Cheap movers in Lisbon: what is actually included

Calma Movers · 2026-08-24

The arithmetic of a 25 €/hour rate

Start from the seller's side. Twenty-five euros an hour for two people is 12.50 € per person per hour. Out of that has to come: wages and employment costs for two people, the van, fuel, tolls, protective materials, vehicle maintenance, the accountant and tax.

Do the sum and almost nothing remains. That does not mean fraud — it means something on that list is not there. Usually more than one thing.

An hourly rate as advertised covers labour. The rest of this table either appears later in the quote, or does not exist in that service at all.

What is usually missing

In order of practical consequence — the first item is by far the one that costs most when things go wrong.

• Goods-in-transit insurance. That is the policy covering your furniture. Many people assume «we are insured» means this, and it often means something else: public liability covers the wall and the lift, not your wardrobe. We explain the difference in our guide to moving insurance.
• An invoice. Without one there is no documented contract — and if something breaks, the invoice is what lets you escalate. See what to do when movers damage something.
• A properly employed crew with accident-at-work cover. If someone is hurt on your staircase without it, the conversation stops being about the move.
• Materials. Blankets, wrap and corner protection frequently appear as an extra, and where they do not, it is because they are not going to be used.
• The van itself. Some listings price people by the hour and the vehicle separately, which is legitimate as long as you know before rather than after.

The IVA trap almost nobody explains

A company with turnover below 15,000 € a year does not charge IVA. One above it charges 23 %.

So two quotes can differ by nearly a quarter for reasons that have nothing to do with efficiency, quality or margin. It is a tax threshold. When you compare two numbers, the first question is whether both include tax — and the second, more interesting one, is what it means for a moving company to turn over less than 15,000 € a year.

When cheap is the right answer

This section costs us money and we are writing it anyway, because without it the rest is not honest.

An hourly crew is frequently the better decision. In these situations, hiring us means paying for certainty you do not need:

• A small move within the same neighbourhood, nothing fragile, no appliances.
• One room, a nearly empty studio, a student's belongings.
• When you have your own help carrying and just need extra hands and a vehicle.
• When the furniture is flat-pack and inexpensive — if replacing a piece costs less than an insurance excess, the insurance protects you from nothing.
• When you have time. On an hourly contract the risk of a slow day is yours; if you have nowhere else to be, that risk is cheap.

The rule of thumb: the lower the value of what you are moving, and the smaller the consequence of a bad day, the more sense the cheap option makes.

When it goes wrong, this is how

Not dramatic hypotheticals — the ordinary situations where the difference between the two products shows up.

• The lift is out of service and a four-hour move becomes seven. On an hourly rate those three hours are yours.
• One person turns up instead of two. On an hourly rate that doubles the time at the same per-person cost.
• A piece will not fit through the door and nobody measured. The decision about dismantling gets made in a hurry with the van in the street.
• Something breaks and the company has no goods-in-transit policy. With no policy and no invoice there is almost nowhere to escalate.
• It is a business move and there is no invoice. The cost cannot go through the accounts — and cash payment above 1,000 € is not permitted anyway.

How to compare two quotes properly

Seven questions. Ask for the answers in writing — a message is fine — and compare those instead of comparing numbers.

• Does the price include the van, fuel and tolls?
• Are protective materials included or charged separately?
• Which policy covers my belongings in transit, what is the limit per move and what is the excess?
• Will I get an invoice? Does the figure include IVA?
• How many people come, and are they employees or subcontractors?
• If the move takes longer than estimated, who pays the difference?
• Do you photograph items before and after?

A company that answers all seven without hesitating has been asked before and has the paperwork to hand. One that gets vague around the third has told you something useful, and told you for free.

What we charge, and why

So you can compare against real numbers: a studio is 300–450 €, a one-bedroom 360–520 €, a two-bedroom 520–720 €, IVA included. Two movers, van, materials, goods-in-transit insurance, disassembly and reassembly, photographs at both addresses, and the price fixed in writing before you book.

Against a well-run hourly crew, that is usually more expensive. We did that comparison in detail in our guide to moving prices in Lisbon, and the result does not flatter us: the hourly crew came out cheaper in both scenarios.

What you buy with the difference is certainty that the number will not change, and the existence of a policy and an invoice if something goes wrong. Whether that is worth it is your call, and it depends almost entirely on what is inside the boxes.

In short

• A 25 €/hour rate for two is 12.50 € per person before the van, materials, insurance and tax. Something on that list is not included.
• What is missing most often, and costs most: goods-in-transit insurance and an invoice.
• Two quotes can differ by 23 % purely because of the IVA threshold, with no difference in quality.
• For small moves with nothing fragile and no time pressure, cheap is frequently the right choice.
• Compare answers, not numbers: seven written questions reveal more than any price.