Many mid-rise and high-rise buildings in Atlanta will not let a moving crew use the elevator without a reservation, and many require a certificate of insurance from the moving company on file with the leasing office before the truck is allowed on the property. Those two rules, not the boxes, are what decide whether an apartment move goes smoothly, because a crew that arrives to a locked service elevator or a dock that is already booked has nowhere to put the first piece of furniture. On Midtown Moving & Storage apartment jobs across the Atlanta metro, elevators, stairs and loading docks are the three things that make the work harder than a house move. Each one can be sorted out before moving day with a call to the leasing office.
What To Ask Your Building Before Booking
Start with the leasing or management office at both the move-out and the move-in address, since each building sets its own rules. The questions that matter are the same everywhere:
- Does the building have a dedicated service or freight elevator, does it have to be reserved, and what windows are available?
- Are moves limited to set weekday hours, and are weekends blocked? This can change the date before anything else is planned.
- Where is the truck allowed to park, for how long, and is there a loading dock with its own reservation?
- Does the building require a certificate of insurance from the moving company? If so, what does it have to name and where should it be sent?
- Is a deposit or a signed move form required before the elevator key is released?
- Is there a posted weight or size limit for the elevator?
Once those answers are in hand, pass them to the move coordinator. Every Midtown move has a coordinator as the single point of contact for scheduling and questions, and the building's rules are exactly what that person needs in order to set the date, the truck and the crew. If the building wants an insurance certificate, tell the coordinator what it has to name and who at the building receives it, so that paperwork is handled before the date and not on the morning of the move.
Students and renters in apartment buildings around Midtown and other dense parts of the city should ask these questions at both addresses, since the two buildings rarely run on the same rules or the same hours.
Stairs, Parking And The Truck
A walk-up adds a flight of stairs to every single trip, so the crew's path matters more than it does in a house. Before the first box moves, Midtown's crews lay runners on floors and stairs and pad the door frames, the same protection they use on a house move, which is what keeps a shared stairwell free of scuffs that a leasing office would otherwise bill back at move-out. Keeping the hallway and the stairwell clear on moving day is the resident's part of that. Boxes stacked outside the door or on a landing turn a straight carry into an obstacle course for the people carrying a sofa.
Parking is the easiest part of an apartment move to overlook, and many Atlanta buildings sit on streets with no loading zone. Find out where the truck can legally stop and whether a space can be coned off or reserved. A truck that has to park a block away means a long carry on every trip, and a truck blocking a fire lane gets moved mid-load. If the building has a loading dock, confirm the dock reservation separately from the elevator reservation, since they are often handled by different people.
What The Crew Does Inside The Apartment
Furniture is blanket-wrapped and shrink-wrapped inside the apartment before it moves, not in the hallway or at the truck. Wrapping in the unit protects the piece on the way out and protects the walls, door frames and elevator cab on the way through. Beds, tables and other furniture that will not fit through a door or an elevator are taken apart by the crew and reassembled in the new apartment. Everything is loaded and strapped in the truck so nothing shifts on the drive.
At the new apartment, the crew places each piece where the resident points and reassembles what it took apart. That is the time to walk the unit and say where the bed, the sofa and the dresser go, because moving a wrapped piece once is far easier than moving an unwrapped one twice. The packing tips from an earlier post cover how to label boxes by room so that part goes just as fast.
What To Have Ready On Both Ends
On the move-out side, settle these before the crew's arrival window:
- Elevator or dock reservation confirmed in writing
- The building's move form signed and returned, if one was required
- Parking arranged, with the space coned or reserved where the building allows it
- Boxes sealed, labeled by room and stacked inside the unit
- Hallway, stairwell and landing kept clear
- Any item over the elevator's posted weight limit flagged to the coordinator ahead of time
On the move-in side, the same reservation and insurance paperwork applies, plus a few things only the new building can provide:
- The leasing office told the date and the moving company's name
- Keys or fobs in hand for the unit, the elevator and any gated parking, since a crew cannot unload into a building it cannot enter
- A quick phone-camera walk through the empty unit before anything comes in, to document the floors and walls in case a deposit question comes up later
Booking The Move
Midtown Moving's Atlanta movers handle apartment moves across the metro with their own uniformed crews and a move coordinator on every job. The quote form asks for the move size, the route and date, and a contact, and the coordinator confirms the details on a call. Bring the building rules from both addresses to that call, including elevator windows, insurance requirements and parking, so the crew arrives ready for the building it is walking into. Call (770) 744-0626 to start.
