Two movers carrying a wrapped armchair down a long sandstone stair run between angophora trunks
THE JOB, MOST DAYS: THE SIXTY VERTICAL METRES THE TRUCK CAN'T DO

What counts as difficult access here

If any of these sound like your place, you're in the right spot:

  • The truck has to stop on the road and everything walks the rest, up or down
  • A stair run between parking and door: garden steps, split levels, a public stairway
  • A steep or switchback driveway that's fine for a ute and hopeless for a pantech
  • An inclinator doing the work a path would do anywhere else
  • Tight verges on the through road where a parked truck needs planning, not luck

How we run a hard-access move

First, we walk it. Before we quote a grade 3 or 4 carry we want to see it, in person or over photos and a call. Where the truck stops, where the stairs turn, what the widest piece is, whether the inclinator takes a washing machine or just the shopping. You'd be surprised how often the answer changes the crew.

Then we set the carry order. Hard access rewards choreography: heavy pieces early while legs are fresh, a set walking rhythm on the stairs, one mover stationed at the turn. It's not glamorous, and it's the difference between a move that hums and one that limps.

Then the right crew, honestly sized. The hourly tiers are fixed. What we size is the crew: on a serious carry, a third or fourth pair of shoulders costs more per hour and almost always fewer hours. We'll tell you which way the maths runs for your place before you commit.

STRAIGHT ANSWER

Hard access doesn't have a secret surcharge. It's the same $250, $350 or $500 an hour as everyone else pays; the access just decides the crew and the hours. That's the whole pricing model, and it's why we'd rather see your stairs before we guess.

An unmarked removals truck with the rear door open, parked on a narrow bend of a leafy hillside road
WHERE THE TRUCK STOPS IS DECIDED BEFORE MOVING DAY, NOT ON IT

The gear the hillside asks for

Stair dollies and piano trolleys, double blankets for rail and wall corners, a shuttle vehicle when the last leg needs one, straps for the pieces that want to swing on a slope. For inclinator houses we pack to the car's own limits: smaller cartons, more trips, nothing forced. None of it is exotic; all of it has to actually be on the truck, which is what the walk-through is for.

Grade your own carry first

The Carry Check asks the seven questions we'd ask on your doorstep and hands the answers straight to the quote form. Two minutes, and your callback starts from "we already know the stairs" instead of "so tell me about the access".

For the long version of how stairs, gradient and inclinators set the hours, read How steep is your carry?