Flats & apartments
A house move is between you and us. A flat move has a third party in it — whoever controls the lift, the lobby and the loading bay. Most of the work happens before the van turns up.
There is a specific way a flat move goes wrong, and it is almost never the carrying. It is the crew arriving to find the goods lift is out of service, or that the building only permits moves between certain hours, or that the managing agent has never heard of you and will not release the loading bay.
So we start at that end rather than the furniture end. Who manages the block. What the lift measures inside — actually measures, not what the sign says. Whether there are restricted moving hours in the lease. What the agent needs from us before we can begin, which is usually a copy of our goods-in-transit and public liability cover, and sometimes a method statement as well.
In your favourA goods lift that takes furniture, a bin store you can reverse past, and a resident bay you can suspend.
What we checkLift dimensions are often smaller than the notice claims. Loading bays frequently have a height barrier that rules out a taller vehicle.
In your favourUsually a straightforward carry with no building management to negotiate with.
What we checkNo lift at all, a shared front door other tenants also need, and half-landings that stop long furniture dead. More crew, more trips.
In your favourWide communal halls and generous rooms — good to work in once you are through the door.
What we checkRetrofitted lifts the wrong shape for a sofa, tiled lobbies that mark, and a managing agent who wants insurance certificates before you start.
In your favourExcellent lifts and proper loading facilities, once booked.
What we checkEverything runs on slots. Goods lift booked, bay booked, sometimes a method statement requested. None of it can be arranged on the morning.
This is the standard flat problem. A retrofitted lift in a period stairwell is usually the wrong shape for a three-seater, and a modern goods lift will sometimes take the sofa but not the wardrobe. The answer is not to force it — it is to split the load. Boxes and smaller items go in the lift, the large furniture goes down the stairs, and we bring enough people that neither of those takes all morning.
Where something genuinely will not come down a stairwell at all, you hear that at survey rather than on the day. Sometimes the answer is a window and a hoist, which needs the right equipment and the right conditions. Sometimes the honest answer is that the piece does not come out in one and you need to decide whether taking it apart is worth it. Either way, early.
Floor runners in the lobby and on every landing, corner and frame protection along the route out, and the lift car lined where the building allows it. This is not optional politeness — communal damage in a managed block finds its way onto somebody's service charge, and it is usually the person who just moved out.
Not every flat move needs a full crew. A studio, a one-bed with not much in it, or a single room out of a share is often better and cheaper as a man and van booking. Describe the load and we will tell you which you need — there is nothing in it for us in sending five people to move a bedroom.
If the flat is being emptied because you are leaving the country, the European moves page covers how that runs, and packing explains the higher standard export loads need.
Good to know
The building has as much say as you do. Whoever controls the lift, the lobby and the loading bay controls the day. Get that wrong and the best crew in the country is standing on the pavement because nobody told the concierge and the door is on a fob.
Yes, and we would rather do it than leave it with you. Most blocks want a copy of our goods-in-transit and public liability cover before they will let us start, some want a method statement, and many want the goods lift booked into a slot. We arrange all of that directly.
Then the sofa goes down the stairs and the boxes go in the lift, and we crew the job so that neither takes all morning. We check the internal dimensions of the lift at survey rather than trusting the notice on the wall, which is frequently optimistic.
Always. Floor runners in the lobby and on every landing, corner and frame protection on the route out, and the lift car lined where the building permits it. Blocks notice a scuffed wall immediately and the service charge tends to find its way back to whoever moved out.
Yes. We take the building manager's window, check the height restriction on the bay so we send a vehicle that fits under it, and plan the load around the slot. Turning up in something too tall for the barrier is a wasted afternoon.
Yes, though that is usually better as a man-and-van booking than a full removal. Describe the load and we will tell you which one you actually need.
Send the address and we will find out who manages it, what the lift takes and what the agent needs from us. Then we quote.