What Size Lorry Do I Need to Move House? Count Cubic Metres, Not Rooms
Short answer: stop guessing from your house type and add up cubic metres. A 1-tonne lorry’s cargo deck is roughly 10 × 5 × 5 ft ≈ 7 m³; a 3-tonne is roughly 14 × 7 × 7 ft ≈ 19–20 m³. You never get all of it — plan on using about 70%, because furniture doesn’t tessellate and the loader needs somewhere to stand. So a 1-tonne realistically swallows about 5 m³ and a 3-tonne about 14 m³. Most 3-bedroom terraces come out around 15–17 m³ once you count everything, which is exactly why movers put them in a 3-tonne. And the single biggest thing you control is not how much you own — it’s whether your boxes are the same footprint, because mismatched boxes waste a fifth of the deck.
Every lorry rental page in Malaysia describes capacity the same vague way: a 1-tonne fits “10–15 boxes and one or two pieces of furniture”, a 3-tonne fits “30 boxes, furniture and appliances.” Useful — until you ask what a “box” is. A 15-litre document box and a 439-litre jumbo cargo box are both “one box”, and they differ by a factor of thirty. Here’s how to do the calculation properly, in the ten minutes it takes before you book.
Step 1: know what you’re actually renting
Cargo-deck dimensions from Malaysian lorry rental listings, converted:
| Lorry | Cargo deck (approx.) | Deck volume | Realistic usable (~70%) | Nominal payload |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-tonne | 10 × 5 × 5 ft | ~7 m³ | ~5 m³ | 1,000 kg |
| 3-tonne | 14 × 7 × 7 ft | ~19–20 m³ | ~14 m³ | 3,000 kg |
| 5-tonne | ~17 × 7.5 × 7.5 ft | ~27 m³ | ~19 m³ | 5,000 kg |
Two things to note before you use this table. Dimensions vary between operators — always ask for the internal deck size of the actual lorry, not the class name. And the tonnage is a weight rating, which for a household move is almost never the limit you hit first. Furniture is bulky and light; you will run out of space long before you run out of kilos. The exception is a load of books, tiles, tools or stock, where the payload rating suddenly matters a great deal.
The 70% figure isn’t pessimism, it’s geometry. You cannot stack to the roof against the door, a sofa leaves triangular dead air around it, mattresses lean rather than sit, and someone has to walk in to place the last pieces. Load planners who ignore this are the reason a “one-trip” move becomes two.
Step 2: convert your boxes to cubic metres
This is the part no mover’s blog can give you, because it depends on the actual boxes. Here are the external volumes of the carton sizes we supply, calculated from their dimensions:
| Box size | Typical dimensions (mm) | Volume | Boxes per m³ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mini | 170 × 115 × 150 | 3 L | ~340 |
| Small | 310 × 220 × 220 | 15 L | ~66 |
| Document | 380 × 185 × 250 | 18 L | ~56 |
| Small used carton | 430 × 250 × 220 | 24 L | ~42 |
| Medium | 440 × 310 × 230 | 31 L | ~32 |
| Medium, deeper | 440 × 310 × 310 | 42 L | ~24 |
| Large medium (used) | 460 × 330 × 310 | 47 L | ~21 |
| Large | 540 × 400 × 310 | 67 L | ~15 |
| Extra large (used, double wall) | 590 × 390 × 390 | 90 L | ~11 |
| Jumbo (used, double wall) | 580 × 480 × 460 | 128 L | ~8 |
| Jumbo (new) | 485 × 485 × 500 | 118 L | ~8 |
| Cargo XXL | 760 × 760 × 760 | 439 L | ~2 |
A typical 3-bedroom terrace runs 45–70 boxes in a mix of sizes. Fifty-five boxes averaging 50 litres is 2.75 m³ on paper — call it 3.7 m³ of deck once stacked. That’s already three-quarters of a 1-tonne lorry, before a single stick of furniture goes in.
Step 3: add the furniture (rough external volumes)
Measure yours if you can; these are ballpark figures for planning:
- 3+2 sofa set — 2.5 m³
- 3-door wardrobe — 1.6 m³ each
- Queen mattress + frame — 1.5 m³
- Two-door fridge — 0.9 m³
- 4-seat dining table + chairs — 1.5 m³
- Washing machine — 0.35 m³
- TV console, shoe rack, desk, fans, drying rack — ~2 m³ together
A furnished 3-bedroom terrace lands around 12–13 m³ of furniture. Add the 3.7 m³ of boxes and you’re at 16 m³ — over a 1-tonne’s usable 5 m³ by a mile, and a snug but real fit in a 3-tonne’s 14 m³ if the loader is good. That result agrees with what movers quote, which is the point: now you can check the quote instead of trusting it.
Run the same sum on a studio or small 1-bedroom and the answer is less comfortable than the rental pages suggest. Twenty-five boxes (~1.8 m³ stacked) plus a mattress, a small wardrobe, a fridge, a washing machine, a two-seater and a table is around 7 m³ — more than a 1-tonne’s usable 5 m³. A 1-tonne genuinely suits a room move, a lightly furnished unit, or a move where the big furniture stays behind. If you own a full set of furniture, budget for a 3-tonne or accept two trips.
Step 4: the free lever — make your boxes the same size
Here’s where you can claw back real space. Boxes stack into a solid wall only when their footprints line up. A 540 × 400 large carton and a 590 × 390 used double-wall carton have close footprints and column neatly; a pile of assorted supermarket boxes in nine different sizes does not. In practice, a mismatched load runs closer to 55–60% deck efficiency instead of 75% — on a 3-tonne that’s roughly 3 m³ of paid-for lorry filled with air, which is the difference between one trip and two.
That’s the hidden cost of free boxes from the mini market: the boxes cost nothing, and the second lorry trip costs a few hundred ringgit. Two or three sizes across the whole move — one small, one medium, one large — is the sweet spot. It also makes the stacking safer, because square, full boxes carry load through their corner posts; half-empty ones crumple under the row above.
Three loading rules worth following once you’re inside the lorry:
- Heaviest at the bottom, always. Double-wall boxes go in the bottom row and single-wall on top, never the reverse.
- Stack to the height, not to the roof. A 1-tonne’s 5 ft (1.5 m) inner height takes four large cartons; a 3-tonne’s 7 ft takes six — but six rows only if the bottom boxes are full and double-wall.
- Keep every box under 20 kg. Box weight decides how fast the load goes in, and a lorry booked by the hour rewards speed.
Seal them properly too — a box that bursts on the tailgate stops the whole load. Two strips of packing tape across the base seam, and stretch film around anything that must not open in transit.
FAQ
How many boxes fit in a 1-tonne lorry? If it carried nothing else, roughly 70 large (67 L) boxes by volume — but at 15 kg each that’s over the 1,000 kg payload, so call it 55–60. In a real move with furniture aboard, the honest answer is the 10–15 boxes movers quote, because the furniture takes the space.
Is it cheaper to do two trips with a 1-tonne or one trip with a 3-tonne? Usually one bigger trip. A second trip doubles the driving, the loading labour and the hours, and it stretches moving day past the time most condos allow lift bookings. Get both quotes, but count the hours, not just the base rate.
Do movers charge by weight or by lorry size? Almost always by lorry size, distance and manpower — not by weight. That’s why cubic metres, not kilos, is the number to plan around. Confirm the basis with your mover before booking.
Are once-used boxes strong enough to stack in a lorry? Yes, if they’re Grade A and undamaged — they’ve already survived a loaded journey once, which is more than a supermarket box can claim. Put the double-wall used cartons in the bottom rows and keep them fully packed.
Should I use fewer, bigger boxes to save space? No. Big boxes only help for light bulky things — bedding, cushions, soft toys. Fill a 439-litre jumbo with books and nobody will lift it, it will burst, and you’ll lose more time than the space saved.
Getting the boxes right before the lorry arrives
Sizing a lorry is a volume problem, and boxes are the one part of the volume you control. Quinocycle supplies once-used Grade A cartons from RM0.90 alongside new boxes in matched sizes, plus tape, stretch film and PE foam. Delivery is free on orders above RM300 across KL and Selangor.
Not sure how many of each size your move needs? WhatsApp us at +60 16-891 6381 with your unit type and rough furniture list — we’ll suggest a mix that stacks into a wall instead of a jigsaw. We’re open Monday to Friday 9am–5pm and Saturday 9am–1pm.