Hiring professional movers vs moving yourself

Post date: 02-Apr-2018 15:03:29

It's understandable that when moving house people are looking for as good a deal as they can get for the removal service - especially if they've just put down a hefty deposit towards their first home. While I think our prices are reasonable (indeed they're competitive against other local removals companies), there are, inevitably, people who will find them to be out of their budget. I have written a post in the past about minimizing your moving costs so that's where I'd suggest people look if they're on a tight budget. Our budget man and van service is usually cheaper than hiring the van to do the move yourself for local moves (Kingston, Wimbledon, Surbiton, New Malden, Worcester Park, Thames Ditton, Esher, Walton on Thames, South London and surrounding areas) if you're organised and have items ready to go.

But having seen someone do a DIY move recently, I question the wisdom of a DIY move so here's a quick comparison of the two to help you decide which one is better for you. The comparison assumes that you'll have hire a self drive van since very few people have access to a van.

Self move

Deposit

You have have to pay a security deposit when hiring a van. This goes towards the insurance access in case you damage the van while it's in your possession.

Friends

I can barely get a handful of friends to meet for brunch so I doubt I could get any of them to come and help me with a house move. You have to rely on friends to not only turn up on the day but to actually be able to do the job and complete it on the day of your move.

Inconvenient

You have to go and pick up the van - van places are usually local at industrial estates nowhere near public transport or anywhere to park - often early in the morning, take with you documents to prove your address and that your licence is eligible to drive etc.

Van rental places get booked up

Since most house removals take place at weekends (it's when most people are off work) you'll be lucky to get your hands on a rental van in South London/Surrey, especially at the end of the month.

Somebody has to do the actual work

Even if you manage to convince a handful of your friends to forgo a day of their weekend and all London has to offer, jump through all the hoops of getting the van, somebody still has to do the actual parking the van safely but as close to your front door as possible, loading of the van, packing the items inside safely and securely, drive to the destination address and unload. And make the second trip if necessary.

Returning the van

This is especially painful if you've moved halfway across the country and you have to make the journey back to South London/Surrey to return the van (if the van company offers the one way hire service, it's usually at exorbitant fees). Another added complexity is the fuel - you rarely ever get van companies full of fuel but you have to return it with the same amount of fuel you collected it with. The problem is if you're not used to the vehicle it's very difficult to gauge the amount of fuel need, if you get this wrong you could incur further costs.

Movers

No deposit

If you have to pay a deposit when making a booking, it goes towards the final bill of your move.

Professionals

You're hiring professionals to do the job. Not only do our livelihoods rely on us getting the job done properly, but we've done it thousands of times. It's not just about lifting furniture, but there's also the knowledge of how certain items should be carried, loaded and protected once in the van.

Conveninent

All you have to do is be up and be ready for the movers to turn up.

If you've booked the date and time, we'll honour the booking

We have vans. If you book a date and time and we confirm it, we'll hounour it.

We do the work

Depending on what level of service you've booked with us (full pack, dismantle, reassembly and move; self pack, we dismantle and move;

Nothing to return

Once we're done moving your stuff and putting all furniture items in the right rooms and the positions you want them and boxes in the rooms you want us to, we take our van with us. There's nothing left for you to do, apart from pay the bill that is.

Please contact me by email or call me on 07842181350 if you're interested in our moving service in the London and Surrey areas and going anywhere in mainland UK.