Planning a whole-flat furniture build around a London move-in date

A London move-in fails on sequencing far more often than on furniture. The delivery slot, the goods-lift window, the permit and the assembly crew all have to land in the right order, in a flat where nothing can be stored on the landing.

This is the plan we use for handover-day builds, written so you can run it yourself or hand it to us.

Book the goods lift and the loading bay before you confirm the delivery date, not after. In managed blocks the lift is often bookable only in two-hour windows and only on weekdays, which quietly decides your whole schedule.

Where the property is on a controlled street, the bay suspension needs lead time with the council. We arrange and pay for ours, but the application still has a queue.

Bedrooms first, because a bed you can sleep in on night one is worth more than a sofa. Wardrobes go up before beds where the room is tight, since the wardrobe needs floor space to be built flat and stood.

Living and dining next, then office, then outdoor. Kitchen cabinetry sits outside this order — it usually needs a plumber or an electrician alongside, and that is a separate booking.

A hinged wardrobe is around 105 minutes, a sliding-door wardrobe 150, a modular run three hours per 100cm frame plus interiors. A bed frame is 75 minutes, an ottoman bed two hours. A chest of drawers is an hour, a bookcase under one.

Add a fifth for a walk-up above the third floor, and a quarter for second-hand items with no instructions. A one-bedroom flat's full build is normally a long half day; a two-bedroom is a full day.

Boxes come in flat and go straight to the room they belong in — never stacked in the hall, which blocks every other trade. Dust sheets go down before the first box opens.

Each unit is built, squared, levelled to the floor you actually have, adjusted, then anchored where the design requires it. Packaging is flattened as we go, not at the end, so the flat never disappears under cardboard.

A man with a van collects anything the store will not deliver in your window. A removals crew dismantles at the old address and we rebuild at the new one. An end-of-tenancy clean at the old flat runs the day after the furniture leaves.

Booking those through one provider means one contact, one invoice and no arguments about who scratched what.