One arrow · →
Nothing comes back
The simplest shape a van job can have and the one everybody pictures when they ring. Something goes from one place to another and the van leaves empty. Every other page on this site is what happens when that is not true.
If this is your job, it is a short conversation and a single figure. Most of them are.
What a one-way job involves
What this covers
A room or a studio flat. A flat-share changeover. A single heavy item between two addresses. A purchase collected from a shop, a saleroom or a seller and delivered to you. A student move at the end of a term.
All of those are one leg, and the pricing is straightforward because nothing is waiting anywhere.
The two things that decide the figure
Where a van can legally stand at each end, and what is between that point and the door. Not the distance, which in London rarely matters much, and not the amount, which for a van job is usually modest.
A ground-floor flat with a drive and a fourth-floor walk-up on a red route are the same load and completely different days.
The measurement worth sending
The clear diagonal at the tightest turn on the staircase. It decides more van jobs in London than anything else and almost nobody has taken it.
Send that, plus the longest rigid dimension of your largest item, and most will-it-fit questions answer themselves before anybody arrives.
And when to check whether it is really one-way
Ask yourself whether anything has to leave as this arrives, go back to where it came from, or be collected afterwards. If any of those is yes, it belongs on a different page and it should be booked as two legs.
Adding a second leg at the booking is frequently just a wait. Adding it afterwards is a second visit.
Nothing comes back
Questions about nothing comes back
- What counts as a one-way job?
- A room, a flat-share, a single heavy item, a purchase collected and delivered. Anything where the van leaves empty and nothing is waiting at either end.
- What decides the price?
- Where a van can legally stand at each end and what is between that point and the door. In London the carry matters far more than the distance.
- What should I send you?
- The clear diagonal at the tightest stair turn and the longest rigid dimension of your largest item. Those two settle most questions before anybody arrives.
- How many crew come?
- Two, on anything involving furniture or stairs. One person and a sofa is how walls get marked and backs get hurt.
- Do you dismantle things?
- Where something will not pass a doorway or a stair turn whole, yes, and rebuild it at the other end.
- How do I know it is really one-way?
- Ask whether anything has to leave as this arrives, go back, or be collected later. If so it is a two-leg job and cheaper booked as one.
Does anything have to come back?
Both addresses, what is going, and whether anything has to leave as something arrives, go back where it came from, or be collected afterwards. Any yes makes it two legs.