What a removal costs in London, and what actually moves the price

The short version

Access, not volume

The thing that surprises people is how little the bedroom count decides. Two identical three-bedroom flats can differ by hours of work:

• The floor, and whether there is a lift. Carrying a wardrobe down four flights is slow, and slow is what you pay for. A working goods lift can halve a job.
• Whether the lift is bookable. In a managed block the lift often has to be reserved, and a crew standing in a lobby waiting for one is still a crew being paid.
• Where the van can legally stop. A van fifty metres from the door adds a carry to every single item. On a red route it may not be able to stop at all.
• The stairwell itself. A half-landing turn decides whether a sofa goes down the stairs or out of a window, and those are very different jobs.
• Parking at both ends. People plan the collection and forget the delivery. Both ends need somewhere to put the van.

None of that is visible from a postcode and a bedroom count, which is why a phone quote is really a bet on the access being average.

The charges that are not ours

Some of what appears on a London removals bill is not the remover's price. It is a public charge collected on your behalf, and it should appear at cost with no margin on it. Ask any firm to show these separately.

• A parking bay suspension. Councils set these, and they vary enormously — Camden waives the first-day space charge for a house move while other boroughs charge several hundred pounds for the same day. The per-borough fees, and the date each was checked, are in our London parking suspensions guide.
• A dispensation, where a suspension is not available. It is a different thing and it does not reserve the bay. Which one a move needs depends on the borough, and in Hackney the vehicle size rules it out entirely.
• Red routes. TfL sells no suspensions on a red route at any price. A dispensation is the only route, and it needs working days of notice.
• ULEZ and the Congestion Charge. What applies to a removals van depends on the vehicle and where it is going, not on how big your move is.

If a quote rolls all of that into one number, you cannot tell what is the firm's labour and what is a council fee. That is worth asking about.

Van size is a price decision

One load beats two, and the gap is bigger than people expect. A second trip repeats the driving, the loading, the unloading and the parking problem, so it is close to doubling the job rather than adding a bit to it. Choosing a van that is slightly too small to save money usually costs more. Our removal van sizes guide maps vehicles to homes and explains the licence line at 3,500 kg.

What a written quote should tell you

A quote worth having says what it includes and, more usefully, what it does not. Look for:

• The crew size and how long the job is expected to take.
• The vehicle, and whether it is one load or two.
• Which public charges are passed on, listed separately.
• What happens if the day runs longer than expected, and at what rate.
• Whether packing, materials and dismantling are in or out.
• What the cover is if something is damaged, and what it excludes.

If any of those are missing, ask. A firm that will not put the answer in writing before you book is telling you something.

Why we survey first

We do not price a London move without seeing it, in person or on a video call. It takes fifteen minutes and it is the only way to price the access rather than guess it. The number that comes back is in writing, and because it was based on the real staircase and the real parking, it is a number we can stand behind rather than revise on the morning.

That is the whole trade: a slightly slower quote, in exchange for a figure that does not move.

Common questions

Why will you not give me a price over the phone? Because the things that decide the price are the things we cannot see over the phone. A phone figure would be a guess, and a guess that turns out low becomes a difficult conversation on moving day, when you have no alternative.

Is a cheaper quote usually a worse one? Not necessarily, but check what it leaves out. The common gaps are public charges quoted separately later, a crew of two where the job needs three, and an hourly rate with no estimate of how many hours.

Does the distance matter much within London? Less than people expect. Crossing London takes time, but the loading and unloading usually dominate. Access at both ends still matters more than the miles between them.

What makes a move more expensive than the customer expected? Almost always access that nobody checked: no lift, no parking, a long carry, or a stairwell that will not take the furniture. All four are visible at a survey and invisible on a phone call.

Should I pay a deposit? That is between you and the firm, but get the quote and what it covers in writing first. A deposit against a verbal figure leaves you with nothing to point at.