Moving house 100m down the road

Lvictorwilson on 27/05/2014 - 16:31

Next month, I'll be moving from a rental unit to a new apartment down the road in Canberra. The new property is one block (approx 100m) down the road from my current place. I've got two beds, three desks and a whole lot of miscellaneous furniture, small appliances and other stuff that could fit into boxes.

I have thought of a few options:
* Paying a few friends to carry it down the road - but we'd need to cross a fairly busy road.
* Hiring a dodgy removalist - could potentially damage my furniture.
* Hiring a reputable removalist - very costly but saves my time and effort and my furniture.
* Hiring a rental van - time-consuming (driving the van back to my place would take longer than moving the furniture) but still easier than carrying stuff down the road.

What would you guys recommend?

Poll Options

  • 10
    Friends
  • 0
    Dodgy removalist
  • 0
    Reputable removalist
  • 25
    Rent a van
Home & Garden

Comments

  • ozhunter on 27/05/2014 - 17:02

    I voted for the friends option, but I think the van would be more worth it. Should only take a couple hours which hiring a van would cost around $50.

  • Azza on 27/05/2014 - 17:19

    With the friends option are you thinking of getting some trolleys or anything to assist in the move?

  • Settero on 27/05/2014 - 17:19

    do you have a car ? hire a trailer… they would be better for the bigger items

    • mskeggs on 27/05/2014 - 18:15
      +12

      Buy something bulky from Bunnings. Borrow their courtesy trailer for free for 2 hours. Return bulky item for a refund.

  • pyramid on 27/05/2014 - 17:21
    +2

    Get friends to help you and do moving after busy hours…say in night around 10.00pm if thats allowed…

    • ozhunter on 27/05/2014 - 18:33
      +2

      It would look like you're robbing the place lol.

  • [Deactivated] on 27/05/2014 - 18:11
    +3

    While I was living in Canberra (sharehousing) we had to move 2 streets over to a different unit. We just hired a truck and all our friends pitched in to help load and unload the truck. Took no time at all. We needed a truck as we had so much furniture - three bedrooms worth plus the rest of the house's furniture.

    So I vote a combination of friends + hire a van :)

    Unless you have mates that are happy to lug beds and desks down (and across) a busy road in their spare time lol.

  • Pooky1 on 27/05/2014 - 18:26
    +1

    What no bikie option?

    • StewBalls on 27/05/2014 - 18:28
      +1

      They can help move your expensive stuff out alright, but moving it back in…well, that's gonna cost you big! ;)

  • pao2x on 27/05/2014 - 18:46

    Van+ Friends.. Easier and fun

  • Pumpkin_rrr on 28/05/2014 - 07:19

    This might sound obvious, but in addition to the above, don't forget to get rid of all the unwanted items. Do s garage sale for instance.
    Any neighbour own a trailer?

  • backpaqer on 28/05/2014 - 09:00
    +4

    I moved last weekend. I had the choice of two properties to move to…one 100m away and one 3km away. I took the 3km option as although the 100m away place was clearly easier to keep moving they'd dug up the road and all the foot traffic between residences would have created a huge mess.

    Anyway…get a Thrifty 3 tonne truck (enclosed) with the hydraulic tailgate - they are awesome, you will probably waste about half an hour just standing on the tailgate going up and down (or is that just me! :|). The trick with truck loading is you only go for the ultra-ninja-tetris-warrior packing style when you're shifting a big distance, with a small distance you just jam in as much as you can as fast as you can as you have a quick turnaround time - the faster you can put things in a truck, the faster you can get things out again.

    Before you rent the truck, pack all your stuff in boxes (duh) and label them clearly as to where they need to be placed INITIALLY when they get to the house, you can shuffle things around later easily. Pile all the boxes near the front door…the closer everything is to the front door (assuming that's the way you're taking everything out) then the truck loading will be very quick.

    The beds are really easy…it's fridges, washing machines and 85kg safes that can provide all the trouble. With 100m to go I probably wouldn't bother with tie-down straps unless you're a really bad driver and use the accelerator and brakes with too much enthusiasm…otherwise go to Bunnings or Masters and pick up some grunt winch straps - they're awesome. Thrifty also rent trolleys - get one…or even two…

    Last time my sister moved…she put everything out on the naturestrip as hard rubbish and just bought new stuff for the new house…I think I might try that for my next move.

    • [Deactivated] on 28/05/2014 - 09:10

      Except that in Canberra, putting things outside as hard rubbish is illegal which is probably the stupidest thing about this town.

      • backpaqer on 28/05/2014 - 10:39
        +1

        OK…put it on the neighbors lawn at 3am then ;)

      • victorwilson on 28/05/2014 - 16:53
        +2

        As a former Sydney resident, the lack of plastic shopping bags here, to me, is the stupidest thing about Canberra!

      • pao2x on 28/05/2014 - 18:48

        Put it in a unit block's rubbish bins

  • victorwilson on 28/05/2014 - 16:51

    Looks like I'll be hiring a van and some friends. Thank you everyone for your responses!

  • zambuck on 28/05/2014 - 20:59

    As a former inner Sydney resident, I'm used to seeing what I've heard referred to as the "Asian moving van", which is one or more shopping trolleys loaded with household possessions. I'm not advocating the theft of shopping trolleys, but you could always temporarily divert some trolleys which would otherwise have lined the local streets.

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