White-Glove Delivery Services

The phrase is used loosely, which is the root of most of the trouble. Four different service levels sit behind it, they cost very different amounts, and the words for them are standard across the industry — so using the right one is the single most useful thing you can do at booking.

Curbside is the one that surprises people. The driver is not obliged to help you move it, and for a single-driver delivery of something heavy they often cannot — the item comes off the truck onto your driveway and the rest is your problem. It is the cheapest tier and the correct choice only if you have the people and the route into the building already sorted.

Threshold gets it out of the weather and no further. A garage, a lobby, the first room inside the door. Common for freight-carrier deliveries of boxed goods and often what “we deliver inside” turns out to mean.

Room of choice is the tier most people actually want when they say white glove and are quoted for something cheaper. The item reaches the right room — up stairs if needed — but stays in its box.

White-glove adds the unpacking, the assembly and taking the packaging away.

If you book on price alone you will usually get the first and expect the last. Say which of the four you want, in those words, and the conversation improves immediately.

What drives the price

• Crew time. Two people for the whole job is the core cost, so anything that adds time — stairs, a long carry, a lift with a booking window, a narrow turn on a staircase — adds money.
• Access. Third floor with no elevator is a materially different job from a ground-floor room, and it needs to be declared at quoting rather than discovered on the day.
• Assembly. Often a separate line. So is removal of the old item, which many carriers will do and some will not touch.
• Distance, as usual, on top of everything above.

What white-glove does not automatically include

This is where expectations break most often. Unless you have confirmed it specifically, do not assume the crew will:

• Mount anything to a wall. Television and shelf mounting is frequently excluded — it involves the building’s structure, and that is a different liability.
• Connect plumbing or gas, on appliances. Many carriers will place and level a washer or a range and stop there by policy.
• Do electrical work beyond plugging it in.
• Take the old one away. Removal and disposal is usually a separate charge, and some carriers cannot take appliances containing refrigerant at all.

Ask about the specific task rather than the category. “Do you do white-glove?” gets a yes. “Will you mount this to the wall and take the old one?” gets the real answer.

When it is worth paying for

Three cases where it usually is:

Fragile or high-value goods. Antiques, artwork, instruments, medical equipment. The value is in fewer handoffs and trained handling, not in speed.

Anything one person cannot safely carry. If the alternative is you and a friend on a staircase, the difference in cost is smaller than the difference in risk to the item, the building and both of you.

Items bought secondhand or at distance. Estate sales, auctions, online marketplace purchases — see the guide on getting a large item home, which covers the collection-and-packing problem specifically.

Questions worth asking

1. Is this curbside, threshold, room of choice, or full white-glove?
2. Is assembly included, and does that cover my specific item?
3. Will you remove and dispose of the old one?
4. How many crew, and what is the charge if it takes longer than quoted?
5. What is the liability limit, and how do I raise it?

A note on what this directory is

Companies here say they offer white-glove or two-person delivery. We are not paid for placement and a listing is not a recommendation — confirm crew, inclusions and liability with the company before booking.