Twenty five years after reading "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency", I learn that the sofa stuck in the stairway subplot is actually an unsolved math problem: https://youtu.be/bUNl_jJMTOw
@FrankEndrullat our stairs are a tight spiral, so the sofa (and the rest of the furniture) came in through the windows. The movers used a lift truck rather than the hoist, since it is much more efficient if you're moving more than one item.
@th yeah, I have seen the lift trucks when people move. And the windows are usually big enough for furniture to pass through. I think the hoist is probably more historic these days.