Small Removals From £70

There is a gap in the removals market, and if you're moving a studio, a 1-bed or a single room, you've probably fallen into it. Your move is too much for a hatchback and three trips with a friend, but nowhere near enough to justify a three-man crew and a 7.5-tonne lorry. Ring a traditional removal company anyway and you'll get the same answer almost every time: a minimum charge of £300 or more, a pre-move survey, and the first available date in one to two weeks.

That price isn't greed - it's overheads. A removal firm pays salaried crews whether they're working or not, rents a depot, finances and maintains large lorries, and sends an estimator to survey homes before quoting. Those costs get baked into every job, so a small move that takes two people three hours still has to carry its share of the depot, the lorry and the admin. The firm isn't overcharging for your move so much as charging you for a business model built around 3-bed houses.

A man and van works the other way round. One vetted driver, one van sized to your actual load, no depot and no survey - which is why the same studio move that a removal firm quotes at £300-£400 costs £90-£135 through TowManVan. You pay by the hour (small van £35/hr, medium £45/hr, Luton £60/hr, 2-hour minimum), the first 15 miles are included, and the driver helps carry as standard. If you've got heavy furniture or awkward stairs, add a second helper for £12/hr - still a fraction of a fixed crew you didn't need.

The other difference is speed. Because a small removal is a one-van job, it slots into a driver's day easily: same-day bookings are normal and average arrival is 20-30 minutes in covered cities. There's no estimator to schedule and no quote to wait for - the app prices the job from what you're moving and locks that price in before you confirm. No bidding, no "we'll confirm on the day", no doorstep renegotiation.

The honest test: if everything you own fits in one van and one or two people can carry it, it's a small removal. In practice that covers more moves than most people think.

Flatshare and single room moves. A bed, a wardrobe, a desk, a bike and 10-15 boxes. This is the classic £70 job: two hours in a small van, done before lunch. It's also the move removal firms least want - many won't quote for it at all, and those that do apply their full minimum charge.

Studio flats. Add a sofa, a table and kitchen boxes and you're into medium van territory - £90-£135 for a typical 2-3 hour job. The app recommends the van size from your item list, so you don't pay Luton rates for a studio load.

1-bed flats. The upper end of small: a full living room, bedroom and kitchen usually takes 3-4 hours with the driver helping, £135-£180 all-in. If there are lots of stairs or heavy pieces, a second helper at £12/hr is usually faster and cheaper than the extra hour of struggling. For bigger flats, see flat removals.

Part-moves. Not every small removal is a whole home. Taking furniture to storage, splitting belongings after a breakup, moving half a house to a new partner's place, clearing a room before a renovation - these part-moves are impossible to price with a removal firm's survey model and trivial to price by the hour.

Student moves. End of term, end of tenancy, moving into halls - usually a small van and two hours. We cover these year-round; see student removals for term-time specifics.

Whatever the job, the same protections apply: every driver is DBS-checked and carries goods-in-transit insurance (£10,000 minimum) plus public liability cover. Small move doesn't mean small print.