The seven things that shape what a move actually costs
No figures on this page, and none anywhere else on this site. What follows is the honest mechanics of a removals quote — what moves the number, in roughly the order it matters, and which parts of it are within your control.
Almost every removals price question has the same real answer: it depends, and here is what it depends on. That sounds evasive until you see the list, at which point it becomes obvious — two identical-looking three-bedroom houses can be half a vehicle apart once the loft is counted, and a small flat on the fourth floor can take longer than a large house with a driveway.
So rather than publish a figure that was never going to apply to your move, we publish the mechanics. Read the seven, work out which are true of yours, and you will know whether your move sits at the simple end or the complicated one before anyone quotes you anything.
- 01
How much there is
The biggest single driver, and the one people misjudge most.
Every other factor scales off this one. Volume decides the vehicle, the vehicle decides the crew, and the crew decides the day. It is measured in cubic space rather than in bedrooms, which is why a bedroom count is not a quote.
- The loft, the garage, the shed and the cupboard under the stairs — always coming, always forgotten
- Whether the garden furniture, the bikes and the barbecue are in the load
- How full the wardrobes actually are, rather than how many there are
- Anything oversized: a piano, a safe, a workshop bench, a full-height bookcase
What you can change: genuinely decide what is not coming before the survey rather than after it. A load that shrinks by a room's worth changes the vehicle, and that is a real difference rather than a rounding.
- 02
How far it goes
Not a per-mile rate — a change in the shape of the day.
Short moves are priced on time and volume. Once a move crosses regions, the driving becomes the spine of the day and everything else arranges around it. That is why distance is a step change rather than a smooth curve: there is a point where a move stops being one day's work and becomes two.
- Whether the drive fits inside a working day alongside loading and unloading
- Whether the crew can return the same day, or needs to stay
- How early you can load, which decides everything downstream
- Ferry legs for Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Scottish islands
What you can change: the loading hour. On a long move, starting early is worth more than any negotiation, because it is frequently the difference between one day and two.
- 03
Access at both ends
The factor that catches people out, in both directions.
Access is the route your things have to travel between the room and the vehicle, and it can double the labour on an identical volume. It is also the reason a big house is sometimes cheaper to move than a small flat.
- Floors, and whether there is a lift — and whether the lift takes furniture
- How tight the stairwell turn is, and how wide the communal door is
- Where the vehicle can legally stand, and how far the carry is from there
- Whether a parking bay needs suspending, and who applies
- Gates, long drives, single-track lanes, low branches and unmade surfaces
- Whether a building has permitted hours or a booking sheet for the goods lift
What you can change: sort the parking. Of everything on this page, the distance between the vehicle and the front door is the factor most often within your control and most often ignored.
- 04
How much packing you want
The line you can genuinely move yourself.
Packing is priced separately from moving for a reason: it is the one part of the job most people can take on, and the amount they take on varies enormously. It is also where the most damage originates when it is done badly.
- Full packing, part packing, or only the fragile items
- Whether you want unpacking at the other end as well
- Materials — cartons, tape, tissue, cell partitions, wardrobe boxes
- Specialist cases and crates for mirrors, framed work, marble and glass tops
What you can change: a great deal. The common split is that you do the books, clothes and non-fragile cupboards and we do the kitchen, the glass, the pictures and anything old. If you do pack yourself, do it early — packing always takes longer than the estimate in your head.
- 05
Whether anything needs storing
An addition that frequently prevents a larger cost.
Storage adds a handling and a period of keeping, so it is not free. But the alternative is usually worse: a rushed completion, a second move, or paying to hold a property you have already left.
- How much is going in, and for roughly how long
- Whether you need access while it is stored
- Whether it is collected as part of the move or as a separate job
- Whether the whole household is going in, or two rooms during building work
What you can change: raise it at quote stage even if you only think you might need it. Storage arranged in advance is part of the move; storage arranged on the morning is an emergency, and emergencies cost more everywhere.
- 06
When you move
Availability more than price.
There is no surcharge here for a date sounding urgent. What changes with timing is what is available — and a date you cannot get has its own cost, usually in the form of a rushed decision.
- Summer, Fridays and month-ends are when most people move
- School holidays concentrate family moves into narrow windows
- Mid-week and mid-month is consistently easier to book
- Commercial moves are usually evenings or weekends by design
What you can change: flexibility. If your dates can bend by a day or two, more of the diary opens up — which matters most when a chain is already unpredictable.
- 07
The extras
Small individually, worth knowing about collectively.
These are the things that sit outside a standard removal and get quoted line by line. None of them are large on their own. All of them are worth knowing about before the day rather than after.
- Dismantling and rebuilding furniture that was not designed to come apart
- Specialist handling for pianos, safes, large aquariums or workshop equipment
- Disconnecting or reconnecting appliances, where that needs a trade
- A second collection or delivery address
- Parking suspensions charged by a council, passed on at cost with the paperwork
- Waiting time where a completion runs late
What you can change: mention them. Every one of these is cheaper as a line in a quote than as a surprise on a moving day.
How to compare two quotes properly
Most of the gap between two removals quotes is not margin. It is a different assumption about one of the seven above — usually the first, third or fourth. Three questions settle almost every comparison:
- What volume did you measure? A quote that cannot answer this has not measured anything.
- What packing does this assume? The commonest hidden difference by a wide margin.
- What access did you allow for? Floors, lift, parking distance, and whether a bay needs suspending.
If both quotes give the same three answers and the numbers still differ, then you are genuinely comparing firms rather than assumptions — and at that point pick on how they answered, not on which was lower.
Ours lists all three in writing. Send us your move and you will have something you can hold another firm's quote against.
Now get the number that applies to you
The seven factors tell you what shapes a cost. A survey tells you what yours is. It is free, it takes minutes by video, and nothing about it obliges you to book.