An apartment move is decided by the building, not the furniture. Two questions determine most of how the day goes: what kind of lift is there, and where can the truck stand.
Everything below is built around those.
Three weeks before
- Establish what kind of lift you have. A service lift and a passenger lift are not the same thing. A passenger lift takes cartons and will not take a wardrobe, a sofa or a double mattress — which means furniture goes down the stairs and the crew needs to be bigger. This is the single most useful fact about your move.
- Book the service lift at both ends. In Dubai Marina or Al Nahda at month end, ask what slots exist and choose your date from those, rather than the other way round.
- Apply for the move permit at both buildings. See move permits and lift bookings in dubai: how they work.
- Find out where the truck can park at each address, and how far that is from the entrance. A long carry costs more time than a flight of stairs.
Two weeks before
- Confirm the deposit your building wants against damage to shared areas, and who pays it.
- Arrange DEWA — closing and opening.
- Order internet at the new flat if you have not already.
- Book the move-out clean for after the flat is empty.
- Declutter. In a flat this matters twice over — less to carry down stairs, and less to fit into a smaller space.
One week before
- Confirm the permit and lift window in writing. Not verbally.
- Check what comes apart. Anything that came into the flat as flat pack and was built inside it is not going out whole. Your mover should be listing these.
- Measure the awkward pieces against the lift door and the stairwell turn, if there is any doubt.
- Ask about the TV bracket. If it needs unmounting, and whether there is a fixing point at the new place.
- Start packing what you will not need.
The day before
- Packing day, if the movers are packing.
- Defrost the fridge overnight with the door open.
- Clear the corridor outside your door so the crew can stage cartons there.
- Pack a first-night box and keep it with you.
- Tell your neighbours, particularly if you share a small lift. Ten seconds of courtesy buys a lot of patience.
Moving day
- Be there when the lift window opens. Everything that can be packed and staged before it starts, should be — the booked hours are for moving, not preparing.
- Check the lift and door frames are protected before anything goes through them. Damage to shared areas comes out of your deposit.
- Walk the crew through and identify the fragile items explicitly.
- Check every space before the truck leaves: balcony, store cupboard, the top of the wardrobe, behind the door, inside the oven.
- Take meter readings and photograph them.
- Direct the unloading at the new flat, room by room.
- Check the beds are rebuilt before the crew stands down.
By flat size
Studio. Two to four hours with a working lift. Photographs are enough to quote from — no survey needed.
One bedroom. Half a day including packing. The most common apartment move in Dubai.
Two bedroom. Most of a day. Pack the kitchen the evening before if you can.
Three bedroom. A full day, and the lift booking stops being optional — three bedrooms is more lift trips than any building tolerates unbooked.
Four bedroom or penthouse. A house move on an upper floor. Survey it properly.
If your building has no lift
Common in International City, Discovery Gardens, Muhaisnah and much of the older eastern stock. Everything is carried, the crew is larger, and the job takes longer.
It is normal work. What matters is that your quote was given by someone who asked which floor you are on — because a quote that did not ask is a quote that will be revisited.
Related
apartment moving covers how we run these, and how much do movers cost in dubai? covers the pricing.
