Guides
Everything we get asked on the phone, written down: what changes a quote, how to plan the weeks before, which service actually suits your load, and what we do when access is difficult.
What actually drives the price of a move, a van or a storage unit — and how to get an accurate quote first time.
Removals pricing looks opaque from the outside, but it comes down to a small number of measurable things: how much there is, how hard it is to reach the van, how far it travels and how long the crew is on site.
Understand a removals quote line by lineMan and van is usually the cheapest way to move a part-load, a single room or a flat — but only when the job is sized correctly.
See how hourly man-and-van pricing is builtStorage quotes are built from three things — the space you occupy, how long you occupy it, and the work involved getting your things in and back out again.
Work out what storage should cost youMost student storage bookings are the same shape: a handful of boxes and a few bulky items, collected in June and returned in September.
Budget for storage between term datesA move from the North East to London, Manchester or Bristol is priced differently to a local job: the driving time dominates, and getting it into one trip is the main saving.
Plan the budget for a UK-wide moveCommercial moves are priced on downtime as much as volume. The cheapest quote is rarely the one that gets you trading again on Monday morning.
Budget a commercial relocationInsurance is the claim people check hardest when choosing a remover, and it is also the one most often misunderstood. Every LMD Logistics job is carried out fully insured, with goods in transit and public liability cover in place.
Understand the cover behind your movePeople usually ask what a move costs before they say how big the property is, and property size is the first thing that decides the answer. It sets the volume, the crew size, the vehicle and the number of hours.
Match your property size to the right serviceTwo houses with the same number of bedrooms can be quoted very differently, and it is rarely because one firm is trying it on. Removals pricing comes down to time, and a handful of things decide how long a job takes.
Understand what you are being charged forA quote is not just a number. It is a description of the job, and the number is the last line of it. If a quote does not tell you what you are getting, you cannot compare it with anybody else's.
Check a quote before you accept itDeposits worry people, particularly after a bad experience with a trade booking. In removals a deposit is normal practice for one reason: your date is being held and that slot cannot be sold to anybody else.
Know what you should be asked to pay up frontSearch for a removal firm and nearly every advert says "fully insured". That phrase on its own tells you very little. There are two separate kinds of cover a removal or man and van business should carry, they protect different things, and a customer is entitled to ask about both before handing over the keys to a house full of furniture.
Know what cover your mover should holdChecklists and timelines for the weeks before, the day itself and the hours after you get the keys.
Most moving-day stress is created weeks earlier by jobs that slipped. This checklist puts each task in the week it actually belongs.
Know what to do and whenPacking badly costs twice: once in breakages and again in the hours the crew spends working around loose items.
Pack so nothing breaks and unpacking is fastKnowing the shape of the day removes most of the anxiety. Here's how a typical house move runs with our crew.
Know what happens and when on the dayThe classic moving-day problem isn't weight, it's geometry. A sofa that came into the old house through a wide Victorian hallway may not turn on a modern staircase.
Check big items fit before the van arrivesAppliances and outbuildings cause more last-minute delays than anything else, because they need preparation that can't be done while the crew waits.
Get white goods and outdoor items move-readyEvery insured removals company has a restricted list. Knowing it a week ahead saves an awkward conversation at the van door.
Avoid a moving-day surpriseDistance from the van to the door is one of the few move factors entirely within your control — and it can change the length of the day noticeably.
Get the van close to the doorShort-notice moves happen — a chain collapses, a tenancy ends early, a job starts sooner than planned. The trick is doing things in the right order and dropping what doesn't matter.
Move in days, not weeksMost people either book far too early to be accurate or far too late to get the date they want. The honest answer sits in between, and it depends on whether your date is fixed.
Book the right slot at the right timeNot every move goes straight from one front door to the next. A sale completes before the purchase, a rental ends before the new place is ready, a family moves in with parents while building work finishes. In those gaps your furniture needs somewhere to live, and the simplest answer is usually a removal firm that also stores.
Combine a removal with storageMost people book a house clearance once in their lives, often at a difficult time, and have no idea what the day will actually look like. How long does it take? Do you need to be there? What happens to the furniture? This guide walks through a typical clearance from the first phone call to the moment the property is handed back.
Understand a clearance before bookingLogistical removals are moves planned and run like a logistics job rather than a single van trip: the loading, transport, any storage in between and the final delivery are organised as one sequence by one company. Instead of booking a van, a storage unit and a courier separately, you hand the whole chain to a firm that already runs vehicles, crews and a yard, and it schedules each step so nothing waits on anything else.
Understand a move run as a logistics jobHow long a house move takes depends mainly on how much you own, whether it is packed before the crew arrives, how easy access is at both ends, and how far apart the addresses are. A small flat that is fully boxed with parking at the door can be a short job; a large family home with stairs, dismantling and a long drive is a full day or more. The waiting for keys can add as much time as the loading.
Plan how long moving day will beWith a professional packing service, a trained crew packs your home into boxes before the move, wrapping and protecting fragile items and labelling everything by room, so it is ready to load. You can have the whole house packed or just the difficult parts, such as the kitchen, glassware, pictures and mirrors. It saves days of work and it usually means fewer breakages.
Know what a packing service includesMan and van or full removals? DIY hire or a crew? Honest comparisons so you don't overpay for the wrong service.
These two services overlap, and picking wrong is the most common reason a move costs more than it should.
Pick the right service for your loadSelf-drive hire is genuinely the right answer for some moves. It's the wrong answer for more of them than people expect, because the headline day rate isn't the whole cost.
Decide whether DIY is really cheaperBoth keep your things safe. They differ on how often you need to get to them, and on who does the lifting.
Choose the right storage modelNational booking platforms are convenient. The trade-off is that the company quoting isn't always the company arriving.
Understand who actually turns upSofas, wardrobes, appliances, machinery and marketplace purchases regularly fall between a parcel network and a full haulage load. Here's how to tell which you need.
Ship something too big for a courierEvery item you move costs van space, and every item you store costs rent. A short decision pass before packing usually pays for itself.
Decide what's worth keeping"Haulage" makes most people think of articulated lorries. A large share of goods moved around the UK never goes near one. Light haulage is the work done by vans, typically Luton and long-wheelbase vans, carrying pallets, machinery parts, stock, furniture and trade materials that are too big for a courier parcel network and too small to justify a lorry.
Work out what kind of haulage you needYou have bought a dining table two counties away, sold a wardrobe to someone who does not own a van, or a shop only offers kerbside drop and you live up three flights of stairs. Parcel couriers will not touch it, and hiring a van for one item feels like overkill. This is what a van delivery service is for.
Get a bulky item delivered properlyTo choose a removal company, check five things before you book: what insurance they hold, whether the quote is written and specific, who actually turns up on the day, what independent customers say about them, and how they handle problems. Price matters, but a cheap move that goes wrong costs more than a fair one that goes right.
Pick a mover you can trustA cheap man with a van is worth booking only if it is still insured, still has enough people to lift your things safely, and the price you are quoted is the price you pay. The cheapest adverts often leave out one of those three. The good news is that a professional, insured service does not have to be expensive, and you can lower the cost a lot yourself.
Save money without the riskNarrow lanes, no lift, delayed completions, awkward furniture — how we handle the moves that don't go to plan.
Large parts of the North East's housing stock are terraced streets with rear lanes that were never designed for a Luton. It's routine work — it just needs planning.
Move where a big van can't parkStair-only flats are one of the few jobs where crew size changes the total cost downwards — more hands means far fewer trips per person.
Move out of a stairs-only flatChains slip. When the sale completes before the purchase, your belongings need somewhere to be — ideally with the same company that's already carrying them.
Bridge a gap between two housesWeight is only half the problem — an item that two people can lift may still be impossible to turn on a staircase. Both get assessed before we quote.
Move something unusually heavyBefore assuming an item can't go in, work through the options in order. Most sofas that 'don't fit' actually do, on a different angle.
Get a big item into a small doorwayClearing a family home is rarely just a logistics job. Our approach is to work to your pace, keep the decisions reversible where we can, and never rush a room.
Clear a home with care and no pressureBoxes are the easy part. The awkward parts of a move are usually living things and heavy instruments, and each needs a decision before the day rather than on it.
Plan the parts of a move a van cannot solveNobody wants this conversation, but it is the one people quietly worry about while they watch a van being loaded. Damage is rare when a job is done properly, and it is not impossible.
Know the process before you need itCompletion day is the most stressful move there is, because the schedule is not yours. Funds move between solicitors, keys are released when they are released, and everybody in the chain is waiting on somebody else.
Plan for the day the keys arriveA piano is the item people most often try to move themselves and most often regret. They are heavy, top-heavy, surprisingly delicate inside, and they have a habit of getting stuck on the second turn of a staircase. A proper piano removal is mostly planning, and very little of it happens on the day itself.
Know how a piano is moved safelyMove types with their own rules: tenancy changeovers, office relocations, downsizing and trade deliveries.
The gap between one tenancy ending and the next starting is usually days, not weeks. Everything we do for landlords is built around that window.
Turn a property round between tenantsAn office move succeeds or fails on preparation. The physical lifting is the easy part; the labelling system is what gets people working on Monday.
Move an office and keep tradingIf you sell furniture, beds, appliances or anything else a customer can't take home in a car, the delivery experience is part of your product. We run that leg for retailers across the region.
Outsource customer deliveriesAuction lots and marketplace bargains are only bargains if you can get them home. We collect from private sellers, auction houses and dealers anywhere in the UK.
Collect something you've boughtDownsizing is less about logistics and more about decisions. Our job is to make the physical side easy enough that you can concentrate on the choices.
Move to a smaller home calmlyMove-in weekend is the busiest few days of the academic year in Newcastle, Durham and Sunderland. Timing is everything.
Get into halls without the chaosPlenty of our work isn't house moves at all — it's the vehicle a joiner, fabricator or workshop needs for a day that their own van can't cover.
Get materials and machinery movedAn end of tenancy clearance is the job of taking everything that should not be in a rented property out of it before the keys go back, so the inventory check, the cleaners and the next tenants can follow. It can be arranged by the outgoing tenant who has run out of time, or by the landlord or agent after someone has left furniture, bags and bits behind. Either way the aim is the same: an empty, clear property on a fixed date.
Empty a rented property before checkoutCommercial property clearance means emptying a business space, whether that is an office, a shop, a salon, a cafe or an industrial unit, so it can be handed back, re-let or refitted. It is booked by businesses leaving premises, by landlords recovering a unit after a tenant has gone, and by firms that are shrinking into a smaller space and need the surplus taken away.
Empty an office, shop or unitA business removal is a planned move of a working business from one set of premises to another with as little lost trading as possible. Compared with a house move it involves more people who need to be kept informed, more rules at each building, and a hard deadline: the business has to be able to open again at the new address.
Move a shop, unit or workshopStudent shipping means getting a student's belongings between their university accommodation and home, or into storage, at the start or end of term. The three realistic options are sending boxes by courier, booking a man and van to collect and deliver, or storing everything near the university over summer so there is nothing to carry home at all. Which suits you depends on how much there is and where home is.
Move student belongings between terms