Removal quotes for the same house routinely come back hundreds of pounds apart, and it is almost never because one firm is greedy. It is because the three of them are quoting three different jobs, and only one of them has said so. Here is how to read them, written from the end that has to turn up and do the work.
Why three removal quotes disagree
The cheapest is usually an hourly rate with an optimistic estimate of the hours. The most expensive is often a fixed price that has priced in the risk of the day running long. The middle one might be either. None of that is visible from the number alone, which is why comparing on price is comparing the wrong thing.
The other reason is scope. One firm may have assumed you are packing, another may have included it. One may have allowed for dismantling beds and a wardrobe, another may not. The gap between two prices is nearly always a gap in what is being bought, and the same problem shows up in what a house move actually costs.
What has to be in writing
Both addresses and the date. Crew size and vehicle size. Whether the price is fixed or hourly, and if hourly, what the minimum is and what the overtime rate becomes. What is included: packing or not, materials or not, dismantling and reassembly or not. Insurance cover and the limit. The deposit, the balance, and when each is due. The cancellation and postponement terms.
That last one matters more in removals than in almost any other trade, because completion dates move and they move late. A quote that says nothing about what happens if your chain slips by a day is not a quote you can rely on. It is worth asking about even where the answer is generous.
The usual exclusions
Access assumptions. Many quotes assume the van parks within a certain distance of the door and that there is a lift where there are stairs. Both assumptions are usually unstated, and both change the hours.
Parking suspensions and permits. Where a bay has to be suspended, the council charges for it and the charge is often outside the quote. It is not a large sum, but it is a sum, and it needs arranging in advance rather than on the morning.
Awkward single items. Pianos, safes, large garden equipment, American fridges, anything needing a window lift. These are priced separately or not at all, and they need naming before the day. Moves around Harpenden and Hemel Hempstead turn these up more than most.
Storage between completions. If your dates do not line up, the load has to go somewhere overnight or longer, and that is a separate cost with its own insurance position.
Insurance, properly read
Every removals firm will tell you it is insured. The questions that matter are what the cover is for, what the per item limit is, and whether goods you packed yourself are covered at all. Self packed boxes are commonly excluded or covered only for total loss, which is reasonable, because nobody can insure packing they did not do. It is just better to know before rather than after.
Ask for the limit as a number. A quote that says "fully insured" and stops there has told you nothing you can rely on.
Why the survey decides everything
A price given without anyone seeing the job is an estimate wearing a quote's clothes. A video walkthrough is fine, and for smaller moves it is often all that is needed. What matters is that somebody has actually looked at the loft, the garage, the stairs, the doorways and the parking at both ends.
My crew and I quote after that rather than before it, across Luton, Leighton Buzzard and the rest of the area, because a fixed price is only fair to either of us if it was based on the real job. The moving checklist covers what to have ready before that conversation.
Six questions before you book
Is this fixed or hourly, and what happens if it overruns. How many people are coming. What is the insurance limit per item. Is anything I have mentioned excluded. What do you need me to do before you arrive. And what happens to my deposit if the completion date moves.
Six straight questions, six straight answers. Any firm that gets uncomfortable with those has told you something useful.
Want this priced properly?
Send us the two postcodes and a rough idea of what is coming, and we will give you a fixed price in writing. No obligation, and no follow-up pestering if you decide to go elsewhere.