Whether to Use a Man with Van or Whether to Use a Removal Company

When you are moving house there is one thing you can be absolutely assured of: you will need plenty of cardboard boxes! In fact, the Land Registry have collated figures involving 123,293 homes that had been sold during June 2007. From these figures they estimated that, if each house move accounted for 30 cardboard boxes, the total number of boxes required in a single month would be 3.5 million boxes, or more than 3.5 thousand metric tonnes of cardboard! That involves a lot of trees since it takes around 17 trees to make just one metric tonne of cardboard. That is, of course, if the boxes used were from newly prepared timber.

Find out Exactly what your are Paying For
If you decide to book a man with van you will find they are not quite as stringent as a bigger removal company, often being able to agree to a deal off the top of their heads without having to refer back to office policies. Most man with van firms will charge a fixed amount, followed by a certain amount on top for additional mileage. Most man with van firms will charge a fixed amount for removals within a radius up to 50 miles, with additional mileage charged beyond that. Other man with van firms will deliver within a radius of up to 150 miles, with additional mileage charged on top of that. These extra mileage costs are charged at between 8 pence and 12 pence per mile. Clearly you can see the sense in choosing the most appropriate sized van so that you only need to do the journey once – or choose a removal company that offers unlimited mileage!

How an Estimate is Calculated
Regardless of whether you are choosing a large removal company or whether you have decided on a man with van, the removal representative will accompany around your home, ascertaining how much of your belongings need to be included in the estimate. To obtain an accurate figure the estimator will take into account the amount of furniture you have, as well as its size and shape and take into account the number of boxes that are likely to be used once you have packed up your belongings. According to the Land Registry, as mentioned above, the average house move invariably uses 30 boxes on average. Once the estimator has finished looking at your belongings the will be in a better position to discuss any queries or concerns you might have and advise you on the most appropriate size van for your relocation.

Deciding on the size of van for the man with van job is not just a case of thinking whether all your belongings are going to fit into a specific sized van. They also need to take into account whether a large van will be able to get within access distance of your property or whether it might be more feasible to use a couple of vans. Other considerations are whether there are stairs and how awkward some of the furniture is or even, how problematic some of the corners are in your home. All these things, with others considerations as well, all need to be taken into account when deciding on man with van or a larger removal company.


We are a London-based man with van removals’ service providing a reliable removal company service throughout the UK, as well as offering a storage facility within the London area.