From delivering single pieces of furniture to the contents of an entire household, our man with a van removals service offers a fast, efficient and great value moving service.
Welcome to Mark Ratcliffe Man and Van service, working with residents and businesses in Brighton and Hove. We offer a budget man and van service that operates 7 days a week with no extra charge for weekend moves. From small moves, bedsits, flats, collection / delivery of individual items all the way to long distance moves – our local team of movers are on hand to help. Working predominantly within the Brighton and Hove area, our local man and van staff have an in-depth knowledge of the local area and the wider area of East Sussex. We know the quickest routes to ensure your possessions are collected and delivered fast and efficiently.
Unlike other man and van companies out here, we supply high quality vehicles equipped with the latest technology to ensure a seamless journey and complete protection for your belongings:
Our rates are extremely good value and whilst we offer affordable prices this never means compromising on our highly rated, professional service. We offer two options:
Man and Van with working driver - £40 per hour / Man and Van with driver only - £30 per hour (you load and unload the van)
All prices are inclusive of vat and fuel (local area) and there is no additional charges for weekend Moves. With such affordable rates, this removal option is also ideal for collection and deliveries.
We provide a full packing service and a fragile packing option for single, delicate items. Alternatively, if you are self packing then we can supply flat pack boxes, plain paper, bubble wrap, tape etc...all at a minimal cost and these can be collected from our shop.
If your Brighton move leaves you needing somewhere for the furniture to wait, we have the answer. Our secure storage rooms at Lower Dicker are available to rent with various sized rooms to choose from. Our most popular is the 75 sq ft room (equates to 525 cubic feet / 14.9 cubic metres). This room is rented at £36 per week including VAT, and that figure carries £5,000 of cover as standard. Your valuable belongings will be stored in a safe, damp free and clean environment — our own crew loads, pad-wraps and inventories the goods, and when you need something back we book you in and bring it out to you. Brighton loads go into the individual steel rooms at Lower Dicker (BN27 4EL), or into crate storage at Croydon (CR0 4AA) and Crawley (RH10 9SP). If you want to walk in and fetch things yourself whenever the mood takes you, a self-storage site suits that better; what we run is managed storage, which is why nothing moves in or out without a record of it.
Whether you are relocating in Brighton or further afield in East or West Sussex, our professional and low cost man and van removal service is ready to assist. Call our friendly team for a free quote or if you simply need some advice on your Brighton removals we can help with that too.
Our opening hours are Monday to Saturday 08:30 to 17:00 or by appointment on Sundays. Storage customers visit by appointment during those depot hours, and our crew brings your goods out to you rather than sending you off down a corridor on your own.
Brighton sits in the Sussex commuter belt and our work here covers the full property range. Victorian and Edwardian terraces close to the centre, 1930s and post-war semis on the inter-war estates, substantial detached homes on the larger plots, and a growing minority of new-build properties on the recent developments — the new-builds tend to have bigger inventories because the rooms are larger and people fill them.
For any move bigger than a one-bedroom flat we recommend a free in-home or video survey rather than a phone quote. It takes 30 to 45 minutes, walks every room, and produces a written, itemised quote inside two working days. The single biggest reason phone quotes mislead is the loft — almost every customer underestimates what’s in theirs by roughly double. The walk-through finds it before move day, not after.
Our daily routes out of the Lower Dicker depot put Brighton within standard half-day or full-day reach, depending on inventory size and the destination address. A typical Brighton pickup with a Sussex or Surrey delivery completes in a single day, including pad-wrapping at the load and unwrapping at the unload. The lorry leaves Lower Dicker in time to be on your driveway ten minutes before the stated load time — we don’t make customers wait around at 6am for a 7am scheduled start.
For chain-day moves out of Brighton the timings matter and we plan the schedule from the keys-release time backwards. For longer-distance UK moves — to the Midlands, the West Country, the north — we generally split the day across two crews if the inventory exceeds a single lorry. Anything heading overseas from Brighton routes through our customs-controlled holding bay at the depot, where the container is loaded after a final inventory check.
The Brighton quote process runs in five practical steps. First, a phone or web enquiry — tell us the address and the rough move date and we’ll suggest a survey slot. Second, the survey itself: either in-home (30 to 45 minutes) or over a video call. Both produce the same paperwork. Third, the written quote, emailed within 48 hours, itemised by line — pad-wrap, transport, packing materials, insurance, any specialist handling — so you can see what every cost line covers.
Fourth, the deposit and date hold: typically 25% on confirmation, fully protected under the British Association of Removers’ Advance Payment Guarantee. Fifth, the move itself — uniformed crew, our own lorry, no agency labour, blankets washed between jobs, and a written inventory at handover. None of this is unusual but it’s worth saying because a meaningful minority of removal firms across Sussex cut corners on at least one of those steps.
Most Brighton moves use one of three packing options. Full pack — our crews pack everything in the house the day before move day, using removal-grade cartons and tissue. Fragile-only pack — we handle the kitchen, the display cabinets, the framed art, the mirrors, the lamps, and the customer packs the easy stuff (books, clothing, linen, garage). Self-pack with materials supplied — we drop off cartons, tape, bubble and tissue, and you do it yourself with our written room-by-room guide.
Where the dates don’t line up (the sale completes a fortnight before the purchase, the chain slips, or the new property isn’t ready), we hold the load at our A22 depot in steel strong-rooms with 24-hour CCTV. Short-term storage between contracts is charged by the week; longer-term storage is invoiced monthly. For Brighton customers, storage runs from three sites — individual steel rooms at Lower Dicker (BN27 4EL), and crate storage at Croydon (CR0 4AA) and Crawley (RH10 9SP). Access to stored goods is by appointment during depot hours: our crew brings your things out to you, so nothing is shifted or re-stacked without us knowing.
After the move, we come back to collect empty cartons free of charge if you’re within standard delivery range. We also offer an unpack service for customers who prefer the new home set up by us — particularly common for older customers and white-glove relocations.
The map below shows Brighton and the area our removals and storage crews cover from our Lower Dicker depot.
Brighton man-and-van work moves fast, but the popular dates still go first. For an end-of-month slot between May and September, ask six to ten weeks out. Mid-week and mid-month, two to three weeks is often enough. A single-item or part-load job is easier to place at short notice than a full house, so tell us what you’re moving when you call.
Yes — typically 25% of the quoted price on booking, with the balance payable on the day of completion. All deposits are protected under the British Association of Removers’ Advance Payment Guarantee.
Crew time, our own vehicle, fuel, pad-wrap (industry-grade blankets washed between jobs), basic transit insurance and labour, all in one quoted figure. Packing materials, fragile-only or full packing, and specialist handling for a piano, antiques, art or marble are quoted separately. Where a Brighton address means a walk from the nearest loading spot, we allow for that in the quote rather than on the day.
Yes — full British Association of Removers members and audited annually, including the BS 8564 international removal standard. Our membership number and current audit dates are on the BAR site.
Often yes, for the smaller jobs this service is built around — a few rooms, a part-load, a flat clearance — which can usually be fitted in within a week. Bigger three- and four-bed moves need at least two weeks so we can send the right crew and vehicle. Upper-floor Brighton flats without a lift take longer to load, so mention the floor when you enquire.
Yes — even a small Brighton load can go overseas, to any of more than 200 countries, through our FIDI-network partners rather than a third-party broker. The consignment comes back to the A22 depot in East Sussex and into the customs-controlled holding bay, where the container is loaded after a final inventory check. BAR Overseas Group membership and BS 8564 apply to part-loads exactly as to full ones.