Our condo elevator reservation is two hours, and the movers will only promise a four-hour arrival window

We move into a condo next month. The building requires residents to reserve the service elevator, place protective pads inside it and pay a refundable move deposit. That all seems reasonable.

The reservation is limited to two hours.

Our moving company gives a four-hour arrival window because the crew has another job first. The manager says the elevator cannot be held beyond our slot because another resident has booked it afterward. The movers say they cannot guarantee arrival at the beginning of the window unless we pay for the first job of the day, which is available only on a different date.

I have spent a week trying to make two scheduling systems acknowledge each other. The building wants certainty about shared access. The movers want flexibility around traffic and the previous job. We are the soft object between them.

The simplest solution is changing the move date and paying more for the first appointment. That would require extending our truck rental for a second day and taking another day off work. Another option is booking two consecutive elevator slots if the building allows it, although that feels wasteful if the crew arrives on time. We could also move boxes ourselves during the reserved period and leave only furniture for the professionals, but that creates two moves and still does not solve late arrival.

I asked the building for its late-arrival procedure rather than another warning about the rule. I asked the movers what happens if they reach a restricted building outside the reservation. Both answers are now in writing. Neither is comforting, but at least the risk is visible.

I am leaning toward the first appointment on the alternate date. The extra cost buys one point of control in a day with too many dependencies.

Would you pay to align the schedules, reserve extra elevator time, or accept the risk and prepare a holding plan? What move-day detail most often fails when a building and mover each control half the clock?