There are many questions to be answered before you can arrive at a reasonable moving cost estimate. Here are some considerations: Perhaps to be raised with companies which you invite to submit a quote for your move.

1) There is no such thing as a standard or average sized house...and no such thing as an average householder... How many children do you have? Are you a ‘collector’ or a ‘hoarder’... Are you minimalist? What’s in the garden? Is there an attic, cellar, garage, or outhouse?

2) If you pack yourself, you should not expect insurance cover from breakages. You may also have to incur increased transport costs since the moving company cannot know how efficiently you will pack, or if you will leave many items unpacked which cannot then be stacked tidily on the van...requiring more space.

3) The preparation of your house's contents can be a large cost. It is a question of the required degree of protection: Polished furniture, mattresses, sofas, pictures, mirrors all require preparation. Valuable items require more time and packaging, maybe even crating. All breakables require individual wrapping, and so a kitchen with lots of glass crockery and equipment can take a long time to prepare.

But...if everything was prepared to the extreme degrees required of expensive art works, obviously the cost would be inappropriate. You need a perspective of cost versus risk.

4) The amount of van space required is a function not only of the quantity, but also of their ‘stackablity’: If you have expensive antiques, you will not want them loaded or stacked onto a moving van like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Van space requirements might also be dictated by weight: Large garden urns, large book or record collections, may require an extra vehicle.

5) Estimating costs is to a degree a matter of opinion. You need 3 moving quotes... and beware! The cheapest quote may be from a company that has underestimated your requirements. Very crammed houses are easy to underestimate, especially when the client gives assurances that much will be thrown away before the move... And then reneges. It is not always clear what a client expects in the cost / service equation, and you should take care to point out items of concern... and ask how problems you have identified will be overcome.

6) Never ever take a quote from a company who does not carefully explore your needs. Telephone estimates are usually completely meaningless: Subsequent inspection of a house rarely confirms the impressions planted in the head of an estimator over the phone.