National move - long distance - how to find a moving company?

I will never move by myself again in this life. It’s not worth the stress and hassle. The thought of using a Sprinter and driving 600 km doesn’t even cross my mind. Packing and unpacking can easily be done by yourself in 1-2 days, which already saves a lot. The logistics are then done by the professionals.

Let 1-3 local companies come by for an offer. Then you have the estimated amount and post the job again on MyHammer, where you will be flooded with offers. Only look at those from your region and with good reviews; throw out the unrealistically cheap ones. Done.

Maybe you can still explain to the tax office that you moved because of a new job. We were able to reclaim quite a bit of the moving costs that way. :)

The thing with the 3.5t Sprinters won't work if you really want to take the entire household with you.
Here's a recent example from us in 2020:
120m2 house - the entire attic contents + almost everything you could do without beforehand were already in the new house.
The moving company came with 4 people + a 7.5t truck and a Sprinter. And the entire space was fully utilized.

Also remember garden tools, bicycles, etc... such things also take up space
So you will definitely need a large truck.

By the way, we simply bought used moving boxes beforehand and sold them again later.

There are also quite a few templates for "Umzugsgutlisten," which I found very helpful to get an early m3 estimate for myself. Our move is within the city, but I definitely wouldn't organize it myself again. With a child, everything is stressful enough already, and the €€ didn't really help much.

It certainly depends on the amount of furniture whether you can do it yourself or not. I didn’t find it "that much" at our place after we had moved a full Sprinter ourselves, but there was still a 7.5-ton truck and a large lorry with a trailer full for the moving company. They really estimated that well.

However, I didn’t want to clear out with acquaintances or any hired helpers just for that reason alone, because afterwards we only had time to quickly mop once and then the handover was already scheduled, for which everything had to be perfect. I couldn’t have patched up countless spots on the plaster on the stairs or elsewhere because someone had hit something against it or something had fallen down. That doesn’t happen to the professionals as quickly as it does to amateurs (if in doubt, it would also be insured with the moving company). In the end, we actually had only one tiny scratch in the plaster of the stairway, and it was quickly filled and not worth mentioning.

A lot can already fit into two 3.5-ton Sprinters or flatbeds (4.2m length). You are allowed to drive them with a regular B driving license...

And drive 20 times when "a house" moves. You can do that when moving into an apartment as a former student, but not here…