Man and Van in Canterbury City Centre

Vehicle access to the pedestrian streets runs on set hours, enforced by rising bollards that do not negotiate. A van that arrives ten minutes after the window closes is not slightly late, it is locked out until the next one, and a move built around one window has no slack in it at all.

So we build around the window rather than hoping to beat it. That means the load is ordered before we arrive, the heavy and awkward items go first while the vehicle is legally in place, and anything that can be carried out to a bay further off is left until last.

Outside the timed streets the question becomes which loading bay or short-stay space gives the shortest carry to your door, and that is genuinely local knowledge rather than something a map will tell you. The nearest bay in a straight line is often not the nearest one on foot once the one-way system is taken into account.

Where a suspended bay would make a real difference we will say so early, because the council needs notice and it is not something that can be arranged on the morning. Where it would not help, we will say that too rather than sell you a permit you do not need.

Central living here is mostly flats over retail or rooms carved out of old townhouses, which means steep stairs, low beams, half-landings and doorways that predate the modern sofa by two centuries. The stairs, not the floor area, decide how long the day takes.

We bring enough hands that nothing ends up wedged on a turn, and we take large pieces apart rather than testing whether they will go. If your flat is up more than one flight, or the stair turns twice, mention it when you ask so the crew is sized for it.

Small office and studio moves in the centre almost always go better early, late or on a Sunday. The streets are quieter, the bays are free, and you are not carrying desks through shoppers. It also means you are not losing a trading day, which is usually the real cost.

Tell us what is going beyond the furniture, because IT equipment, archives and anything with a service contract on it need handling and sequencing decisions made in advance rather than in a stairwell at seven in the morning.