About the service
I run a rigging crew, and every job of ours starts long before the van is booked. I come out for a survey, or I ask for a detailed set of photos of the whole route at both ends: the doorway, every turn of the staircase, the depth of the landings, the lift car and the rating plate inside it. I measure the openings and the diagonal of each turn, count the steps and note where a handrail narrows the run. Out of those numbers comes the plan: how many people are needed, which straps, skates, stair rollers and shoulder harnesses we bring, and whether the item can leave the flat at all without taking a door off its hinges.
Heavy freight is genuinely dangerous, both to the people under it and to the building around it. We work in gloves and safety boots, with slings and rigging gear rated well above the calculated weight, never with improvised rope. Staircase flights and lifts have load limits, and we do not take a load into a lift without permission from the managing organisation. If there is the slightest doubt about the strength of a floor slab, a landing or an old wooden staircase, we stop and do not begin until the question is settled.
Corners, frames, handrails and floor coverings are protected before anything moves. On an upright or a grand we take off the legs and the lyre, wrap the case in padded covers and carry it on its own board; a safe travels on skates and an inclined plane; a machine tool is drained of fluids and bolted down to a pallet. Loading goes up the ramp with a winch rather than on shoulders, and inside the van everything is strapped to anchor points and blocked with pads so that nothing can shift on a bend. Driving is deliberately slow over joints and speed bumps, and an instrument is not unwrapped straight away in a cold or an overheated room.
What is included:
— survey or photo assessment of the route at the pick-up and at the delivery address;
— measurement of openings, turns and landings, and a written lifting plan;
— a crew of three to six with straps, skates, rollers, ramps and covers;
— protection of corners, door frames, handrails and floors;
— removal of piano legs and lyre, packing of the case;
— loading, securing in the vehicle, transport and placement in the new room;
— liability insurance for the item and for the premises.
The price is calculated from weight, the floor, whether a lift may be used, the number of turns and the distance. An upright from a third floor without a lift is one working day; a safe or a machine tool over half a tonne is planned several days ahead, because the gear and the extra hands have to be reserved.
Heavy freight is genuinely dangerous, both to the people under it and to the building around it. We work in gloves and safety boots, with slings and rigging gear rated well above the calculated weight, never with improvised rope. Staircase flights and lifts have load limits, and we do not take a load into a lift without permission from the managing organisation. If there is the slightest doubt about the strength of a floor slab, a landing or an old wooden staircase, we stop and do not begin until the question is settled.
Corners, frames, handrails and floor coverings are protected before anything moves. On an upright or a grand we take off the legs and the lyre, wrap the case in padded covers and carry it on its own board; a safe travels on skates and an inclined plane; a machine tool is drained of fluids and bolted down to a pallet. Loading goes up the ramp with a winch rather than on shoulders, and inside the van everything is strapped to anchor points and blocked with pads so that nothing can shift on a bend. Driving is deliberately slow over joints and speed bumps, and an instrument is not unwrapped straight away in a cold or an overheated room.
What is included:
— survey or photo assessment of the route at the pick-up and at the delivery address;
— measurement of openings, turns and landings, and a written lifting plan;
— a crew of three to six with straps, skates, rollers, ramps and covers;
— protection of corners, door frames, handrails and floors;
— removal of piano legs and lyre, packing of the case;
— loading, securing in the vehicle, transport and placement in the new room;
— liability insurance for the item and for the premises.
The price is calculated from weight, the floor, whether a lift may be used, the number of turns and the distance. An upright from a third floor without a lift is one working day; a safe or a machine tool over half a tonne is planned several days ahead, because the gear and the extra hands have to be reserved.
