The tree is the easy part. The building is the part that goes wrong.
Sixteen seasons of delivering by bicycle across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens have taught us exactly where a tree delivery falls apart in this city, and it is almost never the tree.
If you live in a walk-up
We carry it up. However many flights.
No stair fee, no per-floor charge, no walk-up surcharge. Ask the next tree seller you talk to whether that is true of them, because it frequently is not.
We are a bicycle delivery company in a city of walk-ups. Stairs were never going to be an add-on for us. Our crew has taken trees to sixth-floor apartments in the East Village more times than anyone has counted.
What helps us: tell us the floor when you order. That is it. We are not going to charge you more for it, we just want to send the right people and the right amount of time.
If you live in a doorman building or a co-op
Here is the one that surprises people every single year.
Most doorman buildings and co-ops require a certificate of insurance before any delivery crew is allowed past the lobby. It is a document naming the building as additionally insured, and the building’s management office is the one who wants it. No COI, no entry, and your tree sits with the doorman while somebody makes phone calls.
Two things to know:
- We provide the COI free. Other NYC tree companies charge for this. We do not.
- Ask your building early. Email your super or management office, ask if they require a COI for deliveries, and get the exact name and address they want it issued to. Then send that to us at info@treeridersnyc.com or call 646-470-6326, and we will have it over before your delivery window.
Do this in November, not on the day. Management offices are not fast in December.
If your building has a service entrance rule
Plenty of buildings route deliveries through a service door or a freight elevator, and plenty of those have hours. Freight elevator until 5pm, no deliveries on Sunday, that kind of thing.
Tell us the rule when you book. We will schedule inside it. What we cannot do is fix it at the door at 6:15pm.
The three-line checklist
Before your tree comes, have these ready:
- Your floor, and whether there is an elevator
- Whether your building needs a COI, and who it is issued to
- Any delivery hours or service-entrance rules
That is the whole thing. Everything else is ours to handle.
What happens when we get there
We bring it up, take the netting off, get it into the stand, and stand it straight. The stand is included. We take the netting and the trimmings with us.
Then you are a person with a Christmas tree, which is the point.
Book a delivery or call 646-470-6326. We deliver across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. The Bronx is not a regular route for us, but we do deliver large trees there by arrangement, so call.
Related: How to care for your Christmas tree and keep it fresh all season