Man and van · Hackney
Man and van in Hackney, where one of the two addresses is a stranger's
A man and van in Hackney is as often a collection as a move. Something has been bought second-hand from a listing, and now it has to be fetched from somebody else's address. That one difference reorganises the job, because one of the two addresses is not yours. Nobody can walk it, measure it, or ask the neighbours beforehand; there is only a stranger on a telephone and whatever that stranger volunteers. So the booking is assembled out of the questions you put to the seller, and the decisions are taken at the seller's kerb.
Written by Daniel, founder, Metro City Moves
Usual job
A collection, not a move
Sets the slot
The seller's window, not yours
Quote
In writing, after a survey
What is different here
Man and van in Hackney is its own job
What changes the plan and the price here, rather than a list that would fit any London postcode.
Half the information belongs to somebody who is not the customer
An ordinary move has one customer and two addresses that customer controls. A collection has one address you control and another belonging to a person you have never met, which nobody is going to survey beforehand. The seller will not measure anything on your behalf, and has no particular reason to mention the awkward part. The information has to be requested, directly and item by item: what it measures at its widest point, and whether it separates or travels whole. Whether the drawers, shelves and glass have come out of it, and whether anybody will be in the room to take the other end. Answers like those produce an accurate booking, and without them the booking is an estimate built on an estimate.
The fit is established at the seller's kerb, while it can still be undone
A crew decides whether something will go in before it is lifted, never afterwards. On a collection that judgement happens at an address none of us has seen, in front of a seller who would like their hallway back. So the item is measured against the van and against your own doorway while it is still standing in the seller's room. That is the final moment at which a wrong answer costs nothing: leave it there and you have lost an afternoon. Once it is strapped down and the doors are closed, a mistake is no longer a rethink; it becomes a second journey on another day. The wardrobe off Lea Bridge Road stays standing in a stranger's hall, and the seller has stopped replying.
The seller's door opens when the seller opens it, and that sets the slot
Collections keep the hours of the premises they come from, which is why the timing is rarely the customer's to choose. A workshop off Kingsland Road shuts when the work stops for the day, and a collection from a flat near Hackney Downs is somebody's evening. A warehouse showroom in Haggerston opens for a booked viewing and for nothing else, and the viewing is yours to arrange rather than ours. We arrange the slot around whichever of the two ends bends least, and on a collection that is almost always the seller's end. One day is worth establishing before anything is agreed. Chatsworth Road is closed to vehicles on Sundays for the market, so a collection from that stretch is carried out to the van rather than loaded at the door. With anything heavy, ask the seller for a different day.
At the flat-share end the question is ownership, not permission
A good proportion of these jobs finish at a shared flat, or begin at one. No keys are being handed back and no landlord is involved, so permission is not what goes wrong here; the difficulty is quieter than that. The sofa in a Stamford Hill flat-share was bought between the people living in it, and the conversation about whose it actually is has never taken place. It takes place on the morning instead, in front of a crew, with the booked period already running. Have that conversation first, then label everything that is leaving, or photograph the room and send the picture over. We load what has been marked, rather than what is being pointed at while two housemates disagree about it.
Where this applies
The parts of Hackney this page is about
Named, because a page about an area in general is no use to anyone standing in one. These are the places where what is written above is what we actually find.
- Kingsland Road
- Haggerston
- Chatsworth Road
- Hackney Downs
- Lea Bridge Road
- Stamford Hill
- Before you fix a date
- Ask the seller for the measurement across the widest point, and for a photograph of the item standing where it currently stands.
- Establish whether it separates into pieces, and whether it is being handed over assembled or flat.
- Check that the drawers, shelves and glass have been taken out, because a cabinet still holding its contents is a different proposition.
- Get the opening window from the seller before you ask us to hold a slot. If it falls on a Sunday on Chatsworth Road, ask for a different day.
- Measure your own doorway, and decide where the item is going once it is through it. A crew waiting in a hallway for that decision is a crew on the clock.
Questions
Man and van in Hackney, answered
- The seller will not let me measure it. What should I ask for instead?
- A photograph taken square on, with a tape measure across the widest part; most sellers manage that even where they manage nothing else. If yours refuses altogether, tell us, because we then plan for the larger of the possibilities rather than the convenient one.
- Can you collect from Chatsworth Road on a Sunday?
- We can collect, though not at the door. Chatsworth Road is closed to vehicles on Sundays for the market, so anything from that stretch is carried out to the van instead of loaded beside it. With a heavy or awkward item the sensible answer is to ask the seller for a different day, which shortens the booking as well.
- Nobody can be at the collection address when you arrive. Does that stop it?
- Only where we are not told. Give us the name and telephone number of whoever is releasing the item, and a description of what they are releasing. Confirm as well that payment has been settled with the seller directly. The crew collects the item; it does not conduct the purchase on your behalf.
- What decides the cost of a man and van collection in Hackney?
- The size of the item, the window the seller gives you, and how much was established beforehand rather than discovered at the kerb. The distance between the two addresses barely registers beside any of that. We survey before we quote, the quote comes in writing, and the number you accept is the number you pay.
Keep reading
Everything else on man and van and on Hackney
Man and van elsewhere in London
What people say
Reviews left by people we have moved
Left on our Google profile. Every card links back to it, so you can read the rest — including any we would rather you did not.
Good experience with Metro City Moves. 4 bedroom house seemed bit difficult to move from London to Liverpool, but they planned well and successfully executed. Thank you.
Saqib AwanRead on Google, opens in a new tab
Get started
Tell us where you are moving from
Send a postcode and we will come back to arrange the survey, which we can do on a video call.
What you get before you commit
- A survey first, by video call or in person, so the price is built on what is actually there.
- The quote in writing, listing what is included and what is not, so both sides read the same list.
- Anything you add before you accept is priced into the quote you sign off.
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