Sofa Courier: Two-Person Delivery and Old Sofa Removal

Sofas fail more deliveries than anything else of comparable weight, and almost never because they are heavy. They fail on the narrowest door nobody measured, or on a turn at the top of the stairs — both of which are known quantities before a vehicle is booked.

What makes a sofa harder to move than anything else its size?

A sofa is light for its bulk and completely rigid. A three-seater weighs 40 to 70 kg, which two people manage easily, but it cannot be folded, tilted beyond a point, or persuaded through a gap narrower than its smallest dimension.

That smallest dimension is rarely the one on the specification. A sofa goes through a doorway on its depth or on its diagonal, standing on one end, and whether that works depends on the ceiling height in the hallway as much as the door width.

So the job is a geometry problem rather than a weight problem, and it is solvable in advance. Measuring four things before booking is the difference between a delivery and a sofa standing in a front garden.

Which measurements decide whether a sofa fits?

If the sofa's depth is greater than the narrowest doorway, the feet come off and the cushions come out — and if it still does not fit, it does not fit, and knowing that before a vehicle is booked saves the whole cost.

Can the feet and arms come off?

Often the feet, rarely the arms. Most sofa feet unscrew and that alone buys 8 to 12 centimetres of height, which is frequently the margin that matters. Detachable arms exist on some modular designs but are the exception rather than the rule on a conventional three-seater.

Cushions and loose covers come out as a matter of course and are carried separately, which reduces the bulk and protects the upholstery. Fixed back cushions do not, and a sofa with a fixed back is measured as it stands.

We will remove and refit feet as part of the handling. We do not dismantle frames, and a design that needs the frame taken apart to enter the room is a job for the manufacturer or an upholsterer rather than a courier.

What vehicle does a sofa need?

A Luton van in most cases, because the load space is tall enough to stand a sofa on end and the tail lift removes the lifting at the kerb. A standard transit will take a two-seater; a corner group or a large three-seater with a chaise usually will not.

The constraint, as with appliances, is at the destination rather than the load end. A Luton needs room to turn and clearance to operate a tail lift, which a narrow terraced street may not offer. Where that is the case a smaller vehicle with two people is the right call despite the lower capacity.

For a full room or a house move the vehicle question changes entirely — see furniture transport for multi-item loads and shipping furniture for the handling detail.

Is this a one-person or two-person job?

Two, always, and not because of the weight. A sofa cannot be controlled through a doorway by one person without scraping either the sofa or the frame, and a tight stair turn needs someone at each end making opposite decisions at the same moment.

A single-person quote for a sofa is a quote for putting it inside the first door and leaving it. That is a legitimate service if it is what you want, but it is not the same purchase as getting the sofa into the room.

Being explicit about which one you are buying matters more here than on almost any other item, because the gap between the two outcomes is a sofa in a hallway that nobody can get past.

What should you tell us when booking a sofa delivery?

1. Step 1 — the sofa's height, width and depth, and whether the back cushions are fixed.
2. Step 2 — the narrowest doorway on the route in, measured rather than estimated.
3. Step 3 — the floor, and for a flat the lift internal dimensions or the stair turn.
4. Step 4 — whether the feet unscrew, which is usually visible underneath.
5. Step 5 — parking at both ends, including any height barrier on a residents' car park.

Four of those five are answers you can get with a tape measure in the time it takes to read this. The fifth needs a look out of the window.

What happens if the sofa genuinely will not fit?

The honest answer is that it comes back, and the cost of that journey is real. The alternatives people reach for — a window entry, removing a door frame, taking the sofa apart — are either someone else's trade or a risk nobody should take on a delivery.

A window or balcony entry needs equipment, insurance and a structural judgement that a delivery crew is not there to make. Removing a door frame is joinery. Both are legitimate solutions arranged in advance by the right trade, and neither is something to improvise at the kerb.

Which is why the measuring conversation is worth having at the point of booking. If the numbers say it will not fit, the useful outcome is a different sofa or a different route, decided while both are still options.

Can you collect from a private seller or a marketplace purchase?

Yes, and it is a large share of this work. A sofa bought from a private seller or an online marketplace has no delivery attached to it, and the buyer is left needing a vehicle, two people and someone who will carry it upstairs.

What makes those jobs go wrong is that nobody has measured anything. The seller describes it as a three-seater, the buyer has a Victorian terrace with a turn on the stairs, and the two facts meet at the door.

So for a marketplace collection we ask for the measurements from the seller's listing and the doorway measurement from the buyer, before the job is confirmed. It is the same five questions, asked of two people instead of one.

What is covered if the sofa is damaged?

By default, very little relative to its value, because the cap follows weight. The RHA Conditions of Carriage 2024 limit liability to £1,300 per tonne of gross weight lost, wrongly delivered or damaged, unless otherwise agreed.

A 60 kg sofa is 0.06 of a tonne, so the default figure is small against a retail price. Our own goods-in-transit cover is £50,000 as standard, with higher limits to £1,000,000 arranged through partner carriers for high-value work — the goods in transit insurance page sets out how a carrier's conditions and a cargo policy differ.

For a designer or antique piece, agree a declared value at booking. It takes a sentence and it changes the basis of any later claim entirely, which matters far more on upholstery than on something that can be repaired.

Do you take the old sofa away?

Yes, and it is a regulated activity rather than a convenience. A discarded sofa is controlled waste, and moving it requires a waste carrier registration — ours is CBDU654368 with the Environment Agency, upper tier carrier, broker and dealer, valid to 20 August 2029 and searchable on the public register.

The duty of care under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 binds the person handing waste over as well as the carrier, so a household or business using an unregistered remover carries its own exposure. Fly-tipped furniture traced back to the original owner is the classic case.

See waste duty of care for what the obligation actually requires, and white goods delivery where an appliance is going at the same time.

How does T&C Logistics handle sofa deliveries?

Two people, a tail-lift vehicle where the access allows it, feet removed and refitted as part of the handling, and the old sofa taken away under our own Environment Agency registration if you want it gone.

What we do not do is dismantle frames or take sofas through windows. We say so before booking, because the alternative is a crew making that decision at your front door.

Enquiries are taken round the clock and answered between 06:00 and 22:00, seven days a week, from our Birmingham base on 0121 720 3841. Send us the sofa depth and the narrowest doorway and we will tell you whether it fits before you book a date.