Small moves and flat shifts in Christchurch

A Christchurch small move often runs on the flatting calendar. Students come out of the halls near Ilam and into places around Upper Riccarton, Bryndwr and Avonhead with a bed, a desk and a car boot of boxes. A share house in Sydenham breaks up and one person's half goes across town. Someone leaves a Beckenham bungalow for a two bedroom townhouse and takes a fraction of the furniture with them. Then there is the in between move, one household split across two addresses while the settlement dates line up.

Most of Christchurch is flat and laid out on a grid, so the driving is rarely the problem, until the job climbs the Port Hills above Cashmere or Halswell. Access is the rest. The infill townhouses through Addington, Phillipstown and Sydenham sit three deep down a shared right of way with nowhere to turn a long wheelbase, and the load goes up the lane by hand. Some central apartment buildings have one loading bay and a lift you have to book. Plenty of older bungalows in Papanui and Spreydon sit behind a long narrow driveway. And a nor'wester will try to take a mattress off an open trailer.

Bids on a small move differ because each driver is pricing their own day, and no two days look the same. One is already heading north over the Waimakariri to Rangiora, so your load rides alongside what is in the van. Another works alone in a van that fits down a Sydenham right of way where a long wheelbase cannot, and a van and one person cost less to run than a truck and crew. A third prices the climb to Cashmere differently from a flat run across the grid. List every item, count the stairs, name the right of way, so each driver is pricing the same job.