she was going to than the ones from similar companies in the area she was moving from.
She chose a family business with good insurance and firmed up just a few days ahead of the move.
Pickfords was the most expensive by some way. She had everything packed for her. It was a 2 day job.

My quotes last year for a local move with a full van and packing were generally around £1600. I took insurance and the proposed exchange and completion dates moved several times. It was pot luck that they were available on the day we were finally due to move.
Please read the small print. My move did not complete on the day due to banking problems so I had to pay the full amount again for them to store over the weekend and deliver and unpack on Monday. Being homelesss for three days and all your worldly goods on a lorry somewhere is the worst of the stressful buying and selling process!

I think a lot of the difference can be whether the removal company can find a return load.

If the van can return with a load of furniture from someone moving in the opposite direction the cost of the return journey is the other clients. If the van is returning empty, you have to pay for the return journey.

That's why our quote was relatively cheap, Monica. The other quotes, from local french companies were 2-3K dearer.
They had a huge lorry plus an equally huge trailer, enough for 3 loads.
I was worried because they completely blocked the lane in front of our house for 2 days, but the tractors etc found other routes.
The whole thing was a nightmare, must have added years to my age. This was our house, I still miss the peace:
www.google.com/maps/place/32300+Aujan-Mourn%C3%A8de,+France/@43.3758323,0.4978016,3a,75y,310.03h,91.64t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1so_p6FEx05bTmt7gcJ--z4Q!2e0!3e11!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x12a9a441563f4511:0xed325358d160119b!8m2!3d43.381602!4d0.502269

I know what you mean, when we are in our French home (we will be on Monday, yippee). It is the quiet that we most appreciate. Unfortunately we are too far from the road for a Google Street view picture.

I know Britannia is an association of several companies so my experience may not be relevant. They were the worst company of all the ones we have ever used. I could go on and on about them but they were really dreadful. Previously we have only used local independents and never had a complaint, nothing ever got broken and nothing was ever lost. Britannia did all those things to us and even wrote to us at the wrong address. Only had good things to say about all our other moves.

Do make sure the company has good insurance for your goods.

When we moved the company offered separate extra insurance. On checking our contents insurance we realised we were covered for removals as long as the company was on the official removals industry register (it was) so we did not have to buy extra insurance. Check your contents insurance - you might be covered.