The short answer
In London, a man and van job typically starts around £79 for a single item and rises with the size of the move, the distance travelled, how many floors are involved and whether you move at the weekend. A studio move starts from about £149, a one-bed from around £199, and a three-bed house from around £399 before distance and access charges.
Those are starting points, not the final figure. The honest way to think about cost is as a base fare for your property size, plus a few add-ons that depend on your specific move. Below is how each part works.
Base fare by property size
The biggest driver of price is simply how much there is to move. As a rough London guide:
Offices and shops are priced on a similar scale by size. The base fare assumes a standard van; a larger van for a bigger load increases it proportionally.
- •Single item (e.g. a sofa or fridge): from £79
- •A few items: from £119
- •Studio flat: from £149
- •One-bedroom: from £199
- •Two-bedroom: from £299
- •Three-bedroom: from £399
- •Four-bedroom: from £499
- •Five-bed or larger: from £649
Distance
On top of the base fare, distance is charged per mile — roughly £1.50 per mile in London. For a local move within a borough this is a small part of the bill; for a cross-London move from, say, Ealing to Greenwich, the mileage becomes a meaningful line item. A good quote shows the distance charge separately rather than burying it.
Floors and access
Stairs cost time, and time is the main thing you are paying for. Expect a surcharge of around £25 per floor where there is no lift, charged at both the pickup and the delivery address. A second-floor walk-up flat at both ends can therefore add £100 to a move that would be cheaper between two ground-floor properties.
This is why London access matters so much: a no-lift conversion in Hackney or a townhouse with narrow stairs in Islington genuinely costs more to move than a lift-served apartment.
Timing: weekends and short notice
Saturdays and Sundays usually carry a weekend surcharge — around £50 — because demand is highest then. If your dates are flexible, a weekday move is the easiest way to save money. Same-day and last-minute bookings can also cost more simply because availability is tight.
What is "priced on review"
Some extras — full packing, dismantling and reassembly, special-item handling, storage — are quoted after we understand the specifics rather than charged at a flat rate, because they vary so much job to job. A reputable mover will tell you these are on review rather than hiding a guess in the headline price.
How to keep the cost down
The most reliable way to know your number is to get an instant online quote with your real addresses, floors and dates rather than relying on a generic "from £X" figure.
- •Move on a weekday rather than a weekend.
- •Be ready: have everything packed and boxed before the team arrives so you are not paying for waiting time.
- •Right-size the van — you should not pay for a Luton on a one-bed move.
- •Sort parking in advance; a bay suspension outside the door shortens the carry and the labour time.