Questions
Before you book a van
Grouped by the awkward bit rather than by service. The last group is the jobs we turn down, which is the section most worth reading before you ring anybody.
Single heavy items
Can you move a sofa on your own?
Two crew, always. One person and a sofa is how furniture gets scraped and backs get hurt, and it is not a service we offer.
Will the sofa actually get out?
Measure the clear diagonal at the stair turn and the narrowest door head, and tell us the longest rigid dimension of the sofa. Those three numbers answer it before anybody lifts anything.
Can you take a fridge-freezer?
Yes, with a sack truck and straps. Tall American-style ones are at the limit of two people on stairs, so tell us which you have. It also needs standing upright and left to settle before being switched on.
What about a washing machine?
Fine to carry, provided the drum is secured. If the transit bolts are long gone, say so and we will strap it — a swinging drum damages the machine and the people carrying it.
A piano?
No. That is a piano specialist, and it is a technique and insurance question rather than a weight one. We will say so rather than take the booking.
A safe, or a cast-iron bath?
Ask first and send a photograph with the make or the dimensions. Some are two-person items and some need equipment and an opinion about the floor.
Stairs and buildings
How do I measure the stair turn?
Stand on the landing and measure the clear diagonal from the inside corner to the furthest opposite point, allowing for the handrail. Send that number with the longest rigid dimension of your largest item.
Is a fourth-floor walk-up much harder?
Considerably, and it is a different job from a fourth floor with a lift rather than the same job with more steps. It is crewed differently and quoted differently, and pretending otherwise is how a day overruns.
What if there is a lift?
Two measurements, not one — the car and the door opening. People measure the car, conclude the sofa fits, and find on the day it cannot be angled through the doors.
Does the building need to know we are coming?
In a managed block, usually yes, and some want a move slot booked and our insurance details. Ask the concierge or managing agent as soon as you have a date — they are rarely quick.
Do you protect communal areas?
As standard. Marked walls in a shared hallway are the commonest complaint against a van service and very nearly all of it is preventable.
Parking and the street
Where will you park?
Somewhere legal, worked out before the day. In central London that frequently means a shorter carry than you expected because the nearest legal stop is not outside the door.
Can you stop on a red route?
No, and a firm that says it can is telling you something. Red routes are enforced continuously and the penalty arrives by post. We find the nearest legal point and carry.
Do we need a bay suspension for a van?
On many controlled streets, yes — the restriction applies to a van as much as to a lorry. We apply in advance where one is needed, because there is no way to arrange one on the morning.
What about a loading bay?
Where one exists it is usually time-limited, and in an underground or covered bay the height restriction may exclude a van entirely. Both are checked before the day.
Does the congestion or emission charge apply?
Our vehicles are compliant and any charge applying to the journey is accounted for in the quotation rather than added afterwards.
Collections and timing
Can you collect something I have bought?
Routinely — from a private seller, a shop, a saleroom, a storage facility or a reclamation yard. Tell us the address, the window and roughly what it is.
The seller is only in for a short window.
Then that window is the fixed point and everything else is planned backwards from it. Tell us at booking rather than on the day.
Can you pay the seller for me?
No. We collect goods; we do not handle money on your behalf or verify what you have bought. Settle payment with the seller directly before we arrive.
What if the item is not as described when you get there?
We will call you and do whatever you decide. What we will not do is refuse a collection on your behalf or negotiate with the seller — that is between the two of you.
Can you deliver the same visit?
Usually, and that is the normal shape of a collection job. Where the destination is not available, the item is held rather than left somewhere unsuitable.
What we will not do
Can you do a whole house with a van?
Not well. A van doing three trips costs more than the right vehicle doing one and takes most of a day longer. We will quote for the lorry and explain why rather than sell the cheap-looking option.
Can you take fine art or antiques?
Ordinary furniture yes, genuinely valuable or irreplaceable items no. Our cover is standard goods-in-transit cover and it is not the right instrument for something you could not replace.
Will you tell us if we do not need you?
Yes, and it happens weekly. Two boxes and a lamp is a courier or your own car. An item moving between floors of a lift-served block is frequently you and a friend plus a booked lift.
Will you take things to the tip?
We will move things to a buyer, a charity or a relative. Licensed waste disposal needs a permission we do not hold, and we will say so rather than quietly arrange it.
Can we help carry to save time?
We would rather you did not. It is our insurance, our lifting technique and our responsibility, and an extra pair of untrained hands on a staircase makes it slower rather than faster.
Not covered here?
Email, or add the question to the notes on the quote form. The three we field most are whether a sofa will get down the stairs, where the van will park, and whether we can move a piano. The answers are send three measurements, somewhere legal that may not be outside, and no.
What is the awkward bit?
Both addresses, what the item is, and the one thing about the job that is difficult. A photograph beats any description.