Condo Movers Vancouver, BC

What Makes a Condo Move Different

A house move is between you and us. A condo move has a third party in it — the strata — and the strata sets rules about when, where and how a move happens in its building. None of them are difficult. All of them are easier when the moving company already knows they exist.

The building sets the schedule

Most Metro Vancouver towers run moves through a booked service elevator inside a fixed window the strata sets, and many close the loading bay at a set hour. Your booking with the strata is the clock the crew works to, so we plan the load order around it: the heavy pieces and the awkward pieces go down while the elevator is ours, the boxes fill the gaps, and if the window looks tight for the size of the home we say so at the quote and size the crew to it rather than discover it on the day.

Paperwork before the truck

Strata corporations ask for a Certificate of Insurance naming them as additionally insured before a mover sets foot in the building — some will not release the elevator key without it. We issue the COI on our $2M policy and send it to your strata manager directly; you give us the contact at booking and it is done before move day. There is no charge for it, and no charge for the second one when the destination building asks too.

Protection the building expects

The strata is protecting shared property — the elevator cab, the lobby floor, the hallway walls — and its move-out rules say so. Elevator pads go up before the first load goes in, floor runners go down the common hallway, and door-jamb guards go on where the route turns. It is the same kit that protects your own furniture, applied to the building first, and it is on the truck for every condo job.

Booking the Elevator and the Certificate of Insurance

The two questions every condo mover gets asked, answered in the order you will need them.

How far ahead to book the service elevator

As soon as your move date is real. Most Vancouver buildings ask for 48–72 hours' notice; some want a week, and at month-end the slots go before the notice period does — on the last weekend of a month the elevator, not our availability, is usually what decides your date. Book the elevator, then tell us the window, and we schedule the crew inside it. If you have not booked it yet when you call us, that is fine: we hold the date and you confirm the window when the building does.

What a Certificate of Insurance is, and why your strata wants one

A COI is a one-page document from our insurer confirming our liability coverage and naming your strata corporation as an additional insured for the day of the move. It means that if the building is damaged during your move, the strata claims against our policy, not your deposit. Buildings require it because the alternative is chasing an uninsured mover after the fact. Ours is $2M, it is issued at no charge, and it goes to your strata manager before the truck arrives — you do not have to be the go-between.

Move-in fees and damage deposits your strata may charge

Many stratas charge a move-in or move-out fee, and some hold a refundable damage deposit against the elevator and common areas for the day. These are the building's charges, set by the strata and paid to the strata — they are not ours and they do not appear on our invoice. What we can do about them is keep the deposit refundable: pads on the elevator cab before the first load, runners on the lobby and hallway floors, and guards on the door frames — the surfaces deposit disputes are actually about.

Small moves and the elevator

A single boxed television or a couple of suitcases usually rides the regular elevator like any resident's parcel, and no booking is needed. Anything on a dolly, or any piece of furniture, is a move in the strata's eyes and most buildings want it booked. If you are unsure, ask the building manager — and if they want the booking and the COI for a small job, we work inside it at the same rate with the same paperwork. There is no minimum size for a condo move, only the 2-hour billing minimum.

What's Included in Every Condo Move

Condo Moving Rates

2-hour minimum. 5% GST extra. Never charged: fuel, stairs, elevator, mileage. A strata move-in fee, if your building has one, is paid to your building, not to us.

Typical Condo Move Times

Ranges cover both elevator and stair-carry buildings — we do not charge a stair fee or an elevator surcharge. Before travel and 5% GST.

A one-bedroom condo on the 2-mover crew typically runs 3.5–4.5 hours, which is $490–$630 in labour before the travel block and 5% GST. A two-bedroom runs 5–6 hours, or $700–$840. Those are the same figures your written quote is built from — the estimate in your inbox is calculated against this table, not a separate marketing number — and the travel block is shown as its own line so you can see it.

A $100 deposit confirms the booking and comes off the final invoice; it is fully refundable with 3 or more days' notice. Rescheduling is free, and there is no cancellation fee. For the long version of how the bill is put together, read how much movers cost in Vancouver or the rate card.

Packing for a Condo Move

The honest answer to “is packing worth it for a condo?” is: for the kitchen and the breakables, usually yes; for the closets and the linen, usually no. A condo kitchen holds more glass per square foot than any other room in the home, and it is the room people run out of time on the night before. Packed by a crew that does it daily, it goes into proper boxes with the plates on edge and the glasses wrapped, and it survives the elevator.

Packing on its own — a separate visit before move day, no move attached — is billed on the packer crew's own clock: a one-bedroom is 1 packer for 2–3 hours, $98–$147 in labour; a two-bedroom is 2 packers for 3–4 hours, $297–$396. Packing as part of the move is billed at the moving crew's hourly rate from a packing-inclusive total — a two-bedroom packed and moved is 6–8 hours all in, which replaces the move-only estimate rather than adding to it.

Reusable gear — moving blankets, straps, tape, dollies — is always included and never charged. Consumables like boxes, mattress wraps, furniture wrap, bubble wrap are quoted after assessment, because a one-bedroom with a serious kitchen and a one-bedroom with a microwave and two mugs are not the same box count. Both packing paths are on the packing services page.

Condo Moves Across Metro Vancouver

The rate is the same in every city we serve. The buildings are not. Each of these corridors has its own version of the elevator-and-loading-bay routine, and each links to the full page for that city.

Townhouses and Low-Rise Strata

A strata townhouse in Surrey, Coquitlam, Richmond or Port Moody has no service elevator to book, and people assume that makes it a house move. It is closer to a condo move with stairs. The strata still sets moving hours and still decides where a truck may stand — often a visitor stall or the lane behind the unit rather than the driveway out front — and the three-storey layout that is standard in the newer complexes puts the bedrooms two flights above the door. That is carry time, and it is why a townhouse two-bedroom sits at the upper end of the 5–6 hours range.

Nothing about it changes the rate. Stairs are never a surcharge, the truck parks where the strata allows, and the crew brings the same runners and guards for a shared stairwell as for a tower hallway. Tell us the layout and where visitors park and we plan the carry from there — see movers in Surrey for the Clayton and Willowbrook complexes and movers in Coquitlam for Burke Mountain.

Downtown and Waterfront High-Rises

Coal Harbour, Yaletown and the West End are the towers everyone pictures when they say “Vancouver condo,” and they add two things to the routine. The first is the loading dock: most downtown buildings route movers through a dock or a parkade with a posted height limit, and a truck that does not clear it shuttles from the street. We ask for the clearance before the crew is dispatched. The second is the concierge — sign-in, a fob for the service elevator, and a fixed end time that is enforced.

On West End streets without a dock, the truck stands on a permit, and downtown parking enforcement is real, so the start time is chosen around it. The page for movers in Vancouver covers the street-use permits neighbourhood by neighbourhood; this page's job is the building. Give us the address and the building name and we can usually tell you the constraints before you have called your strata manager.

Preparing for Your Condo Move

Seven things, in the order they matter. Most of them are about the building, because the building is the part you cannot fix on the morning.

1. Book the service elevator for move day the moment your date is confirmed — most buildings ask for 48–72 hours, some a week — and tell us the window.
2. Give us your strata manager or building contact at booking so the Certificate of Insurance is on file before the truck arrives.
3. Ask the building where the truck may stand and for how long: loading bay, parkade (and its clearance), lane or street.
4. Measure the sofa, the mattress and anything tall against the elevator car and the door to the hallway. A piece that does not fit the car goes on the stairs, and that changes the plan.
5. Pack an essentials box — chargers, medication, documents, a change of clothes — and keep it with you, not on the truck.
6. Clear the route from the door to the elevator on both ends. A hallway with nothing in it is the fastest thing you can give a crew.
7. Have the strata's move-in and move-out paperwork signed before the day. It is their form and their timeline, and it is easier done on a Tuesday than on the morning of.

The rest of the pre-move list — what to pack in real boxes, what to clear, what to leave for the crew — is in the move-prep guide. Moving on short notice? Building elevators, not our schedule, are usually the limit — last-minute movers explains how we check the day.

Frequently Asked Questions — Condo Moving