An elevator reservation is your building holding one car for a stated block of hours so your crew is not queuing behind every hall call in the place. Book it before anything else about the day, because in an apartment move the car, not the crew, usually decides how long the work takes. This page is for anyone with a unit number on the door in Los Angeles or Orange County.
A reservation gets you one car and a block of hours, and nothing else you did not ask for. An elevator reservation is your building's agreement to hold a named car for a stated window on your move date. Pads on the walls, a key that keeps the car off the hallway buttons, and somebody to run it are three further requests that buildings answer separately.
Elevator pads are the quilted covers a building hangs on hooks inside the car so its walls survive a day of furniture. Ask who hangs them and at what hour, because in plenty of buildings that is a maintenance job done on the morning itself, which means it lands well after your window has opened.
Independent service is the operating mode that takes a car off the hallway buttons so it answers only the panel inside it, and it normally needs a key the office keeps. Ask who holds that key, then ask what happens to your window while that person is away at lunch.
One reservation does not hold the curb, book the loading dock or settle the insurance paperwork your building wants from your mover, and apartment and condo move rules covers the certificate and the permitted hours.
Book the window first, then fit the crew and the truck around it. Scheduling a crew around a window is far easier than shifting a window around a crew. Ask as soon as you have a date: many offices release move slots first-come, and weekend mornings at the end of a month go earliest. Lead times differ from building to building, so ask rather than assume.
Get four things in writing.
Then reconfirm two days out, because windows move when a building schedules an inspection, a delivery or another resident's move. If chasing all of this is work you do not have time for, send us the building name and the address and we will ask the access questions alongside your quote, or call (818) 391-8215.
Measure the car and its opening with a tape, because the two numbers are rarely the same. Take the opening at its narrowest point with the doors fully open, then take the car itself: width, depth and height to the ceiling. A car with generous floor space will still refuse a long sofa when the opening is the narrow part, and the opening usually is.
Then measure your own furniture, longest dimension first: sofas, bed frames, dining tables, ladders and floor lamps are the pieces that fail, and they fail at the doorway rather than inside the car.
For example, a queen mattress usually goes into a car on its edge without much argument, because a standard queen measures 60 inches by 80 inches and flexes a little on the way in. A one-piece king box spring measures 76 inches by 80 inches, flexes at nothing, and frequently will not enter a small car at all. If yours will not fit, the stairwell becomes the answer, and your crew needs to hear that at quote time rather than at 9am on move day.
Photograph the car with its doors open and the corridor turn immediately outside it, then send both pictures over with your address. Keep mirrors, artwork and glass tabletops wrapped and standing upright while they wait, never leaning loose against the car wall, because a car stops with a small jolt and standing glass takes that badly.
A reserved window runs best in one fixed order, and it is the same order in every building.
Our crews arrive with the protection a building expects: door shields, floor runners, thick moving blankets, ramps, straps and unlimited wrap and tape, all of it set out on the apartment move page. Padding a corridor is the difference between a manager who signs you out and a manager who writes to you about a scuffed wall.
Elevator days go wrong in a short list of places, and most of them are visible days ahead.
If somebody is inside when the car stops, that is a safety problem rather than a scheduling one. Standard elevator safety guidance is to press the alarm, use the emergency phone in the car and wait: nobody forces the doors, nobody opens the ceiling hatch, and nobody climbs out between floors.
A stair carry is moving everything through the stairwell instead of the car. Call the office first, then call us, because the crew size that suited an elevator is rarely the crew size that suits six flights. An additional mover is the usual answer to stairs, because the carries get shared. Ask for the job priced with and without, and compare the totals.
Building stock decides how hard your window is to get and how long it needs to be, and our two counties hand you four different problems.
The curb matters as much as the car, because a truck parked around the corner turns every load into a long walk. Some cities want a permit for a moving truck and some want nothing at all. Call your city's parking desk about your own address, or send us the address and we will check it while we prepare your quote.
A few cities publish a starting point: Santa Ana posts its permit parking rules, Irvine takes parking variance requests through its police department, and Pasadena runs a permit written specifically for a moving vehicle. Our guide to moving truck parking permits covers the rest, including how much curb a 24-ft truck needs.
The elevator reaches your bill as hours rather than as a line item. A local move with us is quoted before the day, with the crew built around your building. The written estimate caps what you pay, which is why we ask about the floor, the window and the car before the figure is written. There is no deposit on standard bookings; same-day and last-minute bookings may require one, confirmed with your quote.
A shared car leaves you one real lever, and that lever is crew size. Two movers on a high floor lose part of every trip to the car itself, while a third keeps it loading as the unit empties, which usually shortens the day more than it adds to the rate. What a move costs walks through everything else that moves the number.
Send us the window length, the floor and the door measurement when you ask for a figure. The estimate then fits your building instead of an average one. For a written estimate, call (818) 391-8215, email info@agmovingservice.com, or send us the details.
AG Moving&Storage is family-owned, works across Los Angeles and Orange County, and is licensed as USDOT 3610341, CAL-T192465, CA 602741 and MC 1525501. About us puts the family and the paperwork on one page.
Ask your building's office, because the reservation is theirs to give. Most managers will hold one car for a block of hours on a stated date, and many keep a move-in packet that settles the hours, the pads and the insurance paperwork in one go. Ask for that packet the week you sign, not the week you move. Then confirm the window by email so a written record of the date and the start and end times exists.
Then the car is the schedule, and one move at a time becomes the rule. Ask for the earliest window the office will give you, ask whether another resident is already booked on your date, and ask whether the car can be padded the night before. Tell your mover the window length before the estimate is written, because a short window is really a crew-size question.
Usually yes, and most buildings prefer it. The freight car is plainer inside, takes pads better, and often opens onto a service corridor instead of the lobby. Most buildings keep residents out of it, so plan on taking the passenger car yourself while the crew works the freight one. Ask the office which car it means before you agree to a window.
The load stops and the day becomes a stair carry, which is slower per trip and usually needs more people. Tell the building office first, then tell your crew. Ask what the repair call looks like and whether a second car exists. If the stairwell is the only route left, an extra mover often costs less than the hours the stairs would otherwise add, and that crew choice is priced into the estimate.
Not as a separate charge on an hourly local move. It shows up as time: every load waits for the car, so your floor and your window help set how many hours the day runs. That is why we ask about the elevator, the floor and the walk to the curb before the figure is written rather than after. The written estimate then caps what you pay.
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Spin the wheel to reveal one moving discount. Every slice wins.
The wheel has eight equal 12.5% slices. Clockwise from the pointer: 5% off, $10 off each labor hour, $50 off, 10% off grand prize, then 5% off, $10 off each labor hour, $50 off, and one hour free grand prize. That is 25% each for 5%, $10 off each labor hour, and $50 off; and 12.5% each for the grand prizes.
Eight equal slices. Grand-prize slices are highlighted; every prize is available on the same odds shown.
Your discount was sent to the AG Moving&Storage sales team. Use this same phone number and email when you request your free quote.
One prize per household and move. Valid 30 days. Cannot combine with other offers. Percentages apply to labor charges. A free hour uses the booked hourly moving rate. Subject to AG Moving&Storage confirming eligibility and availability.
