Nearly every first enquiry starts with an apology for not knowing what we need. There is no need for it. The list is short, none of it is technical, and you almost certainly know all of it already.
What we are doing when we read your email is trying to picture the job. If we can picture it, we can usually price it the same day. If we cannot, it turns into a week of questions going back and forth.
The short list
- What the item is. A container, a site cabin, a machine, a tank, a pod, a crate of something. The name on its own is usually enough.
- Roughly how big it is. Pace it out if you have to. Nobody expects a measurement to the millimetre.
- Where it is now and where it is going. A postcode at each end is ideal.
- What the access is like at both ends. The width of the entrance, the gates, the turn in off the main road, bollards, a slope, parked cars.
- What is overhead. Cables, branches, a canopy, wires strung across a yard.
- What the ground is. Tarmac, concrete, block paving, gravel, grass, or a drive that was laid last month.
- When you want it done. A date, a week, or just before the end of the month.
If you happen to know the weight, tell us, but plenty of people do not and it is rarely the thing that settles the job.
Why we keep asking about access
People expect the first question to be about the item. It almost never is. The question that settles a job is whether the lorry can get into a position to lift from, because the boom works from wherever the lorry is standing and nowhere else.
A guess that turns out wrong costs everybody a day. We would far rather hear that you are not sure how wide the gateway is than be given a number that came out of nowhere. Say what you know, say what you are unsure about, and we will work round the rest.
Photographs do most of the work
Two pictures answer half the list without you writing a word. One standing in the road looking at the entrance, and one standing where the item has to end up. A third of the item itself is a bonus.
Phone photographs are fine. They tell us the width of the gate, the slope of the drive, what is strung overhead and how much room there is for the legs to come down, all of which are hard to put into words and obvious in a picture.
What you get back
Once we can picture it, we will tell you what vehicle is coming, roughly how long we expect to be on site, and what we need you to have ready when we arrive. That is usually a clear standing position, somebody who knows where the item is going, and anything that has to be unbolted or emptied first.
Then the job is planned rather than improvised, which is the whole point of asking.
Email us at info@manchesterhiabshire.co.uk with whatever you have in front of you. A postcode and a photograph is a perfectly good start.
Need a lorry? Ask for a quote or email us and tell us what needs moving.
