In Manhattan the building decides, not the mover
Almost every managed building in Manhattan requires a certificate of insurance before a mover is allowed through the door, and the requirements are not standard. One managing agent wants specific limits, another wants itself named as an additional insured, a third has its own form. A COI that satisfies one building will be rejected by the next, which is why we ask for the building and the agent early rather than the week of the move.
Service elevators are reserved in windows, commonly on weekdays inside business hours, and a good number of co-ops will not permit moves at weekends at all. The window is the real constraint on the day: everything has to be padded, carried, loaded and out before it closes.
There is no parking, so the truck works from the street and the carry from the door to the tailgate is part of the job rather than an afterthought. And a meaningful share of the older stock is still walk-up, where a fifth floor is a fifth floor no matter how little furniture there is.
None of this is unusual for us. It just has to be arranged, and arranged before the date is promised to anyone.
What we ask before we quote it
- The building address and the managing agent
- The certificate of insurance requirements, in the agent's own wording
- The elevator reservation window the building will give you
- Whether it is a walk-up, and which floor
