25 OF THEM
Questions
Straight answers, most of them dimensional
Twenty-five questions, grouped. Several of them are about how to hold a tape measure, which is not glamorous and is the single most useful thing on this site.
Measuring before you book
Measuring before you book
- Which measurements actually matter?
- Four. The clear diagonal at the tightest staircase turn. The narrowest door opening on the route. The longest rigid dimension of your largest item. And, if there is a lift, its door width and car depth. Everything else is detail.
- How do I measure a staircase turn?
- Stand at the turn and measure corner to corner across the landing at its narrowest point, with the handrail in place rather than imagined away. Photograph it from the flight above as well — the photograph tells us things the number cannot.
- What about ceiling height?
- It matters at winders and at the head of steep inserted flights, where a long item has to be tipped and the ceiling stops it. If your stairs turn at the bottom, measure the height above the turn too.
- Do you survey in person?
- For houses, for anything above the second floor without a lift, and for any job where an item is close to the limit, yes — and we would rather do it than guess. For flats with straightforward access, photographs and measurements are usually enough.
- What if my measurements are wrong?
- They sometimes are, and that is what the photographs are for. If a figure looks implausible against the picture we will ask again rather than turn up and find out.
Stairs, lifts and landings
Stairs, lifts and landings
- Will you take things over the bannister?
- Where the stairwell is open and the structure allows it, yes — it is a normal manoeuvre and sometimes the only route. Where the stairwell is boxed in, as most modern ones are, it is not available and something has to come apart instead.
- Can you use the lift if it is shared with residents?
- Yes, but it cannot be held, so the work is staged and moved in bursts with somebody at each end of it. That changes the shape of the day more than the number of floors does.
- My flat is on a converted top floor above a block with a lift.
- Then tell us about the last flight, because it is the job. It is usually the narrowest and steepest flight in the building and it was built after everything already up there arrived.
- What is a goods-lift booking?
- Building management allocates a window and requires floor protection and insurance documents. It is well run and completely inflexible, so we stage everything beside the lift before the window opens rather than fetching during it.
- What happens if the lift is out of service?
- We use the stairs, which is why on any job above the second floor we work out both routes at survey. A plan that depends entirely on one lift has no second half.
Particular storeys
Particular storeys
- Why is a basement its own category?
- Because everything goes up on the way out and the constriction is outside rather than inside. Area steps, a railing gate, a light well with no room to turn at the bottom — none of which appears on a floor plan.
- Is a ground-floor flat always straightforward?
- No. A raised threshold, a narrow front gate with a post beside it, a long tiled path with no turning room, or a communal door that opens inward into a tight lobby can each make a ground-floor job slower than a first-floor one.
- How do you work a whole house?
- Top down. The loft first, because the staircase beneath it has to stay clear; then the bedrooms; then the ground floor; and the cellar last, because it is the only load travelling upward and it should not be crossing a stairway full of furniture.
- Do you clear lofts?
- A boarded loft with a fixed ladder, yes. An unboarded loft reached by a drop-down ladder is a different and more dangerous job, and we will say so at survey rather than on the day.
- What about split-level and duplex flats?
- They behave like small houses and we quote them that way — internal stairs, an internal turn, and frequently a helical flight designed as an escape route rather than a furniture route.
Moving by road to Europe
Moving by road to Europe
- Why do you ask about the floor at the far end?
- Because nobody else does, and it decides the delivery. A shipment arriving at a fourth-floor apartment in Tirana with a small original lift is a completely different unload from one going into a house.
- Do you drive it yourselves?
- On road destinations, yes, or on a groupage service where a part load is shared with others going the same way. We will tell you which applies and what it changes about handling.
- What is groupage?
- A part load consolidated with others on the same route. It costs less and involves more handling at both ends, and the schedule depends on the load filling. Sole use means your goods travel alone and are handled less.
- Who deals with the paperwork?
- You supply the documents and make the declarations, and their accuracy is legally yours. We will tell you what is normally asked for on a route so nothing is a surprise. None of it is legal, tax, customs or immigration advice.
- Which countries have dedicated pages?
- Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. We quote for a great deal more than four, and the abroad page lists the wider road range.
Quotes, cover and what we will not do
Quotes, cover and what we will not do
- How do I get a price?
- Send both addresses with floor numbers, the four measurements, and a rough list of furniture. You will get a written quote back once we have looked at it properly — we would rather take a little longer and be right.
- Is the quote fixed?
- It is fixed against the facts you gave us. If the access turns out materially different — a flight nobody mentioned, a lift that does not reach — the plan may have to change and we will say so at the time.
- Are you insured?
- We carry goods-in-transit and public liability cover. The limits, exclusions and basis of settlement are in the booking contract, and high-value or fragile items should be declared before the day rather than mentioned on it.
- Do you move pianos?
- No. Not on any floor and not at any crew size. The weight sits high and off-centre and it does not behave like furniture — it is a specialist job with specialist equipment.
- Will you take the old furniture away?
- Only to a person or an address — a charity that has accepted it, a buyer, a relative. We hold no waste carrier licence and do not dispose of anything, and liability for improperly disposed waste can attach to the householder as well as the carrier.
Send us one measurement
The clear diagonal across the tightest turn on your staircase, corner to corner, with the handrail in place. That single figure answers more questions about a London move than a room-by-room inventory does.