How many cubic metres is your move?

Every volume in the list is the industry-standard average removalists quote from: a queen bed and mattress at 1.4 m³, a two-seater lounge at 1.7 m³, a standard removalist carton at 0.15 m³. Real furniture varies — a chunky modular sofa can swallow 4 m³ on its own — but across a whole home the averages are remarkably accurate, which is exactly why movers price off them.

Your total updates live as you add items, and the list saves itself in your browser — count the kitchen tonight and the garage on the weekend.

Local removalists charge by time — usually per half hour, door to door, with a two-hour minimum. Volume is what fills that time: across Muval's completed local moves, a standard crew works through a cubic metre roughly every 13 to 30 crew-minutes depending on the city — the time estimate above runs your volume at the average pace across all of them. It's also why decluttering before you pack is the single cheapest way to shrink a local bill.

For the full picture — hourly rates, callout minimums and typical savings in your city — take your volume over to the cost calculator.

Interstate moves are priced on the space you fill on the truck, in cubic metres, multiplied by the route's going rate. An accurate inventory is the difference between a quote that holds and a nasty revision on move day — under-declare by 5 m³ on a Sydney to Brisbane run and you're looking at hundreds of dollars extra, or gear that doesn't fit.

If your dates are flexible, ask about backloading — filling spare space on a truck already driving your route is usually the cheapest way to move interstate.

• Count every space: garages, sheds, under-house storage and balconies hide 5–10 m³ in most family homes.
• Duplicate rooms with the + button so Bedroom 2 and Bedroom 3 get counted, not lumped together.
• Don't skip boxes: cartons routinely make up a third of a household's volume — the box calculator tells you how many you'll need, then add them under Cartons & Boxes.
• Declutter first, count second: every couch you sell is around 2 m³ you don't pay to move.
• When in doubt, round up — movers can work with spare space, but not with a truck that's 5 m³ too small.