Highgate Hill moves, uphill and down

Highgate Hill is 4.5 kilometres south-south-west of the CBD by road, and most of its streets run up, down or along a ridge. The highest point is 64 metres above sea level. From the central ridge along Dornoch Terrace, the land slopes steeply south to the river and north to the low-lying ground of West End and South Brisbane.

The housing is mixed. In the 2021 Census, 57.5 per cent of Highgate Hill's occupied private dwellings were flats or apartments and 37.9 per cent were separate houses. One move here might be a lift and a loading dock. The next might be a cottage reached by a long front stair.

Either way, we plan the route before anything is lifted: where the truck can stand, how far and how steep the carry is, and which turns the largest pieces must make. The rate is $125 to $169 an hour + GST for a moving truck and two professional movers.

Highgate Hill was settled early by people who wanted a view. Council's heritage citation for 25 Sexton Street, a Victorian cottage built around 1890 by South Brisbane builder and later mayor Philip Nott, notes that the area had become a favoured address for affluent residents seeking the cooling breezes and views of its ridgelines. The front entry sits under a small gable at the top of the stair. By 1929 the suburb was considered one of Brisbane's dress circles.

Homes like these raise three questions for moving day:

• How many steps, and how steep? Count the flights from the footpath to the door, plus any internal stairs. Where a stair charge applies, it is $48 including GST per flight.
• Where do large pieces turn? Verandah corners and narrow halls decide whether a wardrobe goes out whole or in parts. Basic dismantling and reassembly is included.
• Is hoisting safer? Occasionally, lifting a piece over a verandah rail is the safer route. Hoisting is $48 including GST per item, and only where it can be done safely.

Pianos need their own plan. Piano relocation is $149 including GST on top of the hourly rate, subject to an access assessment, and on a sloping block that assessment matters.

Queensland's first high-rise home units went up here. Torbreck, at 182 Dornoch Terrace, was completed in 1960 as the state's first high-rise residential development: a 14-storey tower facing Dornoch Terrace and an eight-storey garden block to Chermside Street, with 150 home units. It is now on the Queensland Heritage Register. Flats were being built in the suburb from the interwar years, and other apartment buildings along Dornoch Terrace now rise more than 10 storeys.

For a tower or a walk-up:

• Book the lift and loading area with building management, and confirm permitted move hours.
• Measure against the lift. Check your largest pieces against the lift door, the lift car and the corridor to your unit.
• Count walk-up flights. Apartment stairs are $48 including GST per flight, confirmed when you book.

Our apartment removals work to each building's rules, from a studio to a three-bedroom unit.

A removalist truck needs a legal, reasonably level place to stand close to the entry, and on Highgate Hill that takes planning. Like West End, Highgate Hill is covered by Council's regulated parking permit areas, which manage street parking where demand is high.

• Tell us about the street. Is it steep, narrow or one-way? Is there a driveway the truck can use?
• Arrange loading space. Customers organise loading zones and parking permits, and any costs are passed on.
• Allow for the carry. If the truck can't use the driveway, the $48 (incl. GST) truck-inaccessible driveway charge applies, confirmed before you book.

Photos taken from the kerb, looking towards your entry, tell us more than a description. Send one from each address.

The ridge road has an unusual link to West End. The heritage-listed Dornoch Terrace Bridge, built by Council in 1941, carries Dornoch Terrace over Boundary Street, which was regraded beneath it, with staircases and a slip road connecting the two streets.

• Next door. West End sits below the ridge, so a move there often goes from stairs to a lift, or the other way round.
• Across the river. St Lucia faces Highgate Hill across the Brisbane River, and Auchenflower lies across the river to the north-west.
• The Gold Coast and interstate. We move between Brisbane and the Gold Coast in both directions, and handle interstate removals.
• Labelled by level. Mark every carton and piece of furniture with its floor and room, so each one goes up or down the stairs only once. Our unpacking service can then set up the rooms you choose.

Travel is charged depot-to-depot or as a call-out fee, and we confirm it before you book.

• $125 to $169 per hour + GST for a moving truck and two professional movers. Extra movers for heavy carries are priced before you book.
• Included: quilted blankets and furniture pads, flat dollies and hand trolleys, ratchet straps, stretch wrap, bubble wrap and dish paper on request, and basic dismantling and reassembly.
• $48 including GST each, where they apply: stairs per flight, appliances, items over 90 kg, an extra pick-up or drop-off, an extra trip, a truck-inaccessible driveway and hoisting.
• Piano relocation: $149 including GST on top of the hourly rate, subject to access.
• Travel and parking: depot-to-depot or a call-out fee. Parking and permit costs are passed on, and waiting time is chargeable.

A deposit secures your date, and we ask for 48 hours' notice to cancel or reschedule. See our pricing page for more, then request a quote with the stair count and a kerbside photo at each address. Our team aims to call new enquiries back within five minutes during business hours.