Narrow Access Project Questions Checklist

Walk the route from where a vehicle can stop to where the work will actually happen, and note every point along it where the width changes.

Owners tend to picture the gate and forget the three other places the passage narrows, which is where the problem usually turns out to be.

Measure the narrowest gap on that route in your own rough terms, and note whether it is a gate, a bend, a downpipe, a meter box or a projecting sill.

The tightest point governs everything that can ever arrive, and it is frequently a small fixed feature rather than the opening everyone looks at.

Note the height restrictions along the route, including a low arch, a canopy, a gate frame, overhanging branches and any cable crossing the passage.

Headroom is checked far less often than width, and it is what stops a barrow load or a machine with a raised mast.

Ask the relevant supplier or a qualified professional before anything is moved near a cable, meter box or service crossing the route.

Record whether the route has steps, a slope, a soft surface or a change of level, and mark where a wheeled load would have to be lifted rather than pushed.

A single step converts every barrow load into a lifting operation, which changes how the work has to be organised.

Note wherever the route turns, and how much space exists at that turn for something long to swing round without touching the walls.

A long item can pass every straight gap easily and still be defeated by one corner, which is the classic narrow-access surprise.

Photograph each pinch point with something familiar in shot for scale, and keep those images with your written access notes.

People asked to advise on access from a distance can say far more from a scaled photograph than from a description in words.

List the items that must arrive in one piece, such as a bath, a worktop run, a beam, a glazed unit, a boiler, a stove or a large appliance.

This list is short, and every item on it deserves checking against the tightest point before anything is chosen.

Ask for the delivered dimensions of anything large, including its packaging and any pallet it arrives on, rather than working from the finished size.

Delivered size is often noticeably larger than the finished item, and packaging is what actually has to fit through the gap.

Ask whether what you want is available in sections or can be assembled in place, and record who you asked and what they said.

Sectional supply is often possible but is rarely offered unless the access constraint is raised at the outset.

Note which existing items have to come out the same way, including anything installed before a later wall, extension, fence or conservatory was built.

Items that arrived before the property changed sometimes cannot leave by any current route, and this is usually discovered on removal day.

Decide what would happen if a large item cannot be brought in at all, and record the alternative before anything is chosen or ordered.

Discuss with a qualified professional whether any temporary removal of a frame, opening or structure would be involved before assuming an item can pass.

Record whether a window, door or opening could serve as an entry route, and treat that as a question for a professional rather than a settled plan.

Bringing material through an opening affects the opening, the surround and what is beneath it, so it is not an owner-side decision.

Any proposal to bring material in through an opening or over a boundary must be put to qualified professionals before it is relied on.

Ask whether the proposed way of working assumes a machine will reach the area, and what the smallest suitable machine needs in width and headroom.

Method and access are inseparable, and a method proposed for one property assumes an access route that may not exist here.

Note whether a machine could be lifted or carried into a rear area, and treat any lifting over a building or boundary as a question for professionals.

Lifting anything over a structure, boundary or neighbouring property is a specialist matter to be raised with qualified professionals before it is assumed possible.

Record where a machine would be left when it is not in use, and whether that position would block the only route in and out of the working area.

On a restricted site the parking position matters as much as the working position, because everything else has to pass it.

Ask what the fallback is if no machine can reach the area, and how working by hand changes the way material arrives and leaves.

Hand working changes how many people are on the property and how often deliveries come, which is worth knowing before anything is agreed.

Note every surface a machine or a barrow would cross, including a lawn, a patio, a decorative drive, a shared path and any cover set into the ground.

Ask a qualified professional about any drain, inspection cover or buried service on the route before repeated loads are taken across it.

Record where fuel, small plant or a compressor would stand, and note whether that position sits directly under a neighbour's window.

On a narrow site there is usually only one place plant can go, and it is often the worst place for the people next door.

Establish whether there is any route to the rear other than through the house, and write down what that route is currently used for.

A route that exists on paper is sometimes blocked by a shed, a boiler flue or a neighbour's storage, so it needs walking rather than assuming.

Walk the internal route with the largest item in mind, noting the front threshold, the hall width, the stair, the newel post and every door in the way.

The internal route usually fails at the same three places: the front door, the turn at the bottom of the stair, and one internal door frame.

Note which internal doors would have to come off their hinges to make the route work, and agree who takes them off and who refits them.

Doors removed at the start are frequently stacked in a bedroom and refitted badly at the end unless it is someone's responsibility.

Agree what protection is laid on the internal route and how often it is checked, given that everything passing through uses the same corridor.

Protection on a single shared route takes far more punishment than protection anywhere else and needs replacing rather than just laying.

Record where boots, dust and material handling meet the parts of the house that stay in use, and agree how those areas are kept separated.

Where the access route passes a kitchen or a bedroom in daily use, separation matters more than anything else about the arrangement.

Decide honestly whether the household can live with the internal route in constant use, and note which parts of the work make it busiest.

Knowing which stages are heaviest lets a household plan around them instead of enduring the whole period at the same intensity.

Record who owns each gate, wall, fence and surface along the route, and where your boundary actually runs according to your own documents.

Confirm boundary positions and access rights with a qualified adviser. Nothing here establishes what your title documents permit.

Note whether the route crosses or depends on land belonging to a neighbour, a management company or the local authority, and write down which.

An access route that has always been used informally is a different thing from one you are entitled to use for construction traffic.

Confirm with a qualified adviser what may be relied upon before planning any work around a route across land you do not own.

Ask what would be involved in temporarily taking out a section of fence or a gate to widen the route, and who would have to agree to it.

Temporary removal is often the simplest answer to a narrow route, but it usually needs a conversation with somebody else first.

Write down which neighbours would be affected by repeated passage, noise or material standing near their boundary, and how you will keep them informed.

On narrow sites the same neighbour is affected every single day, so the relationship matters more than on an open site.

Note whether a shared alley, entry or courtyard has to remain usable by others while material is being moved through it.

Blocking a shared route even briefly is a frequent cause of complaint on properties reached this way.

Record the parked cars, bin positions, planting and stored items that would have to move every time a delivery arrives.

Anything that must move repeatedly ends up not moving, and the delivery then stands somewhere it should not.

Identify what space genuinely exists near the working area for material to stand, and be honest about how little of it there is.

Owners routinely offer a corner of the garden that turns out to hold a fraction of what a single delivery contains.

Ask how deliveries will be arranged if material cannot be stockpiled, and what happens when a load arrives before it can be moved in.

Restricted sites often depend on material arriving close to when it is needed, which makes the arrangement less forgiving than it looks.

Record whether material has to be moved twice, from where a vehicle can stop to a holding point and then again to the working area.

Double handling is normal on restricted sites, and knowing it is happening explains a great deal about how the work proceeds.

Note where a vehicle can realistically stop near the property, and confirm locally what applies to loading or unloading on that street.

Permissions for stopping, loading or occupying a street or pavement are controlled locally and must be confirmed with the relevant authority.

Decide where waste will be held between removal and collection when no container can reach the working area at all.

Waste with nowhere to wait ends up in the passage, against a neighbour's boundary, or back inside the property.

Ask what happens to material left standing in a shared passage when nobody is on the property, and who is responsible if it is disturbed.

Material in a shared route is exposed to other people, and responsibility for it is worth settling before it is left there.

Ask how restricted access changes the method being proposed, and record the answer alongside your measurements and photographs.

The same job carried out through a narrow passage is a different job, and it is better to hear that at the start than midway through.

Ask how many people can usefully work in the area at once given the route in, and where they would keep tools and take breaks.

On a restricted site the working area itself limits the number of people, which affects how the whole thing is organised.

Note whether any part of the work depends on something arriving that has not yet been checked against the tightest point on the route.

One unchecked item is enough to stop everything, and the check takes moments if it happens before the choice is made.

Record whether a meter, service box, stopcock or external connection sits on the access route where people will pass carrying material.

Ask the relevant supplier or a qualified professional what protection a meter, service box or connection on the route requires.

Ask what would be done differently if the route became unusable, for example while a neighbour has their own work under way.

Shared and narrow routes are vulnerable to other people's projects, and a fallback is easier to discuss before it is needed.

Keep your access notes, measurements and photographs together in one place so everyone you speak to is given the same information.

Access answers vary wildly when each person is working from a different description of the same passage.