Buildings · Published March 16, 2026 · Updated September 30, 2026
Get the building’s route before the truck is downstairs.
A floor plan of your rooms says nothing about the elevator door. In a lot of U.S. housing, that door is the real constraint. You are the person who can ask the building. This site cannot call the super.
Questions worth asking before you pick a delivery window
01
Reservation
Does the elevator have to be booked? How far ahead, and in whose name?
02
The cab
Door width, interior width, depth, and height. Write all four. A friendly “it’s a big elevator” is not a measurement.
03
Freight
Is there a freight car, and what hours does it run? A passenger car and a freight car are different routes.
04
Pads and docks
Are wall pads required? Is there a loading dock, and who controls the door?
05
Insurance paper
Some buildings ask a delivery company for a certificate of insurance. That request goes to the company, not to this website. Ask what the building wants and tell the company you hired or the seller who is delivering.
06
Quiet hours
A delivery window that ignores house hours becomes a lobby argument. Get the hours in the same conversation as the reservation.
How to measure a cab
Measure the elevator door opening the same way you measure a room door: the clear gap, not the nominal size. Then measure the inside of the cab: width, depth, and height to the ceiling or to a light fixture, whichever comes first. Then measure the diagonal of the door opening.
A long sofa sometimes enters on an angle. Sometimes the angle is what jams it against the handrail inside the cab. Diagonal clearance only helps when the other dimensions still fit in that tilted position. Write the numbers down and compare them with the carton, using the method in the measuring note. If you cannot picture the tilt, do not assume the angle will save you.
Stairs and landings
If the route is a stair, measure width inside the rails, the depth of each landing, and the headroom at the turn. A continuous rail that you are not allowed to remove is part of the width. Taking a rail or a door off is a decision for the owner of that rail or door. In a rental, that owner is usually not you. Permission first. Reassembly after is part of the same permission.
Protection the building names
Hall finishes are often the building’s, not yours. Many buildings require floor and corner protection and will tell you what they accept. A household blanket may not be what the house rules name. Ask. Damage to a common hall is a cost you do not want to discover from a letter.
The street is local
Parking, permits, and loading zones change by city and sometimes by block. A rule that applies in Secaucus, where this publication is based, is not a rule in another city. Check the city where the delivery will happen, and check the building’s own loading door. Double-parking because a photo online showed a truck at a curb is not a plan.
If it will not fit
Stop. Use the seller’s delivery terms, which you should have read when the route measurement failed on paper. Do not force a piece through a jamb, a cab, or a stair finish you do not own. The people on the truck may be under time pressure. The measurements are still yours to insist on.
After the piece is inside, the household work is the carton check and, later, the sheet of hardware. Delivery day and assembly pick up there. If the piece is tall, the wall it will stand on is an anchoring question you can settle before it is full of books.
Questions worth asking before a truck is scheduled
A floor plan of an apartment ends at the apartment door. The route that matters starts at the curb. Before a delivery date is firm, ask the building, in writing if you can, what a household is supposed to do with a large delivery. The useful answers are specific: which entrance, whether a loading door exists, whether the elevator has to be reserved, what hours are allowed, what protection the hall requires, and whether a certificate of insurance is something the building asks of a delivery company. You are not hiring that company through this website. You are learning the constraints that will exist on the day.
Write down the name of the person who answered and the date. House rules change, and a rule told to you in a lobby is easier to follow if you can read it back. If the building has a move-in form, use that form. Do not invent a reservation the building did not offer, and do not assume that a weekday morning is free because it was free for a neighbor last year.
The cab, the stair, and the corner you cannot remove
Measure the elevator the way the measuring note measures a door. Clear opening first, then the inside width, depth, and the height to the first thing that sticks down, which is often a light or a handrail bracket rather than the bare ceiling. Then the diagonal of the door, which helps only when the other dimensions of the carton still fit in the tilted position. A long sofa sometimes enters on an angle and sometimes the angle is what jams it on the rail inside the cab. If you cannot picture the tilt on paper, do not assume the angle will save the delivery.
Stairs need the width inside the rails, the depth of each landing, and the headroom at the turn. A continuous rail you are not allowed to remove is part of the width. Taking a rail or a door off is a decision for the owner of that rail or door. In a rental, that owner is usually not you. Permission first, and putting it back is part of the same permission. A piece that fits the apartment door and fails the landing has not fit the building.
Halls, streets, and the moment it will not fit
Common halls are finished with materials the building owns. Ask what protection they accept. Damage to a corner or a floor shows up later as a letter, not as a scuff you can shrug off. The street in front of the building is local law. Parking, permits, and loading zones change by city and sometimes by block. This publication is based in Secaucus, New Jersey. A curb practice here is not a rule in another city, and we do not publish a national map of loading zones. Check the city where the delivery will happen, and check the building’s own door.
If the numbers say the piece will not pass, stop before it is on the truck. Use the seller’s delivery terms, which are the terms of the seller, not of this site. Do not force a jamb, a cab, or a stair finish you do not own because the people on the truck are under time pressure. The measurements are still yours to insist on. When the piece does come inside, the next work is the carton and the signature, then the drawing, then the wall. Those are separate notes because they are separate jobs.