Small moves across Wellington's hills and steps

Wellington small moves run on the flatting year. Rooms empty around Kelburn, Aro Valley and Mount Cook when the university year ends and fill again before it starts, and a room like that is a bed, a desk, drawers and a stack of boxes. The rest of the year it is one-bedroom flats and studios: a Te Aro apartment heading to Newtown or Berhampore, a couple leaving a subdivided Mount Victoria villa for Island Bay, three rooms going out to the Hutt once someone has finally bought. Single items get posted on their own too, usually a wardrobe or a sofa that will not turn on a villa staircase.

The distance is rarely the problem here. The last stretch from the van to the door is. Plenty of Wellington addresses sit a flight of steps above or below the kerb, and many of the streets through Aro Valley, Mount Victoria and Newtown are narrow, parked out, and inside a residents' permit zone, so a van often stops well short of the door. Hill roads make cross-city trips slow, because Karori to Miramar runs through the city and the Mount Victoria Tunnel. In Te Aro, if the building has a goods lift or a loading bay, check whether it needs booking and say so in the listing.

Every driver prices their own work, so bids on one flat shift differ. One driver is already heading up the harbour to the Hutt that morning and your load fits around it. Another would be crossing from Karori for your job alone. A van with one person costs less to run than a truck and crew, so a driver who can do the job on their own prices it that way, and a long carry up steps that needs two people gets priced for two. Put the steps, the parking and whether the bed comes apart in the listing, and drivers can price the job for what it involves.