Man and Van in Wincheap

The terraces open more or less straight onto a road that does not stop moving, so leaving a van standing to load takes both care and timing. We pick the safest, closest place to stop and order the load so the heaviest pieces make the shortest journey, keeping clear of the worst of the through-traffic where the day allows it.

Timing does a lot of the work here. The road pinches predictably around the school run and again when the retail park is busy, so a mid-morning start on a weekday will often move more furniture in an hour than an eight o'clock one. We will tell you which slot suits your address when we quote.

A fair part of Wincheap has flats sitting over shopfronts, reached by a single stair door opening straight onto the pavement. These are among the more demanding moves in the city: the staircase is usually narrow, it often turns halfway, and there is no hallway at the bottom to set anything down in while you think.

We size the crew for the staircase rather than for the number of rooms, which is the opposite of how these get quoted elsewhere. Large items come apart at the top rather than being fought around the turn. If you are above a shop, say so when you ask, and mention roughly how many turns the stair has.

The shops and units along the road move premises like anyone else, usually needing it done without losing a trading day. We work those around opening hours where we can, which in practice tends to mean early, late, or a Sunday.

Stock, fittings and counters travel differently from household furniture, so tell us what is actually going. A van sized for a flat will not take a shop fit-out, and finding that out on the morning costs you the day you were trying to protect.