Honest 2026 figures, with sources. What a removal actually costs, what the whole move costs once stamp duty and legal fees are counted, and — most importantly — the nine levers that genuinely bring the price down.
£830 – £1,020
Three-bedroom local removal, you pack
£1,290 – £1,380
Same move with professional packing
£13,018
Average total cost of moving home in the UK
Up to 40%
Achievable saving using the levers below
Moving a three-bedroom home locally costs most households between £830 and £1,020 for a professional removal where you do your own packing, or £1,290 to £1,380 with the packing done for you. That is the removal alone. Once stamp duty, conveyancing, surveys and estate agent commission are added, the average total cost of moving home in the UK is around £13,018 — and the removal is one of the smaller lines in it.
Why most cost pages mislead you
Comparison and lead-generation sites quote marketplace prices, which are part-load economics — your belongings share a vehicle with other consignments, and the headline figure often excludes materials, dismantling, parking and any meaningful insurance. Those are real options, and we offer them ourselves, but they are not the same product as a surveyed, insured, full-service move with an established firm that owns its own vehicles and warehouse. On this page we show both, side by side, so you can compare like with like.
Removal costs
What a removal costs by property size
Local moves under 50 miles, August 2026, including VAT. Part load means your belongings share a vehicle and the date is flexible; standard means a vehicle and crew dedicated to your move; full service adds professional packing.
Property
Part load
Standard
Full service
1-bedroom flat
£400 – £470
£470 – £560
£725 – £860
2-bedroom house
£460 – £550
£620 – £720
£930 – £1,020
3-bedroom house
£560 – £710
£830 – £1,020
£1,290 – £1,380
4-bedroom house
£750 – £870
£1,150 – £1,330
£1,700 – £1,750
5-bedroom house
£880 – £1,060
£1,450 – £1,630
£2,050 – £2,110
Highlighted row is the UK's most common move. Figures are indicative market ranges, not quotations — an accurate price needs a survey.
Want a figure for your own move?
Our calculator gives an indicative price in about two minutes, based on your property and the distance involved. No obligation and no phone call required.
Distance is the second biggest driver after property size, because a long move means paying for the vehicle's return journey as well as the outward one.
By distance band
Property
Local (under 50 mi)
Regional (50–125 mi)
Long distance (125+ mi)
1-bedroom flat
£470
£610
£825
2-bedroom house
£715
£925
£1,245
3-bedroom house
£1,020
£1,320
£1,770
4-bedroom house
£1,325
£1,715
£2,295
5-bedroom house
£1,630
£2,105
£2,825
How the mileage element behaves
Distance
Typical removal cost
Under 2 miles
£374
2 – 5 miles
£392
5 – 10 miles
£422
10 – 20 miles
£453
20 – 50 miles
£500
50 – 100 miles
£607
100 – 200 miles
£821
Over 200 miles
£1,219
Note how the curve steepens beyond 100 miles. This is exactly where flexible dates deliver the largest savings — see the section below.
The same three-bedroom move, by region
Region
Three-bedroom local move
London
£1,255 – £1,615
South East
£1,175 – £1,535
Scotland
£1,160 – £1,520
East of England
£1,100 – £1,460
East Midlands
£1,020 – £1,380
West Midlands
£1,020 – £1,380
North West
£1,020 – £1,380Our region
A spread of roughly 23% on identical work, driven mainly by crew wages. The North West sits at the more affordable end of the national range.
Our region in detail
For a three-bedroom move on a part-load basis, these are the typical figures across the areas we serve, against the UK average.
Area
Typical three-bedroom move
Greater Manchester
£504
Cheshire
£504
Lancashire
£501
Merseyside
£457
Cumbria
£659
UK average
£556
Packing
What packing costs, and what it buys you
Packing is the largest genuinely optional line on most quotations, which makes it the first place to look if you need to bring a price down.
Property
Full packing
Fragile items only
Materials only
1-bedroom flat
£300
£120
£50
2-bedroom house
£380
£150
£80
3-bedroom house
£480
£190
£120
4-bedroom house
£580
£230
£160
5-bedroom house
£680
£270
£200
The middle column is the option most people overlook: we pack the glass, china, artwork and electronics, you handle books, clothing and linen.
One point worth knowing before you decide: goods packed by the customer are generally covered differently from goods packed by the removal company. If a professionally packed carton is damaged in transit, that is our responsibility. If you packed it yourself, cover for breakage inside the carton is usually limited. For most households the sensible compromise is to pack the robust items yourself and let us pack anything fragile or valuable.
The full picture
The true total cost of moving home
This is the part most removal websites leave out. On an averagely priced English home of £292,000, the whole transaction averages around £13,018 — and the removal is roughly 4% of it.
Buying costs
Stamp Duty Land Tax£4,600
On a £292,000 home at standard rates. First-time buyers pay nothing up to £300,000.
Conveyancing (purchase)£1,050 – £1,390
Legal fees plus disbursements including searches and Land Registry.
Survey£300 – £1,500
Level 1 condition report from £300; Level 2 homebuyer £400 – £1,000; Level 3 building survey £630 – £1,500.
Mortgage arrangement fee£500 – £1,500
Often addable to the loan, though you then pay interest on it.
Mortgage valuation£100 – £300
Some lenders absorb this as part of the product.
Selling costs
Estate agent commission£4,150
About 1.42% including VAT on an average English home. The single largest controllable cost.
Conveyancing (sale)£610 – £1,320
Lower than a purchase because there are no searches to commission.
Energy Performance Certificate£60 – £120
Legally required before marketing the property.
Moving costs
Professional removals£470 – £2,110
Depends on property size, distance and how much packing you take on. See the tables above.
Mail redirectionFrom £45
Royal Mail, three months. Concessions apply for Universal Credit and Pension Credit.
Storage, if there is a gap£150 – £300 / month
Containerised storage for a three-bedroom household.
Where the money actually goes
On a typical £292,000 purchase and sale, stamp duty and estate agent commission together account for around £8,750 of the £13,018 — roughly two thirds. Removals account for about £550. It is worth keeping that proportion in mind: negotiating a tenth of a percent off your estate agent's commission saves more than switching to the cheapest removal firm you can find, and carries none of the risk.
Transparency
The costs people forget
None of these are unusual, and a reputable firm will raise them at survey rather than after the job. Ask any company you are considering to itemise every one of them in writing.
Parking bay suspensionAround £115 per permit
Most councils need at least two weeks' notice. Needed at both ends on many terraced and city-centre streets.
Congestion and clean-air charges£12.50 – £15 per day
Applies to non-compliant vehicles entering charging zones such as central London.
Difficult accessAround £85 per floor
Charged above ground level where there is no lift, at each end, plus about £75 if the vehicle cannot get within 50 metres.
Furniture dismantling and rebuildingAbout £145, or £45 – £60 per hour
Wardrobes, bed frames, large dining tables and modular sofas.
Specialist items£200 – £800
Pianos, pool tables, safes, large artwork and antiques need specific equipment and handling.
Late changes and cancellationVaries by contract
Most firms charge inside 48 to 72 hours because the crew and vehicle are already committed.
Peak-season premiumAround 17% on transport
June to August, plus the last working days of any month, are the busiest slots in the calendar.
The single most useful question to ask
"Is this price fixed, and what would make it change on the day?" A firm that has surveyed properly can answer that in one sentence. A firm that priced from a room count over the phone usually cannot, and that is where day-of-move surcharges come from.
The important part
Nine ways to genuinely reduce the cost of your move
Moving is expensive, and the figures above will not suit every budget. What is far less widely understood is how much of that cost is actually within your control. These are the levers we use ourselves when a customer tells us a quotation is beyond what they can spend — and yes, they apply to the indicative price our own calculator gives you too. Used together, they routinely take a third or more off a removal cost.
01
Pack it yourself
Applies to any move
Professional packing is the single largest optional line on most quotations. On a three-bedroom home, full packing typically adds about £480. Doing it yourself removes that line entirely. A sensible middle path is to pack your own books, clothing, linen and kitchenware, and ask us to pack only glass, china, artwork and electronics, which brings the packing line down to roughly £190 while keeping the fragile items under professional cover.
Typical savingSave 25 – 35%
Around £480 on a three-bedroom move
02
Supply your own boxes and materials
Applies to any move
Materials are normally quoted separately, from about £50 for a one-bedroom flat to £200 for a five-bedroom house. Sourcing your own cartons, paper and tape removes that charge. Start collecting six to eight weeks ahead, use proper double-walled cartons for books and kitchen items, and avoid supermarket boxes for anything heavy since a failed box in transit costs more than the box saved.
Typical savingSave 5 – 10%
£50 – £200 depending on property size
03
Reduce what you move
Applies to any move
Every quotation is ultimately driven by how much there is to move. Clearing the loft, garage and shed before your survey rather than after it is the most reliable way to bring a price down, because the estimate is built from what we actually see. Sell, donate or recycle in the four weeks before the survey, and tell us what is definitely not coming so it is excluded from the outset.
Typical savingSave 10 – 20%
£100 – £300 on a three-bedroom move
04
Move on a different date
Applies to any move
Fridays, the last working day of the month, and the whole of June to August are the most heavily booked slots in the industry, and carry a premium of roughly 17% on the transport element. A Tuesday or Wednesday in the middle of the month, or an autumn or winter date, costs materially less for identical work. If your completion date is fixed, ask us about moving the packing day rather than the load day.
Typical savingSave 10 – 17%
£100 – £170 on a three-bedroom move
05
Share the day — a part move
Best for local moves
Where your move does not need a full day, we can combine it with other work already scheduled in the same area on the same date — a delivery, a storage collection, or a second smaller move nearby. You are then sharing the cost of the day rather than carrying it alone. This works best for flats, smaller houses and part-household moves, and it depends on what is already in the diary, so flexibility on date is what unlocks it.
Long-distance pricing is dominated by the return journey: on a move from Manchester to Cornwall you are, in effect, paying for the vehicle to come home again. When your dates align with work already going in that direction, that return leg is already paid for and the saving is substantial. We know weeks in advance where our vehicles are heading, so if you can offer a window of a few days rather than one fixed date on a long-distance move, ask us what is already routed your way.
A sole-use container is priced whether it is full or not. On a part-load or groupage basis you pay only for the space your effects occupy, sharing the container with other consignments heading to the same destination. For anything less than a full household this is usually the largest single saving available on an international move. The trade-off is transit time, since the container sails when it is full, so it suits anyone who is not tied to an exact arrival date.
Typical savingSave 30 – 50%
Often several thousand pounds on an overseas move
08
Be flexible on sailing dates and port
Best for international moves
Freight rates move with the shipping calendar, and a sailing a week or two either side of your preferred date can cost noticeably less. The port of entry matters just as much: bringing a container into a different arrival port and running the final leg overland is often cheaper than insisting on the nearest port to your new home, particularly for Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States, where inland distances are long and domestic haulage is competitive.
Typical savingSave 10 – 25%
Varies by destination and season
09
Use storage to break a difficult chain
Applies to any move
When completion dates do not line up, the instinctive answer is to pay a premium for an awkward same-day move. Loading into containerised storage for a short period, then delivering when you have the keys, is frequently the cheaper and calmer option, and it removes the risk of paying cancellation charges if the chain slips. It also lets us schedule both legs on efficient days rather than on whatever date the chain dictates.
Typical savingOften cheaper than the alternative
From about £150 per month
Stacking the levers
What this looks like on a real three-bedroom move
Full-service quotation, professional packing, peak Friday date£1,380
Move the date to a mid-week day in October− £170
Pack everything except glass, china and artwork yourself− £290
Supply your own cartons and paper− £120
Clear the loft and garage before the survey− £150
Revised cost£650
A reduction of roughly 53% on the same household, the same distance and the same firm — achieved entirely by changing what is included and when it happens, not by cutting corners on insurance or accountability. Your own figures will differ; this is an illustration of how the levers compound rather than a quotation.
Found a lower price from a comparable firm? Tell us.
We would rather match a fair price than lose a customer over one. If you have a written quotation from a comparable local removal company, send it to us and we will look at matching it on a case-by-case basis. We assess each request individually because no two moves — or two quotations — are quite the same.
For a quotation to qualify, the other company must:
Be a genuine removal company — an established removals business, not a man-and-van operator, owner-driver or lead-generation website.
Operate within the regions we cover, so the comparison reflects the same market and the same travelling costs.
Run its own warehouse and its own HGV fleet, rather than subcontracting the work to third parties.
Have quoted in writing for the same scope of work — the same property, date, distance, level of packing and insurance cover.
We are deliberately clear about the exclusions. We do not match man-and-van or marketplace prices, because those quotations reflect a different service entirely: different insurance, no warehouse behind the job, no directly employed crew, and no recourse if something goes wrong on the day. Comparing them with a full-service move is not a like-for-like comparison, and pretending otherwise would not be honest. Price matching is offered at our discretion and is not an entitlement.
Transparency about method matters as much as transparency about price. This is how the number on your quotation is actually constructed.
1
We survey the property
In person or by video call. We look at what is actually going, the access at both ends, whether there are stairs or a lift, how close a vehicle can park, and anything needing special handling. Everything that follows depends on getting this right, which is why a price given without a survey is a guess.
2
We work out the time and resource required
How long the job takes, how many people it needs, and whether it can be done in a day. This is where property size translates into cost.
3
We add the distance element
Mileage between the two addresses, including the return journey on longer moves. This is the part that flexible dating can reduce dramatically, because it can often be shared with other work already heading the same way.
4
We price the options separately
Packing, materials, dismantling, storage and any specialist handling are itemised as individual lines rather than buried in a single total, so you can see exactly what each one costs and decide what you want.
5
We confirm access costs and insurance
Parking suspensions, long carries and clean-air charges are identified at survey rather than sprung on you afterwards, and your cover level is confirmed in writing.
6
You get a fixed, itemised price
One document, every line visible, and a clear statement of what would change it. If you want it cheaper, we can then work through the levers above together and rebuild it.
Questions answered
Common questions about moving costs
Moving a three-bedroom home locally with a professional firm typically costs between £830 and £1,380 if you pack yourself, or £1,290 to £1,380 with full professional packing. The removal itself is only part of the picture: once stamp duty, conveyancing, surveys and estate agent commission are included, the average total cost of moving home in the UK is around £13,018 on an averagely priced English property.
For a local move under 50 miles, expect roughly £830 to £1,020 for a full-service removal where you do your own packing, rising to about £1,290 to £1,380 with professional packing. In Greater Manchester and across the North West, prices sit slightly below the UK average. The same three-bedroom move over 125 miles or more typically costs around £1,770.
The largest savings come from packing yourself, reducing how much you move, and being flexible on the date. Together these can reduce a removal cost by a third or more. On longer moves, aligning your date with a vehicle already travelling in that direction saves 20 to 40%. On international moves, sharing a container on a part-load basis is usually the single biggest saving available.
Quotes for identical jobs routinely vary by 30 to 50%. The differences are usually crew wages, whether the firm owns its vehicles and warehouse or subcontracts the work, the level of insurance included, and whether the price is based on a proper survey or a guess from a room count. A very low quote often excludes materials, dismantling, parking or insurance, so compare what is included rather than only the total.
Mid-week and mid-month, outside the June to August peak. Fridays and the final working days of the month are the most heavily booked slots in the industry and carry a premium of roughly 17% on the transport element. Autumn and winter dates generally offer both better availability and better prices.
On many terraced streets and city-centre roads, yes. A parking bay suspension costs around £115 per permit and most councils require at least two weeks' notice. It may be needed at both ends of the move. It is far cheaper than the access surcharge that applies if the vehicle cannot get close to the property.
International costs depend on destination, volume and whether you take sole use of a container or share one. Sharing a container on a part-load basis typically costs 30 to 50% less than sole use, because you pay only for the space your effects occupy. Flexibility on sailing dates and on the port of entry can reduce the figure further. We quote international moves individually after a survey.
Yes, on a case-by-case basis. We will consider matching a written quotation from a genuine removal company, meaning an established firm that operates within the regions we cover and runs its own warehouse and HGV fleet. We do not match quotations from man-and-van operators or lead-generation websites, because those prices reflect a fundamentally different service, insurance position and level of accountability.
Figures reviewed August 2026 and include VAT. All prices are indicative market ranges intended to help you budget, not quotations. Stamp duty rates shown are for England and Northern Ireland; Scotland and Wales operate separate systems.
Let's find the cheapest sensible way to move you.
Tell us your budget as well as your dates. We have been moving families across the North West since 1948, and there is almost always a version of the job that fits — without cutting the corners that matter.
