Guides / 02
The walk-up move: stairs without tears
A big share of the flats between Randwick Junction and the Coogee sand are interwar walk-ups: three or four storeys, solid brick, handsome, and not a lift among them. Moving one is a technique job, and technique can be explained.
How the sofa actually gets down
Not by force. The order is: measure, strip, angle, strap. Cushions off and feet off the sofa; doors off their hinges when the frame is the problem, which takes five minutes and saves the frame and the wall both. Big pieces travel on shoulder straps or a stair trolley with the load braced against the turn, and the winder halfway down decides everything: the piece pivots through it on an angle worked out at the top of the stairs, not improvised halfway with a hundred kilos moving.
The person walking backwards downhill sets the pace. Slow on the stairs is fast on the day: a dropped corner costs more time than every careful step combined, and it costs the stairwell wall too, which your building manager will remember.
What stairs honestly do to the hours
They add some. Every flight is distance the trolley cannot roll, so a third-floor walk-up typically runs longer than the same flat with a lift, and the carry from the door to wherever the truck legally stands adds its own share. We tell you that before the job because the hourly model means it is your money: it is also why the answer to "how many movers" is sometimes two patient ones, not four, on stairs where a bigger crew just queues.
Check your own stairwell before the day
- The winder: does the staircase turn mid-flight? Note which floor. That is the pivot the crew plans around.
- The measurements that matter: stairwell width at the tightest point, and the door heights, yours and the building's front door.
- The common areas: anything the building wants protected, and whether the manager wants notice. A padded rail keeps neighbours friendly.
- The kerb: where can a truck legally stand, and how far is the carry from there? On permit streets, ten metres of held kerb is worth an hour of walking.
- The one piece you doubt: if you already suspect the wardrobe will not make the turn, say so in the enquiry. Sometimes the answer is the window and a different plan; better decided in advance.
What to tell us
Floor number, winder or straight flights, and the parking story. Those three lines in the enquiry are the difference between a quote-shaped guess and a real plan. The run sheet tool asks for exactly them.