The Best Man-With-A-Van Services in New York

Mischa Radenovic; 646-535-3020

Since 2018, Mischa Radenovic has been using his Mercedes Sprinter van to do everything from full apartment moves to small furniture pickups from Ikea. He’ll pick up and drop off anywhere in the five boroughs — and even makes the occasional trip out to New Jersey and Connecticut. Over the past two years, start-up investor Megan Barraford has had Radenovic move a bed and a Steinway piano, among other things. “He has been such a gem,” says Barraford, who has referred him to her housekeeper, her father, and multiple friends. Barraford trusts him so completely that he often picks up and delivers furniture purchases while Barraford isn’t home, including when she was on vacation in Japan recently. No matter what he’s picking up — a bunk bed for Barraford’s daughter, a “massive” ficus tree from Connecticut, or a mirror from the early 1900s — he’s “very methodical” about every delivery and is able to squeeze things up Barraford’s tiny townhouse stairs. He’s “like a magician” when it comes to furniture assembly, too, says longtime client Sofia Zimmerman, co-founder of furniture company Ottra. Last summer, when she had furniture delivered from Crate & Barrel for an installation, it wasn’t put together properly. Luckily, Radenovic had his tools on hand and fixed it for her on the spot.

Hassan S.; 404-642-4302

Several of the city’s best vintage-homeware stores, including Home Union and Furnish Green, have something in common: They use Hassan S. for their deliveries. Home Union co-founder Meghan Lavery says that’s because he’s uniquely able to “get the job done right and fast.” Furnish Green assistant manager Sinclair Davis says Hassan finishes three to four deliveries within a two-hour period, which is quite a feat. “He makes it work with whoever buys,” says Davis. “Often he’ll go up to the Upper West Side to the East Village to Downtown Brooklyn to Gowanus, all within that time frame.” Hassan often handles older pieces with glass or “odd-shaped” sofas and is “very careful” that each remains undamaged. Davis has also hired him for a personal move, which cut the process to just a couple of hours. “I was hoping he would just move my bed frame, mattress, and dresser,” she says. “I had probably 20 or so large cardboard boxes I was planning on moving myself, but when he saw them, he just started grabbing them too.”

Urban Flat Rate; 212-470-0857

Bill W. — who left his job in investment management to start his furniture-delivery service in 2010 — doesn’t just capably move furniture. He’s able to carefully disassemble and reassemble pieces, even delicate antiques. Painter and antiques flipper Sara Haas has used Bill to deliver several items over the past ten years (multiple sets of chairs, sculptures, large paintings, mattresses), including an especially tricky decades-old armoire. After Bill went through the trouble of driving out to Long Island for the armoire, it wouldn’t fit out the door. But he was able to completely disassemble it, deliver the parts to Haas’s art studio on the Upper West Side, and reassemble it with ease, all within a few hours. When Haas’s friend Lila Miriam needed a similar task completed last fall, Haas recommended Bill for the job. Along with transporting two beds and a piano, Bill helped Miriam with an antique table that couldn’t fit through her doorway. “Other movers were like, ‘You’re going to have to get rid of that,’” she says, but Bill took it apart and put it back together again for no additional fee. His rates happen to be exceedingly reasonable, starting around $100 (a steal compared to the $600 and up Haas has been quoted for similar services).

Easy Van; easyvanexpress@gmail.com

Nick S.’s Ram ProMaster high-roof van has just enough room to move a typical studio or one-bedroom apartment in a single trip — for about $100 less than the average mover. Which is why Caroline Weaver, founder of the Locavore Guide, hired him to relocate her office from Flatiron to Union Square. “He’s extremely easy to coordinate with,” says Weaver, who appreciates that Nick sent a packing checklist in advance to make sure she was prepped. On moving day, Nick texted Weaver to check in, arrived early with his colleague, and loaded 35 boxes of books and office supplies and four large computer boxes into the van. Nick got most of the boxes to Weaver’s new office quickly and offered to move the remaining boxes to her apartment, insisting on using all the time she’d paid for. “I absolutely did not expect them to help me with that task, and they just did it with pleasure,” Weaver says. Leasing director David Colón employed Nick for an apartment move from the Upper East Side to Williamsburg in November with just a day’s notice. When Nick showed up in his van, Colón wasn’t sure his furniture and his wife’s music equipment would fit. But Nick was able to transport everything safely in two trips, which took about six hours in total. “A previous moving company I worked with brought a box truck and a team of three people,” says Colón. “Somehow, Nick was able to do it in a shorter amount of time.”