Moving house is expensive, which is one reason why many say it’s one of the most stressful periods of anyone’s life.
But is it possible to save money on moving house through doing it at a certain time?
In this post we’ll explore the various factors than can affect the price of a house move, to help determine what the cheapest, and most expensive, time is to move house.
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What Affects The Price of a House Move?
Four things will affect the price of your move:
- The amount you have to move. The more there is to move, the more trips you’ll have to do between your old place and your new place. The size of your stuff will also make a difference. Can you fit everything you own into the back of a van, or will you need to rent a bigger vehicle for bigger and bulkier items?
- The area you’re moving from, and to. Prices tend to vary across the UK. Removal companies may charge more in big cities. But it may also cost a lot to get a removal company to come to you if you’re moving to or from a more rural area.
- The distance you’re moving. If you’re just moving to a different part of the same town or city, you could probably manage the move in a few hours, even if it does take multiple trips. But if your new house is hours and hours away, the costs will soon ramp up. Overseas moves will be the most expensive of all.
- The help you hire. Hiring a specialist moving company will make things easier, but a lot more expensive. Doing it yourself, with the help of friends and family, will make things a lot cheaper, but significantly harder too.
What’s The Cheapest Time To Move House?
Recent research suggests that Sundays and Wednesday are the cheapest days of the week to move house, while the autumn and winter are the cheapest seasons.
The house removal specialists at Compare My Move looked at the data from nearly 100,000 house moves. Here’s what they found about the cheapest time to move house:
- Sundays and Wednesdays are the cheapest days to move. Across the UK, people pay an average of £717 to move on Sundays, and £770 to move on Wednesdays. This might be because most people like to move on a Friday, which gives them a full weekend to settle into their new house. Removal companies could charge less on Sundays and Wednesdays to account for the lesser demand.
- It may be cheaper to move in autumn and winter. The colder months of the year are quieter months for removal companies, which might mean you can get a better rate for their services. You’ll have to put up with low light, low temperatures, bad weather, and potentially icy roads though.
What’s The Most Expensive Time To Move House?
Research also suggests that Tuesday is the most expensive day of the week to move, with moving costs up more than 50% compared with a Sunday. While spring and summer were the most expensive seasons, due to how much easier the weather can make it.
From the same data:
- Tuesday is the most expensive day to move. Across the UK, the average cost of a Tuesday removal is £1,110, which is more than 50% more expensive than a Sunday move. This might because it’s a bit of an awkward day for everyone involved in a move. A midweek move on a Wednesday makes a bit of sense, but most moves choose to do things over the weekend.
- It may cost more to move in spring and summer. August is the most popular month for moving house. The days are long and dry, the children are off school, and most people generally have some holiday allowance to use. These same factors also make the other summer months, along with the warmer spring months, popular times for movers. As removal companies will be in high demand during these months, you may have to pay more to secure their services.
How To Save Money On Your House Move
To save money on your house move, it’s important to focus on the areas that will make the biggest difference to your overheads, rather than small areas that won’t.
It doesn’t matter what time of day you move. There’s no point wondering whether you can save money through, say, moving in the afternoon rather than the morning. Most removal companies only operate during set hours anyway. Plus, you’ll want to be finished by mid-afternoon anyway, so that you do not miss your bank’s deadline for transferring money.
- Book things as early as possible. As we’ve seen, you can make small savings on the cost of your move if you choose to do it on, say, a Wednesday instead of a Tuesday. But you’ll invariably pay more for your move if you book everything last minute. You can keep things cost-effective by booking things as far in advance as possible, which will also give you greater control over exactly how and when you move.
- Do it yourself. All of the prices above are based on the amount you might expect to pay for a specialist removal company at certain times. It may cost significantly less to hire a van and do it all yourself.
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