Ask three removal firms to price the same three-bedroom house in Basingstoke and you can easily get three figures that differ by several hundred pounds. That is not usually because one of them is trying it on. It is because they have each made different assumptions about how long the job will take, and nobody has asked you the questions that would settle it.
This guide explains what those questions are, what the honest price bands look like locally in 2026, and where costs quietly appear on the day. Read it before you accept any quote, including ours.
The rough price bands
These are guide ranges for a local move — somewhere inside roughly 40 miles of Basingstoke — with a standard load, reasonable access and no packing service. They are a starting point for a conversation, not a quote.
- Studio or single room: £150 – £350
- One-bedroom flat: £200 – £500
- Two-bedroom house: £250 – £700
- Three-bedroom house: £350 – £1,000
- Four-bedroom house and up: £500 – £1,600
The width of each band is the honest part. A two-bed flat on the ground floor with a driveway sits near the bottom. The same flat on the second floor with no lift and a five-minute carry to the nearest legal parking space sits near the top, because it will take most of a day rather than a morning.
What actually pushes the price up
1. Access, more than volume
This surprises people. Two houses with identical contents can differ by hundreds of pounds purely on access. Stairs with a turn at the bottom, a shared entrance with a door that will not stay open, a parking bay eighty metres from the front door, or a permit zone that needs suspending — each of those adds real hours. Volume fills the van; access fills the day.
2. Distance, but not in the way you expect
A move from Basingstoke to Reading costs very little more than a move across Basingstoke. A move to Manchester costs considerably more, but per mile it is far cheaper, because the loading and unloading time is identical and driving is the efficient part of the day. Long distance is a bigger number and better value simultaneously.
3. Dismantling and reassembly
Beds, wardrobes, sofa beds and large dining tables often have to come apart. Some firms include it, some charge for it, and some quietly leave it off the quote so the figure looks competitive — and then discuss it on the morning, when you have no alternatives. Ask explicitly whether dismantling and reassembly is inside the price.
4. Packing
Packing yourself is the single biggest saving available to you, typically 20 to 50 per cent on top of the base job depending on how much you hand over. A partial service — where the crew packs the kitchen and anything fragile, and you do the rest — is the sensible middle, because the kitchen is where most breakages actually happen.
5. Timing
Fridays and month-ends are the busiest slots in the calendar, because that is when tenancies and completions land. A midweek move is easier to book and often cheaper. Genuine short notice — this week, or today — carries a premium, and it should: it means rearranging a diary that other customers are already in.
The cheapest quote is only the cheapest quote if it contains the same work as the others. Half the price gap in this trade is just things left off the list.
Where surprise charges come from
Reputable firms do not invent charges. What happens far more often is that the job on the day is not the job that was described on the phone, and both sides then feel hard done by. The common culprits:
- A loft or garage nobody mentioned — often a third of the total volume
- A shed and garden furniture assumed to be included by you, and not by them
- Two extra items that turn one van-load into two
- Parking that had to be paid for or suspended on the day
- A completion delay that leaves a loaded crew waiting for hours
- Boxes that were not packed when the crew arrived
Every one of those is avoidable with a five-minute video walk-round before anyone quotes. Open the loft hatch, open the garage, open the shed. A firm that prices from that is quoting your actual house rather than an average one.
Hourly rate or fixed price?
An hourly rate looks transparent and can work out cheaper on a small, straightforward job. It also transfers all the risk to you: traffic on the A33, a slow lift, a delayed key handover, and your bill grows through no fault of your own.
A fixed price puts that risk on the firm, which is where it belongs — they are the ones who can estimate it. For anything bigger than a single room, ask for a fixed quote and make sure it names the property size, the two addresses, the date and what is included.
Six questions to ask before you book
- Is this a fixed price or an estimate that can change on the day?
- Does it include dismantling and reassembling furniture?
- How many people are coming, and for how long?
- Are you insured, and can I see the certificate before the day?
- What happens if my completion is delayed by a few hours?
- Is there anything you have assumed that I should correct?
That last one is the useful one. It invites the firm to tell you what they have guessed at, and the answer tells you a great deal about how they work.
How to genuinely reduce the cost
- Declutter before you get quoted, not after — you are paying to move volume
- Pack everything except the kitchen and anything fragile
- Take the loft, shed and garage into account when you describe the job
- Move midweek and avoid the last Friday of the month
- Have boxes stacked by the front door before the crew arrives
- Bundle the end-of-tenancy clean into the same booking rather than hiring separately
That last point is worth real money. Booking a removal firm and a cleaning company separately means two mobilisations, two quotes and two arrival windows to coordinate. One crew doing both in a day is cheaper and considerably less stressful.