Moving the contents of a 3-bed house from the UK costs £5,200 to £9,400.
For smaller moves and nearer locations you may pay as little as £750. For a long-distance move of a 4-bed house it can be as much as £12,300.
I’ve given a range for a reason. There is no exact price for international removals, despite what you might read elsewhere.
However I’ll try to give you an idea of roughly what to expect. I’ve got real-life examples from real people, and some quotes from removals company. My advice is to take this information, get a bunch of quotes, and pick the best.
Factors that affect price of international moves
Distance
It’s cheaper to move shorter distances. Who knew?
- Within Europe, you may be able to transport quite cheaply by road (e.g. to France).
- Longer-distance has to be shipped on a container ship. Cost increases for distant ports – e.g. San Francisco is much more expensive than New York. If your destination is far from the port, that also adds cost. Sometimes an additional £1000-£3000.
Size of move
Generally you’ll ship in three ways:
- Entire 40ft container, suitable for a 4-bed home
- Entire 20ft container, suitable for a 3-bed home
- A ‘partload’ e.g. part of a shared container.
The bigger the container, the more expensive.
Extras
The main extra is a packing service. Your belongings need to be properly secured, and usually the shipping company will do this for you. It costs around £2000 for a container. There’s also:
- Insurance (4% of the value of your belongings)
- Storage (dependent on time)
- Customs (£100-£300)
- Transport from your home to the UK port (£100-£400)
Average cost of international moves from the UK
Average cost ranges from £1,100 to £12,300, broken down as follows:
| Shared Container or Truck | 20ft Container (3-bed house) | 40ft container (4-bed house) |
| £1,100 – £5,000 | £5,200 – £9,400 | £7,700 – £12,300 |
These are broad ranges, I admit. One reason is that they include all the variable extras. You can see the breakdown here:
| Shared Container | 20ft container | 40ft container | |
| Shipping | £500 – £1,900 | £3,100 – £3,900 | £5,100 – £6,500 |
| Packing | £0 – £300 | £1,500 – £2,000 | £2,000 – £2,300 |
| Road Transport | £500 – £2,300 | £500 – £3,000 | £500 – £3,000 |
| Other Fees | £100 – £500 | £100 – £500 | £100 – £500 |
| Total | £1,100 – £5,000 | £5,200 – £9,400 | £7,700 – £12,300 |
This demonstrates how variable the costs are. You can also use this to calculate your own move, by including or disregarding certain costs.
For instance, if you’re moving a 20ft container from the Birmingham to Denver, your road transport fees will be extremely high, as it’s not near a port. If you’re moving from Kent to Paris, your shipping fee may be £0 – you can truck it across as you would in the UK.
These estimates come from removal companies such as PSS and 1st Move. I’ve also found some examples from real people, in this case moving from the UK to Australia:
| Price | Container Size | Details | Source URL | Date of Publication |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £4,250 | 20 ft | Moved from Cambridgeshire to Perth, took three months door-to-door with Pretloves of Saffron Walden & Epping. | Pomsinoz Forum | April 6, 2023 |
| £6,500 | 20 ft | Revised from £9,500, pre-pandemic levels quote revision. | Pomsinoz Forum | April 5, 2023 |
| £6,000 | 20 ft | Under £6,000 after revision from a higher price. | Pomsinoz Forum | April 5, 2023 |
| £8,500 | 20 ft | Paid around £8,500 with John Mason. | Pomsinoz Forum | June 21, 2024 |
| £6,500 | 20 ft | Quote revised from a higher price. | Pomsinoz Forum | April 5, 2023 |
Again, some consensus, but still a big range depending on final location etc. And clearly it is possible to get a good deal if you shop around.
