Moving cost calculator

How the estimate is built

Local moves use the published total for that home size in that city: Hire A Mover's figures for Sydney and What's The Damage's for Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and everywhere else. Interstate moves use nine published routes. Three of them, from Yes Movers, price a dedicated truck and a backload separately; the rest give one range and don't say which truck they assume, so the truck choice is hidden for those. Extras go on top at their published rates, multiplied where that makes sense: three months of storage is the monthly median times three.

Each extra is labelled with what its figure was published for. Storage uses StoragePrices.au's median for the unit size you pick, in the city you are moving within or to where it publishes one. Transit insurance appears only for interstate moves, because the only published premiums are for Sydney to Melbourne. Packing is published for a local 3-bedroom home, so it is added only for 3 bedrooms and flagged on interstate moves.

Nothing here is scaled or interpolated. Where a source publishes no figure for a combination, the calculator says so and adds nothing, which is why some route and bedroom pairs come back without a price.

What the calculator leaves out

• Stairs. Sydney removalists charge $30-$60 per flight ³ , and interstate movers $40-$80 per flight ⁴ .
• Season. Sydney to Melbourne prices run 25-35% higher ⁴ across December and January.
• The day of the week. What's The Damage says a weekday move is 10% to 20% cheaper ¹ than a weekend one.
• Access, parking permits, tolls and the long walk from a truck that could not park outside.
• Anything your removalist calls a call-out, depot or travel fee. Ask where the clock starts.

Then what?

Use the range to test the quotes you get, not as a quote itself. When you are ready, ask removalists who cover your route for a written, itemised price and compare them with the quote checklist.