What moving house actually costs, beyond the truck

Every quote you get prices the truck. Removalist rates in Australia commonly run from around $120 to $200 an hour for two movers and a truck, and a three-bedroom house is commonly quoted somewhere in the $1,400 to $2,200 range, with interstate moves running far higher.

Those are real numbers and they are usually not the largest part of what a move costs.

The costs that catch people are the ones where you are briefly paying for two houses, plus a long tail of small amounts that arrive in the same fortnight.

The five categories

1. The move itself

• Removalists, or a truck hire plus fuel plus the friends you now owe
• Boxes and packing materials, which cost more than expected if bought new and nothing if sourced secondhand
• Insurance or transit cover, which is usually optional and worth understanding before you decline it
• Cleaning, either your weekend or a professional
• Rubbish removal for what does not come with you

2. The overlap, which is the one that hurts

This is where the real money is, and it is the item almost no guide mentions.

• Rent or mortgage on both places for the crossover days. Even a well-planned move usually involves a few days of double payment, and a badly timed one can be two weeks
• A new bond while the old one is still held. Bond is typically four weeks rent, and it is not returned until after the final inspection, which can be weeks after you leave. For most renters this is the single largest cash requirement of the move
• Rent in advance on the new place, commonly two weeks, payable at the start
• Utility connection and disconnection fees at both ends

For a renter, the overlap is commonly the biggest line in the whole move, and it is cash flow rather than cost, which makes it worse rather than better: the money comes back, just not when you need it.

3. Setting up

• Electricity, gas, water and internet connection fees
• Internet installation, and the gap where you have none
• Mail redirection through Australia Post, which is a paid service and priced by duration
• Address changes, most of which are free. Changing your address: who to tell and when is the list
• New keys, locks or a security check
• Window coverings, which are the classic unbudgeted item because the new place has different windows
• Whitegoods that do not fit or do not come with the property

4. The things that do not survive the move

• Furniture that does not fit the new place or does not survive the truck
• The flat-pack item that was never going to be dismantled twice
• Plants, which frequently do not travel well
• Food from the pantry and freezer that cannot come

5. The soft costs nobody writes down

• Two weeks of takeaway, because the kitchen is packed at one end and unfamiliar at the other. This is genuinely a few hundred dollars for a family
• Time off work, paid or unpaid
• Childcare or a babysitter for moving day, which is money well spent
• Pet boarding or a pet-sitter for the day
• School uniforms if the children change schools

Renting versus buying

The profiles are different and it is worth being clear.

Renting

The costs are dominated by cash flow: new bond, rent in advance, and the old bond locked up. The actual expenditure is moderate and the cash requirement at a single moment is high. Getting your bond back matters more than people expect for exactly this reason.

Buying

The transaction costs dwarf the move. Stamp duty, conveyancing or legal fees, building and pest inspection, lender fees, title registration and adjustments are all separate from anything on this page and are commonly the largest expense in the whole exercise.

Those are not costs this article can quantify. Stamp duty differs by state and by buyer category, concessions exist for first home buyers in every state on different terms, and the figures change. Your state revenue office is the authority on stamp duty, and your conveyancer or solicitor on the rest. Get those numbers before you budget anything else, because they set the scale.

Where the savings actually are

In rough order of how much they save:

1. Time the overlap tightly. Every day of double rent is real money. A move that lands the end of one lease against the start of the next, with a day or two of buffer, is worth more than every other saving on this list combined.

2. Move midweek and off-peak. Removalists charge more on weekends and at month end, because that is when leases turn over. A Tuesday in the middle of the month is cheaper, sometimes substantially.

3. Book early. Late bookings pay a premium and leave you with whoever is available.

4. Declutter before, not after. You pay to move volume. The couch you do not want costs money to relocate and then costs you again to dispose of. Hard rubbish is the free disposal route and it books out, so arrange it before the move rather than after.

5. Source boxes for nothing. Supermarkets, bottle shops, marketplace, buy-nothing groups. New boxes for a three-bedroom house are a few hundred dollars that does not need spending.

6. Pack yourself, move the heavy things professionally. Full packing services are the most expensive option and the easiest to skip.

7. Do the cleaning yourself if you have the time, and get a quote if you do not. An end-of-lease clean is a known amount and losing bond over it is a larger one. End of lease cleaning covers what is actually assessed.

A simple way to budget it

Rather than one number:

1. Get the removalist quote. That is your baseline
2. Add the overlap. Count the days you will be paying for both, multiply by daily rent or mortgage
3. Add the bond and advance rent as a separate cash figure, not as a cost, and note when the old bond is likely to return
4. Add $300 to $600 for setup, depending on connections, redirection and whether you need window coverings
5. Add $300 to $500 for the soft costs for a family, mostly food and time
6. Add a 15 per cent contingency, because something always

Those ranges are planning assumptions, not surveyed figures. Use them to build the shape of the budget and replace each with a real quote as you get one.

Getting quotes without being sold to

• Get three quotes and insist on the same basis: hourly or fixed, how many movers, travel time included or not
• Ask what is excluded. Stairs, long carries, heavy items, disassembly and reassembly are common extras
• Ask about travel time and depot time, which is where an hourly quote grows
• Check insurance. Ask what cover applies, what the excess is, and what is excluded. Do not assume your contents policy covers goods in transit
• Check they are a real business. ABN, an address, and reviews that are not all from the same week
• Get it in writing

Common questions

Is it cheaper to hire a truck and do it myself? On paper, substantially. In practice it costs a weekend, the goodwill of several people, and the risk of damage you now own. It is genuinely cheaper for a small flat and rarely worth it for a family home.

How far ahead should I book? Several weeks, and further at the end of the month, in January, and around the end of financial year.

Is transit insurance worth it? It depends on what you own and what your contents policy already does. The point is to find out before moving day rather than after.

What about interstate? A different market with a different price structure, commonly quoted by volume rather than by the hour, and with much longer timeframes. Budget for the gap between your things leaving and arriving.

What is the one thing people forget? The overlap. Almost everybody underestimates how many days they are paying for two places.

The short version

The truck is the quoted number and rarely the biggest one. Count the days you will be paying for two places, treat the new bond and advance rent as a cash requirement rather than a cost, and add a few hundred each for setting up and for the fortnight of chaos.

Move midweek, book early, declutter before you pay to move it, and get the boxes for free.