The guide
What Does a Packing Service Cost in London — and Is It Worth It? in full
The prices, plainly
Every figure below includes VAT and every box, roll and cover. Materials are not added afterwards and unused stock is taken away rather than billed.
- Full pack, 1-bed — from £180, two packers, three to four hours
- Full pack, 2-bed — from £290, two packers, five to six hours
- Full pack, 3-bed — from £420, two to three packers, one day
- Full pack, 4-bed — from £580, three packers, up to a day and a half
- Fragile-only — from £140 · Kitchen-only — from £120
- Unpacking added to a pack — about 45% on top, same crew both ends
What packing yourself actually costs
The materials alone run £70 to £160 for a typical London home once you have bought double-wall cartons, paper, bubble wrap, tape and covers, and shop-bought boxes are usually single-wall, which is why they collapse when stacked.
Then there is the time. A 2-bed home takes a non-professional 15 to 25 hours spread over evenings. Two trained packers do the same job in five or six, because they are not deciding what to keep while they work.
The costs people forget are the real ones: a day of annual leave, a late finish that pushes the lorry's arrival, and breakages that are not claimable because you packed the box.
Four cases where it is a clear yes
We would rather tell you when not to buy this. If you are moving a studio with three weeks' notice and no fragile items, pack it yourself and put the money towards the van.
- You are working full-time and moving in under three weeks
- You are on a completion-day chain, where a late pack has a financial consequence
- Your tenancy ends the same week and the property must be clear and cleaned
- You own art, china, instruments or anything you would claim on — where insurance validity is the point
How the quote is built
Bedrooms set the baseline, contents adjust it. Book walls, display china, home studios and lofts all add hours, and we price them up front from photos or a two-minute video walk-round rather than revising the figure on the day.
Access affects the materials drop more than the pack itself: a fifth-floor walk-up or a booked goods lift changes when boxes arrive, not what they cost. ULEZ and, where it applies, the Congestion Charge are already inside the number you are quoted.
Packing and unpacking together
Adding unpacking is roughly 45% on top and it is the part clients say they underrated. The same crew that labelled the boxes empties them into the right rooms, flattens the cartons and takes them away, which turns the first night in a new home from a corridor of towers into a working kitchen and a made bed.
For a rental with a deadline, or for anyone moving with young children or reduced mobility, it is usually the better half of the spend.