Unit moves: lifts, stairs and booking windows
A unit move that goes wrong almost never goes wrong on the lifting. It goes wrong at nine in the morning when the lift is not booked, the loading dock has a ute in it, and the building manager is not answering. All of that is avoidable a week early. Here is how.
Know which building you are in
Around Fairfield, Cabramatta and Carramar the unit stock splits into two kinds, and they are two different moves:
The classic walk-up (roughly the 1960s to the 1980s): two or three storeys, external or internal stairs, no lift, no dock, parking on the street. Nobody to book with, but the stairs and the street are your whole plan. The questions that matter: how many flights, do the landings turn tight, and where can a truck legally stand nearest the entry?
The newer lift building (mostly near the station): secure entry, a lift, sometimes a loading dock, and a building manager or strata committee with rules. The rules are not the enemy; they exist because the last crew scratched the lift. Booked properly, a lift building is the easiest move there is.
The strata conversation, translated
If your building has a manager, the moving-day conversation usually covers four things. Have these answers ready and the whole thing takes one email:
| They will ask | The useful answer |
|---|---|
| What date and window? | Your preferred date plus a backup, and morning or afternoon. Lifts are often shared with other bookings. |
| Who is the removalist? | Our name is enough at booking; some buildings also want the truck size for the dock. |
| Lift protection? | We hang the curtains if the building supplies them, and pad the lift ourselves if it does not. Say the mover handles it. |
| A bond or deposit? | Some buildings hold one against damage to common areas. Ask early; it is the item most likely to surprise you on the day. |
The checklist
Print it, stick it on the fridge, and tick it in the week before the move. Everything on it is a two-minute job that saves twenty on the day. Use the print button below, or your browser's print, and it comes out as one clean page.
Crescent Removals, Fairfield. General guidance, not a quote.
- Lift: booked with the building manager, date and window confirmed in writing.
- Protection: asked whether the building supplies lift curtains, told them the mover pads the rest.
- Dock or parking: know where the truck stands, and for how long. If it is street parking, check the signs for Saturday rules.
- Stairs counted: flights between your door and the street, and whether the landings turn tight.
- Biggest piece measured: the sofa or wardrobe, against the narrowest door and the landing.
- Fridge and washer: emptied, defrosted, disconnected the night before.
- Keys, fobs and remotes: one set aside for moving day, including the garage and dock remotes.
- Bond: asked whether the building holds a moving bond, and how it is returned.
- The neighbours warned: a note in the lift two days early keeps the shared spaces friendly.
- End-of-lease timing: cleaners booked for after the furniture is out, not before.
What a unit move costs
Most one and two bedroom units fit 2 movers and 1 truck at $250 per hour. Big units, serious timber, or heavy pieces plus stairs, and we will suggest 3 movers and 1 truck at $350 per hour and say why. The access answers above are exactly what makes the hours honest: a booked lift and a settled dock can save an hour of a crew's time, and the saving is yours.
The service page has the day itself, step by step: apartment and unit moves.