The removals business requires a high-degree of professionalism. Working within many different kinds of areas and locations, removals companies face differing challenges that customers remain oblivious to. When we book house movers, we forget that their van may be too high for the headroom limit in your underground parking lot or that the elevator is being serviced on the day of the move, making it impossible for them to do their job efficiently.
Here we take a look at 5 of the major challenges a removals company faces when working in the city.
• Crowd Control: Possibly the most obvious challenge in a city environment is the sheer number of people and traffic buzzing around the area. Cities will be home to offices and businesses along with residential areas and so there will naturally be times during the day when there is more activity at street level than at others.
A removals firm will ensure they are going to be working during a time when they will be able to best get on with the job. They don’t want to spend a day loading a van to find themselves in a gridlock situation on the motorway and neither do you if the clock’s ticking!
• Access: It’s crucial for removers to know where to park so that they are well placed to load their vehicles without causing an obstruction in the streets outside the property. Then they need to know if the property is a house, in which case it will be at street level or an apartment, which will require them to navigate stairs or an elevator, if large enough. If working at a high-rise property in the city, there may be items of furniture that will not fit into an elevator and perhaps specialist equipment may be required to move those items.
• Routes: A good removals company will always ask for details of where things are being picked up from and where they are being taken to. This is particularly important when working in a city as there may be a number of one-way systems that need to be identified ahead of doing the job so that an accurate idea of the time it will take can be quoted. If there is no parking outside the property due to parking restrictions, the house movers will need to be made aware so that they can either obtain the necessary license (if required) or the client can obtain permission to park from the relevant authorities.
• Delays: Unfortunately, due to the hectic nature of city life there is every chance a removals company will face delays due to unforeseen circumstances. A busy city will also be a business hub which will attract a lot of people to it and where there are large amounts of people, accidents can and will happen. Due to a city being a densely-populated area both at night and day, such things are inevitable and so it’s unwise to try and pin a removal company down to exact timescales for doing the job.
• Security: Another consideration when a removals firm is working in the city is that they will not be able to leave their van unattended, particularly when partly loaded. It would be pointless for them to be entering the property for more furniture to load if there’s someone emptying the van as quickly as they’re loading it! Clients would be well advised to assist with the security process if moving to or from a property in the city.