Let’s start with the honest part, because it saves you time.
Your NDIS funding probably won’t pay for the removalist. The NDIS treats removalists, transport, and packing materials as everyday costs that everyone pays. We’ve covered the exceptions in detail in our guide to what the NDIS does and doesn’t fund for a move.
But here’s what often gets missed: the truck is rarely the hard part of moving. The hard parts are finding the right home, getting the paperwork done, making sure the new place works for you, packing, and settling in. Your plan may already fund help with a lot of that.
This guide walks through which parts of a typical NDIS plan can help with a move, and when to use each one.
General information only. We’re a removalist, not an NDIS provider, planner, or plan manager. Every plan is different. Check what’s in yours with your support coordinator or plan manager before relying on any of this.
Which parts of your plan can help
Here’s the map. Not every plan includes every category; it depends on your goals and circumstances.
| Plan category | How it can help with a move | What it won’t cover |
| Support Coordination | Planning the move, arranging assessments, connecting you with providers, organising quotes | The providers themselves |
| Improved Living Arrangements (shown as CB Home Living) | Finding a home, rental applications, tenancy paperwork, setting up in the new place | Rent, bond, removalists |
| Improved Daily Living (therapy) | Occupational therapist assessing whether a new home suits you | Modifications themselves |
| Core Assistance with Daily Life | Support workers helping with disability-related tasks like packing, unpacking and settling in | General moving costs |
| Capital Home Modifications | Modifications at the new home, where they meet the funding criteria | Removing old modifications |
Support Coordination
If you have it, this is where to start. A support coordinator can help you plan the whole move, arrange the assessments you’ll need, connect you with the right providers, and get quotes together.
Think of them as the project manager. Bring them in early , ideally before you’ve started looking at properties.
Improved Living Arrangements
This is the category most directly about moving. It funds support to help you find and keep an appropriate place to live. The NDIS’s own support category fact sheet describes it as help with your obligations as a renter or with finding somewhere to live.
In practice, that can mean:
- Exploring housing options with a support worker or coordinator: rentals, Specialist Disability Accommodation, or shared living
- Help with rental applications and understanding your lease
- Transition support once you move, like a support worker helping set up utility accounts
- Ongoing help keeping up with your obligations as a tenant
Two important limits. It pays for the support, not the housing — no rent, bond, or moving costs. And you’ll usually only have it if there’s a housing goal in your plan, like “I want to move into my own place.”
Improved Daily Living
This covers therapy, including occupational therapy. An OT can assess whether a prospective home will actually work for you — doorway widths, bathroom access, steps, kitchen layout — before you sign anything.
That assessment is worth getting early. Finding out after you’ve moved that the shower is inaccessible is a much bigger problem.
Core supports: Assistance with Daily Life
If you already have support workers, some of their time may be usable for the disability-related parts of a move: packing things you can’t manage yourself, unpacking, setting up your new space so it works for you, and getting familiar with the new home and area.
Plan their hours around the move. Pack days, moving day and the first week in the new place are when you’ll want them most.
Capital Home Modifications
If your new home needs modifications, these may be funded where they meet the NDIS criteria. The home modifications guide explains the different levels, from simple adaptations under $1,500 through to complex structural work.
This is also where the main moving-cost exception lives: sometimes moving to a more accessible home is better value than modifying your current one. That’s assessed case by case, and you must check with the NDIA before you move.
The rule that catches people out
Capacity Building categories are “stated.” That means the money is locked to its purpose. You can’t move funds from, say, Improved Daily Living into Improved Living Arrangements because you need housing help more than therapy right now.
If your plan doesn’t include the category you need for a move, the fix is a plan reassessment, and that takes time. This is why the first step below is so early.
A step-by-step timeline for a Melbourne move
Three months or more before
- Talk to your support coordinator about the move
- Check your plan: is there a housing goal? Do you have Improved Living Arrangements?
- If you need supports you don’t have, ask about a plan reassessment now
- If you’re considering moving instead of modifying your current home, raise it with the NDIA before you commit to anything
Eight to twelve weeks before
- Use Improved Living Arrangements support to search for properties and prepare applications
- Get an OT to assess any home you’re seriously considering
- Start sorting and decluttering, with support worker help if you need it
Six to eight weeks before
- Confirm the new home and your lease dates
- Get an itemised removalist quote. Even if your plan won’t pay for it, an itemised quote helps your coordinator see what’s disability-related and what isn’t
- Check access at both addresses: loading dock height, stairs, lifts and parking
Four weeks before
- Book the removalist
- Book the building lift and apply for any council parking permit. Most inner-Melbourne councils need at least five business days; here’s the council-by-council detail
- Roster support workers for pack days, moving day and the first week after
Two weeks before
- Write a list of equipment and items you need on the day; these stay out of the truck
- Share a run sheet for moving day with your removalist and support workers
- Arrange utilities for the new home, with support if you need it
Moving day
- Keep essential equipment with you, not in the truck
- Have one person as the main contact with the removal crew
- Keep a quiet space available at both ends if you need it
The first two weeks after
- Use support worker time to set up your space so it works for you
- Follow up with your OT if anything in the new home isn’t working
- Update your address with the NDIS, your providers and your plan manager
Five mistakes to avoid
Moving before talking to the NDIA. If there’s any chance you’ll need modifications or moving-cost funding, check first. Moving without checking can affect what’s considered.
Assuming you can move money between categories. Capacity Building funds are stated. If you need Improved Living Arrangements and don’t have it, you need a reassessment, not a reshuffle.
Rostering support workers too late. Moving weeks are busy for everyone. Lock in their time early.
Getting a lump-sum quote. A single figure tells your coordinator nothing. Ask for labour, travel, equipment handling, and extra time as separate lines.
Forgetting the new home’s access. A perfect apartment is no good if the truck can’t reach it, or the lift can’t fit your equipment.
Where we fit in
We’re usually the part of your move you pay for yourself, so we try to make that part simple and predictable.
- Published pricing. $160 an hour Monday to Thursday, $190 Friday to Sunday, with a flat half-hour travel fee. Full details here. Mid-week is cheaper, and it’s often easier to roster support workers too.
- Itemised quotes you can share with your coordinator or plan manager
- Careful handling of assistive equipment, with dismantling and reassembly included
- A low truck, 3.1m high, so it fits most Melbourne apartment loading docks
- Happy to work with your team. We’ll talk to your support coordinator or support worker directly if that makes things easier
FAQ
Can I use my NDIS funding to pay the removalist?
Usually not. Removalist costs are treated as everyday expenses. The main exception is when moving to a more accessible home is better value than modifying your current one, which the NDIA assesses case by case. Check before you move.
What is Improved Living Arrangements?
It’s a Capacity Building support, shown as CB Home Living in your plan. It funds help to find and keep a suitable place to live, searching for homes, rental applications, tenancy paperwork, and settling in. It doesn’t pay rent, bond or moving costs.
Can my support worker help me pack?
Possibly, where you can’t do it yourself because of your disability. This would usually come from your Core supports. Check with your plan manager or support coordinator.
Can I move funds between categories to pay for moving help?
Not within Capacity Building. Those categories are stated, meaning the money is locked to its purpose. If you need a different support, ask your support coordinator about a plan reassessment.
Should I get an OT assessment before choosing a new home?
It’s a good idea. An OT can tell you whether a home will work for you before you sign a lease, which is much easier than finding problems after you’ve moved.
Who should I tell that I’m moving?
Your support coordinator, plan manager, the NDIS, all your providers, and your support workers. Update your address with each of them once you’ve moved.
The bottom line
Your NDIS plan is unlikely to pay for the removal truck. But it may well fund the coordination, housing support, OT assessment and support worker time that make the move itself manageable.
Start early, check your plan for a housing goal, talk to your support coordinator first, and get everything in writing.
Tell us about your move, and we’ll put together an itemised quote you can share with your support team. Or book online if you’re ready to go.