Apartment moves are their own beast. With a house, you back the truck up the drive and start carrying. With an apartment, there’s a lift you might have to book, a body corporate with rules, a loading zone that fits one van, and a building manager who may or may not answer emails on a Friday.
I helped a friend move into a block in the city fringe last year and we got about half of this wrong. So here’s the list I’d give anyone now.
Read the Body Corporate Rules
Nearly every block has a rulebook for moving day, and it’s never short. Ours said weekdays nine to four, Saturday mornings at a push. Some want notice a week ahead. A few ask for a bond in case the lift or the hallway gets damaged.
Find out early. Email the building manager, or bug the agent, and get the actual document. We found out about the Sunday ban on the Thursday before. Fun times.
Book the Lift
If the building has a goods lift, or a way to put the lift into service mode, book it. Ask whether they’ll hang protective padding inside. Get the door measurements while you’re at it. The L-shaped couch? Didn’t fit, not in one piece. We worked that out in the lobby, holding it, with a queue of annoyed neighbours behind us.
Measure Everything
Measure the lift, the doorways, the corridor corners and the apartment’s own front door. Then measure your big furniture. It’s boring. It saves heartbreak.
Sofa too big? Then it’s either the allen keys, Trade Me, or a creative plan B. We ended up unscrewing the legs off ours and it slid in with about a centimetre to spare. I’ve heard of people hoisting stuff up over a balcony, but that’s not a Saturday DIY thing.
Figure Out Parking and Loading
This is where city apartments really bite. Truck parking is the big one. Some blocks have a dock you book ahead, some have nothing at all and you’re on the street, dodging clearway signs. A ticket on top of moving costs is just insult to injury.
Ring the building manager and grill them. Then pass all of it on to whoever’s doing the lifting. Good crews will ask anyway. The ones that don’t ask are the ones to worry about.
Think About the Long Carry
Ours had a lift, but it was a good forty metres from the truck to the lift, then another long corridor to the door. Every box did that trip. Twice the walking, twice the time, and if you’re paying hourly, you feel it. Tell anyone quoting you about it up front.
Pack Smaller
Giant boxes are a pain in a small lift. Medium ones, stacked three high on a trolley, go much faster. And on the day, keep the hallway empty. We had shoes and a bike in ours and kept tripping over them.
The Boring Admin Nobody Mentions
- Get the fobs. All of them.
- Find the bin room, and learn what goes in which bin.
- Power and internet set up before you arrive.
- Your mail redirected.
- Which parking space is actually yours.
Getting Help
Plenty of people do apartment moves themselves, especially from a smaller flat. But if you’ve got a lot of furniture, a tight lift and limited hours to work with, a professional crew is worth thinking about.
CityMove is one of the movers and packers in Auckland that deals with walk-ups, lifts and long carries regularly. They’ll ask about access when you book and plan around the lift and loading time before the day, not in the lobby. Their Auckland moving page is worth a look if you want a feel for how they work.
Last Bit of Advice
Do the admin early. Book the lift, sort the parking and measure the big stuff. That’s 80 percent of a smooth apartment move. The rest is just carrying boxes.
