Moving Into an Apartment Building: Docks, Lifts and Paperwork
An apartment move is forty percent lifting and sixty percent logistics. The building has rules, the rules have lead times, and the goods lift has a booking calendar that fills up at the exact times everyone else wants to move too. Here is what to sort out, in order, before the truck rolls in.
Ring the building manager first, not last
One phone call settles almost everything: which loading dock, which lift, which hours, what paperwork, what deposit. Many buildings want written notice before furniture moves through common property, and in some older strata schemes the by-laws literally require giving the owners corporation sufficient notice. It is a real rule, not a suggestion from someone with a clipboard hobby.
Ask the building manager these five questions. Which dock or bay do movers use? Does the goods lift need booking, and what windows are free? Are there hour or day restrictions? What paperwork do you need from my removalist? Is there a deposit or a fee, and when is it refunded?
The certificate of currency
Most buildings want proof that your removalist holds public liability insurance before a crew touches common property. The common figure is $20 million, which is not arbitrary: it is the minimum cover NSW owners corporations must hold themselves, so buildings ask movers for the same.
We hold $20 million public liability cover and can send the certificate to your building manager. Ask us when you book and we will send the certificate directly to your building manager.
Book the dock and the goods lift like a restaurant
Loading dock windows can be short, often an hour or two, and the goods lift usually needs padding and a key from the building. Passenger lifts are typically off limits for furniture, partly for the upholstery and mostly for the by-laws. On busy days the dock calendar looks like a Friday night seating chart, so book when you book your movers, not the week before.
If your booking window is 9 to 11, tell the crew to arrive at 8:30. A truck that misses its dock slot is a truck doing laps of the block with your bed in it.
Will the truck even fit in the basement?
Basement clearance heights in residential buildings can be as low as about 2.1 or 2.2 metres. Plenty of trucks are three metres tall. You can see where this is going, and it is going to the point where someone measures too late.
Ask the building manager for the clearance height of the dock and ramp, then pass that number to your removalist when you get the quote. We have trucks from 4.5 to 12 tonnes and matching the vehicle to the building is a normal part of quoting, but only when we know the number.
Timing: the dock rush is real
Saturdays and the last few days of the month are when everyone moves, which is exactly when dock windows and goods lifts book out first. A midweek, midmonth apartment move is a different sport: calmer lifts, emptier docks, and neighbours less likely to film your sofa wrestling the stairwell door.
The carry nobody budgets for
In many apartment blocks the legal truck spot is the loading dock at basement level two, and your door is tower B level 12, which means a lift lobby, a corridor and a set of fire doors between the truck and your hallway. Our rate includes the first 50 metres of carry and steps up $10 an hour for each additional 50 metres, so for apartments we work this out at quoting time rather than invoice time.
Ask the building manager where the truck will actually stand. Then tell us. It is the difference between a quote that lands and a surprise in the driveway, or in this case the basement.
One call to the building manager answers the dock, the lift, the hours, the paperwork and the deposit. Make it before you book the truck, and an apartment move becomes a normal move with a better view.
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