Rental apartment moves
Apartment movers
in Vancouver
Walk-up stairs, a truck parked on the street, and a building manager with opinions about what time you start. Renting has its own set of problems and they are not the ones a condo move has.
- 2 movers and a truck
- $140/hr2 movers and a truck
- Minimum, $280 on the 2-mover crew
- 2 hrsMinimum, $280 on the 2-mover crew
- Liability insurance
- $2MLiability insurance
Apartment moving is billed by the hour like any other local move — $140/hr for the 2-mover crew with truck, blankets and straps included, a 2-hour minimum of $280 plus 5% GST, and no surcharge for stairs, fuel or mileage. A studio runs 2–3 hours and a one bedroom 3.5–4.5 hours. Operating out of Kitsilano since 2017 — 9 years, 500+ moves, 5.0 on Google across 90+ reviews, $2M liability insurance and WorkSafeBC compliant.
A Rental Move Is Not a Condo Move
The two get treated as one job and they are not. A condo move is administrative before it is physical: a lift to book, a strata to satisfy, paperwork to file before anyone lifts anything. A rental move is the opposite. Very often there is nothing to book at all, and the difficulty is entirely in the building itself — a staircase that turns twice, a front door that opens straight onto a busy street, a landing too narrow for a sofa to pivot on.
It also ends differently. When you leave a suite you own, nobody inspects the hallway afterwards to decide whether you get money back. When you leave one you rent, somebody does. That changes what care is worth on the way out, and it is why the wrapping happens before the stairs rather than after something catches a corner.
How an Apartment Move Runs
Five steps, and the first one is the one that decides the quote.
Tell us the floor and the stairs
Not the square footage — the number of flights and whether there is a lift at either end. That single answer moves the estimate more than the size of the suite does, and it is the thing most often left out of a first message.
Check your building’s move-out window
Most managed rental buildings set hours when moving is allowed and some ask for notice. Your tenancy agreement or the building manager will say. If your window is narrow, say so when booking rather than on the day.
Work out where the truck stands
Older walk-ups rarely have anywhere off-street to load. We look at the frontage, the lane, and how far the carry actually is, because distance from the door to the truck is real time on the clock.
We load, wrap and carry
Furniture is blanket-wrapped before it goes down the stairs, not after it gets scuffed on the turn. Doorframes and banisters in the common areas matter here too — they belong to the landlord, and they are inspected.
Handover at the new suite
Boxes go to the room they are labelled for and furniture is set where you want it, so you are not shifting a bed frame alone at midnight. The clock stops when the last item is placed.
What Actually Slows a Rental Move Down
Four things, none of which are the number of bedrooms.
Walk-ups are the normal case
Vancouver has a great deal of three and four storey rental stock with no lift at all. A crew that treats stairs as an exception will quote you badly. The canonical estimate for a two bedroom is a full hour longer when there are stairs at either end, and that is built into the quote rather than discovered on the day.
There is usually no loading bay
A purpose-built rental from the sixties has a front door onto the pavement and that is it. What matters is whether the truck can sit close, whether the lane is usable, and how long the carry is. A long carry from a legal parking spot costs less time than circling for a closer one.
Your deposit is riding on the walls
A rental move gets inspected afterwards by someone deciding whether to return your money. Gouged drywall in the hallway and a chipped doorframe are exactly what gets noted. Wrapping furniture before the stairs rather than after is the cheapest protection there is.
Out and in on the same day
Renting usually means the old lease ends as the new one starts, so the move is one continuous job rather than two. Tell us both addresses and both access situations at once — a crew that knows the second building has no lift will load the truck in a different order.
What It Costs
The rate is the standard hourly one: $140/hr for 2 movers and a truck, a 2-hour minimum of $280 plus 5% GST. Stairs, lift use, fuel and mileage add nothing. Bigger suites can take a three-mover crew at $195/hr, which usually finishes proportionally faster rather than costing proportionally more.
Estimates by suite size, all on the 2-mover crew: a studio is 2–3 hours, a one bedroom 3.5–4.5 hours, and a two bedroom 5–6 hours. Access is what decides where inside that range you land — a ground-floor or lift job sits at the bottom of it, a walk-up with stairs at one or both ends at the top. That is why we ask what floor you are on before quoting anything.
For a studio the minimum is normally the whole bill, so if you also have a storage locker to empty or a piece to collect on the way, that is the trip to do it on. Full rates for every crew size are on the pricing page.
Where We Move Renters
Rental stock across Metro Vancouver differs enough to change the job. Richmond is heavy on newer purpose-built rentals with underground access; Burnaby mixes tower rentals with older low-rise walk-ups; and Delta runs to ground-oriented rentals where the truck can usually get close. If you are moving between cities the job is unchanged — one booking, two addresses.
If You Own Rather Than Rent
Owning a unit in a strata building puts a different set of requirements in front of the move — booking the lift, and providing a certificate of insurance naming the strata corporation before the day. That is a genuinely different process from a rental, and it has its own page: condo moving in Vancouver.
Frequently Asked Questions — Apartment Moving
How much does it cost to move a one bedroom apartment in Vancouver?
A one bedroom is estimated at 3.5–4.5 hours with the 2-mover crew at $140/hr, truck and equipment included. The 2-hour minimum is $280 plus 5% GST. Nothing is added for stairs, fuel or mileage, so a third-floor walk-up costs what the extra time costs and not a penny of surcharge.
Do you move apartments with no elevator?
Yes, and it is one of the most common jobs we take. Stairs change the time rather than the rate. A two bedroom is 5–6 hours, and stairs at one or both ends put a job at the top of that range rather than the bottom. Tell us the floor number and whether there is a lift, because that is what decides where in the range you land.
Can you move a studio or bachelor suite?
Yes. A studio is estimated at 2–3 hours, which means the 2-hour minimum is usually the entire bill. Small does not mean awkward to book — it is a standard job, and if you have a second stop or a storage locker to clear, that is the time to use the hours you have already paid for.
What do I need to arrange with my building before moving day?
Check whether your building restricts moving hours, and whether the manager wants notice. Managed rental buildings commonly set a window; smaller walk-ups often have no rule at all. If parking in front is metered or permit-only, that is worth sorting in advance too, because a truck that cannot stop near the door turns into a longer carry.
Do you protect the hallways and stairwells?
Furniture is blanket-wrapped and secured before it moves, which is as much about the building as about your things. Common area damage in a rental is the landlord’s to claim and yours to pay for, so the wrapping is doing double duty.
I am moving out of one rental and into another the same day. Is that one booking?
Yes, and it should be. It is a single continuous job with two addresses rather than two separate moves, which is both cheaper and easier to schedule. Give us the access situation at both ends when you book so the truck gets loaded in an order that suits the unloading.
I own my condo rather than rent. Is this the same service?
The moving is the same, but the building requirements are not. Owned units in strata buildings usually mean booking an elevator and providing a certificate of insurance naming the strata, which is a different process with its own paperwork. Our condo moving page covers that side of it.
Get a quote for your apartment move
Tell us the floor and whether there is a lift — it is the answer that shapes the estimate. Or call (604) 726-9828 — 7am to 10pm, 7 days a week.