Furniture assembly and dismantling

Beds with headboards, large wardrobes, bunk beds, dining tables with fixed legs, corner sofas and office desks often have to come apart to leave the room. A removal crew does this as part of the move if the quote says so; many quotes include beds and simple wardrobes and charge extra for complex pieces.

The crew bags and labels fixings per item and tapes them to the furniture or keeps them in a parts box. Reassembly happens in the right room at the new address, which is why rooms should be labelled. Ask whether reassembly is included; some cheaper quotes cover dismantling only.

Older furniture sometimes does not come apart as designed. Glued joints, cam fittings that have loosened or swollen chipboard can fail. A careful fitter will tell you before starting if a piece is unlikely to survive dismantling, so you can decide whether it goes at all.

New flat-pack furniture is the other half of this service. It is often booked after a move, when the new wardrobes and beds arrive together. The fitter unpacks, checks the parts against the list, builds in the room where the piece will stand and takes the packaging away if agreed.

Prices are usually per item, per hour or for a whole order. For large systems, such as fitted-look wardrobe frames with sliding doors, a per-item price is only useful if both sides know exactly which configuration is being built. Send the product codes or links with your request.

• a list of pieces with product names or codes, or photographs
• whether each piece is dismantled, reassembled or built new
• which rooms and floors, and how far from parking
• wall fixing for tall units, and what walls you have
• removal of packaging and old furniture
• what happens if parts are missing or damaged in the box

Tall wardrobes, bookcases and chests of drawers can tip forwards if a child climbs on them or several drawers are opened at once. Most come with a wall fixing kit and instructions to use it. The fixing only works if it goes into something that holds, which depends on the wall.

Solid brick and block walls take plugs and screws well. Plasterboard needs cavity fixings or, better, a fixing into a timber stud. Lath-and-plaster walls in older houses are different again. A competent fitter checks the wall type and uses a detector for cables and pipes before drilling. Tell the fitter if you rent, because the landlord may need to agree to holes in the wall.

Fitted kitchens, built-in bedroom furniture scribed to the walls and bespoke joinery are carpentry jobs, not assembly. They involve cutting worktops, levelling carcasses and often plumbing and electrics, and belong with a kitchen fitter or joiner.

Anything connected to gas needs a Gas Safe registered engineer. New electrical circuits, moving sockets or wiring in a light fitting are electrical work that should be done by a qualified electrician. Many assembly fitters will mount a television bracket or hang pictures and shelves; ask in advance and say what the wall is made of.

Missing parts are the most common delay. Unpack and check deliveries before the fitter arrives if you can, or accept that a return visit may be needed. Keep instructions and spare fixings for every piece; the next move will need them.

Do not overload a freshly assembled wardrobe rail or shelf beyond what the manufacturer allows, and check that doors and drawers run freely before the fitter leaves. Adjusting hinges takes minutes while the fitter is there and an extra call-out later.

List the furniture and your address details and we send your request, without your name, to businesses offering furniture assembly nearby. Exactly one of them can buy it, and before it sees your details we email you who it is. Offrano is free for you. We check that the business is registered, not how well it builds wardrobes, so ask about its insurance for damage to your walls and floors.