Loading a Luton Van at a Modern UK Apartment Block — 60 Minutes, 3 Bedrooms
One HomeGo Luton van, two porters, a shared front courtyard, 3 bedrooms of belongings — here's the minute-by-minute of how we clear a modern UK apartment block without touching a single neighbour's door.
Key takeaways
- A 3-bedroom apartment loaded into one 20 m³ Luton van in 60 minutes flat.
- Two-porter tandem: one carries wardrobe cartons, the other wheels the sack-trolley of small items in parallel.
- Zero neighbour disturbance — courtyard-only route, lift used only for the fragile carton runs.
- Fixed quote of £490 — one van, two crew, three hours on the clock, zero VAT.
The Move: A 3-Bed Apartment, Slough to Maidenhead
A working couple booked HomeGo's Slough branch for a Tuesday move from a 3-bedroom apartment in a modern brick-fronted block to a similar apartment in Maidenhead. Both properties had shared courtyards, lift-only access above the ground floor, and no dedicated loading bay.
The office issued a fixed written quote of £490 — one Mercedes-Benz LWB Maxi-mover Luton van, two PAYE-employed porters, three hours guaranteed labour, all blankets, straps and wardrobe cartons. No VAT. No lift-load surcharge. Same price whether the load-in took 40 minutes or the full three hours.
The Two-Porter Tandem Technique
The photo captures the technique at 60 seconds into the load. Porter A (foreground) is carrying a wardrobe carton hand-over-hand from the apartment door to the van tailgate. Porter B (rear) is wheeling a suitcase-style trolley loaded with the small-item cartons and a hard-shell case behind him — using the same courtyard path in tandem so both trips overlap.
This tandem loading rule beats single-porter shuttle every time because the van tail-lift is being used continuously instead of standing idle between trips. Combined with the 500 kg tail-lift, a 3-bed apartment loads in 60 minutes instead of the 2+ hours you'd see with an untrained "man with a van".
The Neighbour-Friendly Route
One thing every apartment-block move underestimates: neighbour goodwill. HomeGo's Slough branch policy for apartment moves is to always route through the shared courtyard rather than the internal corridor, and to use the lift only for the small fragile cartons where you don't want to be jostled through a stairwell.
The bulk furniture (mattress, sofa, wardrobe boxes) goes courtyard-only. No one in a neighbouring flat had a stranger with a stack of boxes standing outside their door. The building manager waived the standard £50 lift-hire deposit because the crew respected the shared-space rule.
Get a free, no-VAT, fixed written quote in 2 mins
Insurance up to £50,000 included · No cancellation fees · Free dismantling & reassembly
Frequently asked questions
Do you need to reserve the block's lift in advance?+
For 2-bed and 3-bed apartment moves, yes — always. HomeGo's office will contact the building manager or concierge on your behalf if you provide their number when you book. Lift-hire deposits (typically £50–£100) are refundable and reimbursed to you after a clean handover.
Can one Luton van really fit a 3-bed apartment load?+
For a typical 3-bed flat (not house) with modern-scale furniture: yes. One 20 m³ / 706 ft³ LWB Luton van fits it with 10–15% capacity to spare. For a 3-bed detached family home, we usually recommend two vans or the DAF 7-tonne instead — the difference is bulky garden furniture and garage contents.
What if the move takes longer than the quoted 3 hours?+
It doesn't change the fixed price. HomeGo's written quotes are labour-inclusive for the property size, not per-hour. If we hit unexpected difficulty (broken lift, restricted parking), we absorb the time — we don't bill more.
Our crew handles apartment-block moves weekly across the Thames Valley — Slough, Reading, Uxbridge, Ealing and Milton Keynes.
Reviewed & fact-checked by Allah Nazar Ihsan — Founder & Managing Director, HomeGo Removals & Packing Ltd
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