Why choose a removal company, and not do it yourself?

 

Its that time in our lives when we have to move, whether you are in a rental property, or your moving into your first home. But the question is do you do it yourself or get a removal company in to do it for you? 

 

Well both options come with pros and cons, and that is what i will try and cover for you in this article. 

 

First we can cover "you" doing the move yourself.  

 

This probably sounds the easiest option for sure, because all you have to is get a few friends to help and hire a van right? Well there is a little bit more to think about than that! 

 

If it was as simple as that then surely we would all do that, and their would be no use for a removals company. The planing and execution of a move is often underestimated. If you have bought or sold your house you must remember you need to be out of your property by 1pm that day or, there could be financial penalties if your not. 

 

If you are packing yourself make sure you give yourself plenty of time, we will follow up with our own packing tips in another article. don't forget you need boxes, strong boxes - not crisp boxes, amazon boxes or banana boxes!! These are simply not strong enough to hold your goods. Anything that is boxed is easier to move than things that are not.  

 

If your working maybe try to pack a few boxes each night after work, or if your a full time parent try packing when the kids are at school or nursery or between sleeps, or when they have gone to bed on the evening. It will be much easier when there not distracting you, allow a few weeks to get this done in your own time. 

 

 

This is when you find out who your friends are as you are going to need a few to help on the day or even the day before. Most moves happen during the week, unless your going into a rental property where perhaps you have already obtained your keys, and moving in at the weekend. 

 

If your move is during the week and your moving yourself you probably want to give yourself two days to get things loaded up to be out on time, if you have a hire van remember you can probably get this picked up at around 8-9am usually takes around an hour to get signed out. and is subject to availability.  

 

Typical hire cost for a Luton van range from anywhere from £100 - £180 then you have damage waiver insurance usually an extra £25, and the deposit taken from your card usually £500. Remember you will need to replace the fuel and may need to top up the ad blue in it if its low, it wouldn't be the first time we have hired in vans on busy periods to find it is running on vapours, with no diesel or ad-blue! 

 

Don't forget to stay legal with weight limits - if your in a hire van your weight limit overall is 3.5t (3500kgs) typically most vans weigh around 2500/2800kgs before anything goes in the back, meaning before any passengers or goods in the back you have around 700 - 1000kgs to play with. To give you an idea of that weight its roughly 7-10 adults weighing around 10st in the back. 

 

If the police were to stop you for an overweight vehicle it can be a costly exercise as the van is usually impounded at a weigh bridge, you have to arrange another vehicle to take the excess weight, and then pay the fine for each axle that's overweight. 

 

Keep an eye on the springs at the back when loading the saying goes happy springs the vehicle should be OK, unhappy springs your to heavy, you can always got to a weigh bridge if unsure. 

 

Now we have made you aware of that you need to get 2, 3 or 4 people in to give you a hand, they may need to book a day off work unless your moving on a weekend and there happy to give up the weekend to help out. 

 

 

Unfortunately you will not get any of the above from a van hire company, so may be worth investing in some blankets prior to moving day which are around £200/£250 for 50 which maybe enough to cover you essential items at least. 

 

Now you have your hire van and a few friends rallied together its time to get the van loaded. Typically unless you are in a 1 bed or a small 2 bed its very unlikely you will get all your things on, in one go, so you may need more than 1 van or you will need to do multiple trips to and from the new property. To give you an idea on time this takes it would take our teams around 2/3hrs to load a Luton van, then travel time to a property and around an hour or 1.5hrs to unload a van, this can vary on different factors access issues length of carry, difficult items, plus we blanket wrap everything on the van, so your timings maybe different but if you allow 5hrs per van load, travel, & unload you shouldn't be far off. If it all didn't fit on then same again another 5hrs to load another van, travel and unload it, if you have to do it again I'm sure this would be on another day as by now you will be exhausted!