8 June 2026

Move yourself or hire a moving company? The decision guide

With a rental van and a few friends you get a long way — until the job outgrows a single Saturday. When each route makes sense.

Moving yourself works fine when three things hold: the household is limited, both addresses are easy to access (ground floor or lift) and there are enough hands plus a van. A studio or small flat within the same city is very doable with friends. Just count honestly: a family home means several trips, carrying on stairs and a day that rarely stays one day — the job often turns out bigger than it looks.

Outsourcing becomes wise as soon as one of those conditions falls away. With a fixed key handover, speed is the argument: a complete move (€ 400 to € 2,500) is done in one day for a regular home, including placing everything in the right rooms. And for a piano, safe or aquarium the choice is no choice: that is specialist work (€ 150 to € 450 per item) — the weight is too high and damage to the item or the staircase too expensive to risk with friends.

There is a middle road too, and many people take it: you do the boxes, the company does the heavy work. If you pack yourself and stage the boxes downstairs, only the lifting and driving remain — which pushes the quote down. The reverse exists as well: moving yourself but dreading the evenings of packing, a packing service (€ 200 to € 800) takes over exactly that part.

Compare the routes on the total sum, not on your own hourly rate: rental van, fuel, days off and the risk of one broken washing machine all count on the do-it-yourself side. Set your own tally against the price index and, in doubt, request both quotes — one for the complete job and one for the heavy work only. Then you decide on numbers.