Moving home - Am I mad to consider hiring a van?

A car? It's moving house in 1 day, not taking a child to University.

As you've pointed out in your post if you can box up and remove as much as you can beforehand, less stress on the day. A few people to get boxes near the door and sort furniture then others to load, repeat on the other side. We've used "man with van" removal services before and they're not afraid of heavy moving. Each trip out of the house with a box/furniture takes time, especially if the van is limited for space so the more hands on you have, the easier it will be.

Sometimes multiple trips are possible if you can get an agreement with the new owners to use the drive/garage space beforehand, but as far as I know this is discouraged by the solicitors as you're putting furniture into a property you haven't paid for and if the sale falls through, you'd have fun getting it back!

I'd want 2-3 sets of extra hands if attempting to move myself if you're in a chain.
 
NotAGolf said:
it's only a 2 min drive from my current house)[...]

There's no way I could fit my whole house in a Luton van, but my in-laws live nearby so I was thinking the day before completing I could move half my gear into theirs, then on the day of the move I could put all the big stuff in the van, and I can unload at 'leisure' as the van wouldn't be due back until the day after.
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Get some friends to help with the bigger stuff but if it's only 2 mins away then I don't see it being too much of an issue to do a couple of trips with a van on the day with your bulk furniture etc.. rather than hiring a whole removal truck.

Stashing stuff at your in-laws is probably useful to cut down on stress/faff too - especially if it's all boxed up and can just go in say their garage - can get your friends to help with that and it should be quite quick to load/unload boxes into the van.

NotAGolf said:
Hmm, some of you are suggesting to do multiple trips. How does that work if you're in a chain? I thought at X o'clock you get a call that basically says get out of your house and into your new one. I.e. No time to shuttle back and forth as your buyer will move in the moment you move out? (Hence why I was thinking I needed to do a single trip on completion day).
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If it's 2 minutes away and you've staggered the handover times then you could probably get in two or three trips. If worried then just make sure it's literally just bulky stuff and make use of your in-laws place for everything else.

Worst case - you have a sofa and bed you need to grab while the new people are just turning up - not the end of the world as it's only going to take minutes to get it in the van/not like you've got loads of stuff there as you've moved most to the in-laws already.

I think given the distance the DIY van option and several trips is totally fine.
 
NotAGolf said:
I realise it'll be hard graft, but I'm reasonably fit and we don't have much stuff. I'm confident between me and the missus we could carry everything we own no problem apart from the big American fridge freezer, but I could rope my brother in to help with that.
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Man with a Van for an hour to help shift the heavy stuff don't even need the van just the muscle which is really what removals firms are for to take the hard work out of moving which is mostly physical labour
 
Sack trolley (pneumatic tyres) I bought from B&Q was invaluable for shifting washing machine/single width fridge,
also getting some large slings (had some from climbing kit) to put around/under mattresses too, to get them down the stairs (2 of us).
Usad a high wall van from Entereprise, reversing the thing was a pain.

Preparation and have most of stuff ready to roll, boxed in garage, invaluable.
 
I've moved family and friends and my own house. But they were 2 bed houses or flats. When I moved in 2018, I moved 2 mins round corner aswell had 2 Luton's to get it all done in the timescale. Chain usually parked up outside waiting for you to get out.

The 4 bed house I'm in now I wouldn't bother moving myself, there's just too much stuff and I'd need a lorry and Luton I reckon.

If you got mates helping, make sure the tea, coffee and refreshments box is easy to access and be one of the first things out the box and set up rearing to go, soldiers need food and water.

So depends on what you moving from to, and how many people you can get to help you.
 
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I've moved flats & rental houses several times - always did DIY with a borrowed or rented van.

I'd definitely have second thoughts about our current house though - having been here 12 years, we've built up quite a bit of "stuff"!

Another option to consider is renting a storage unit for a few weeks. Move the majority of rarely used items to a unit, leaving just the things you need on a daily basis for the van on moving day. That way you can collect the other items at your leisure. Wouldn't really be feasible if you were moving a long distance, but as it's only a few minutes away, a local storage unit is going to be convenient for both the new and old properties.
 
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"Hard graft, not much stuff, and fit and healthy" don't match up.

Sounds like you've got it under control. I'd just get the brother heavily involved with cash incentive, and as you say, be prepared with before hand shifting of boxed rubbish to your family's place. I'd be inclined to leave any chipboard furniture, dismantle all beds and sleep on inflatables prior days before even.

Screw being stressed, having damaged stuff, and paying out your ass for moving companies, unless of course you do own loads of hardwood furniture.
 
I'm moving soon & am planning to do it myself. Moving 120 miles, and planning to hire 2 luton vans. Any van was quoting ~1500, and I really don't like the idea of it being contrated out to a random, so going with a proper moving company would probably be close to double. I still need to pack everything myself & get it to the ground floor, so all I'm essentially paying someone for, is to carry stuff from the ground floor into the van, drive a van & unload into the ground floor again. I'm not paying someone ~£1000 to do that.
 
It doesn’t matter if you’re moving 2 minutes away or 30 minutes, the majority of the fee is for a removal firm to be fully loaded by 1pm and sitting outside your new property waiting to unload once funds have cleared and you are handed the keys.

I used to run a man and van service, I still have my domain name manvan co uk but I stopped about three years ago. Don’t under estimate how hard it is moving a three piece suit, beds, white goods and boxes, if not used to it you’ll be shattered.

If you’re in a chain and someone is buying your house you can’t do multiple trips, everything has to be unloaded and sitting in a van/truck ready for completion. You could possibly use a storage container type company who charge by the week. Lots about usually on farm land. Start moving your stuff in the day before and the final van load in the morning.

I used to use a Jumbo Transit, same size as a Sprinter, if you passed your driving test before 1997 you can drive a 7.5 tonne on grandfather rights, no need for a C1

Finally, a Luton Van will take you more than twice as long to load unless you use the tail lift as a step (leave it in place 1/3rd way up) waiting for the lift to go up and down with items on it area ball ache. Removal firms don’t use tail lifts, low loaders or ramps
 
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When I moved, my dad got my uncle with a small white van he used for odd job. Stuff in my dad's car, my car and the van and we where done in 2 trips.
 
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I've mixed feelings on this - moving is one of the most stressful things you can do unless you live a super minimalist lifestyle and incredibly organised and having professionals do it makes a huge difference - if you aren't used to lifting and carrying stuff and a good head for packing you will really struggle if you are shifting a significant amount on the day itself with the completion clock ticking down especially if you've got the stress of dealing with that side of it as well.

On the other hand if you really don't have much stuff and in good shape then personally I'd lean towards hiring a van and doing it yourself and I'd definitely recommend if possible shifting some of the bigger and/or more incidental stuff before moving day via storage - we were fortunate my uncle has a spare multi-car garage with a load of room to chuck stuff and quite happy for it to be used.

If you aren't used to driving a van keep in mind you do have about 2 metres behind you more than you are used to accommodating for when turning in.
 
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We used a van to move five years ago, it was a 10 min drive away.

It took much longer than expected and I lost count of the number of trips it took, but were leaving the property empty for a month before the new people moved in so we didn't need to do it in a day.
 
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