Home About Us Get an Estimate Contact Us Move Preparation Prices Français English Español

Preparing for your move

What follows is a list of recommendations (not requirements) for steps you can take to save time, money and stress in preparing for your move.


Drawers

Do not remove any drawers from furniture (both the drawers and the unit itself are at greater risk of damage if they are transported separately.

Loose drawers are fragile, slow to carry and difficult to load especially if they are full.



Please make sure all drawers are empty (extra weight can increase the risk of damage to the unit during handling; small items can fall out when the unit is rotated during handling).



Do not apply tape directly to the surface of the unit (this can damage the finish when it is removed)


Refrigerators and over-sized items

Refrigerator doors often need to be removed in order to get them in and out of buildings. To determine whether this is necessary, you may wish to take measurements of your doorways and compare them to the narrowest dimension of the unit. If you believe doors must be removed, please inform us of this before or upon our arrival so that we can prepare for it. Be aware that this may take some time, especially if the unit has a built-in water & ice dispenser.


Three-seater sofas

These are the most frequently problematic of all common items of furniture. The fact that the sofa would look fantastic in your new living room unfortunately, does not mean that it is physically possible to get it into that living room in one piece.

Please carefully consider any area in which we will have to make a 90-degree turn while carrying it! If the length of the sofa is greater than the height of the ceiling/elevator/staircase/doorway, it may simply not be possible to get it in.

This can be a major problem with no immediate or inexpensive solution if discovered upon delivery.


Glass/screens

Don't bother wrapping TVs, mirrors, glass table tops or picture frames in bed sheets, thin blankets or towels.



These will need to be wrapped using proper moving blankets which we provide (though bubble wrap may be adequate).

If you do not have adequate wrapping materials, the best thing to do is to make sure we are aware of all of these items upon our arrival (and that none are hiding in the back of a closet or behind a pile of boxes). Last minute surprises can mean having to rethink the way we have packed the truck which can slow us down.



Individually wrap small glass items in newspaper, bubble wrap or equivalent and pack them carefully into boxes. Never allow these items to directly touch each other inside the box. Pack these boxes tightly so that these items cannot move around. Clearly label these boxes as fragile.


Loose items

Try to minimize the number of small objects not packed in boxes or bags.

They are vastly slower to carry and to load.


Bags

It may be beneficial to have some of your soft, lightweight and malleable items packed in bags rather than boxes as these can help fill up irregular spaces in the truck and serve as padding where necessary.



Please avoid packing more than 25% of your items in bags as they cannot be transported on dollies and they are rarely stackable. This means they are difficult to load if there are too many of them and they are slow to carry. Please ensure that all bags are properly sealed/tied/closed and not overflowing


Boxes

Try to ensure boxes are full, closed and adequately taped on all sides. Avoid overfilling boxes such that they cannot be closed or stacked or overloading them so that they risk bottoming out. Consider clearly labeling your boxes with the room for which they are destined so as to save time on delivery.

Whenever possible, use boxes of uniform shape and size.

Make sure that the boxes remain dry and pack items from the refrigerator in plastic bins as condensation may degrade a cardboard box.



Large/extra-large boxes are ideal for very lightweight items only (blankets, towels, etc.). Please avoid over-weighting these as they are much slower to move if they require two people to lift them.



Medium boxes are the ideal size for most of your items. They can be carried individually, if heavy, or stacked and carried two at a time. They also stack neatly in the truck, on dollies and in storage spaces.



Small boxes are ideal solely for the heaviest of items (books, your rock collection, dinosaur bones). Avoid large numbers of featherweight boxes.



Very small boxes (e.g. shoe boxes) essentially count as loose items and are to be avoided whenever possible. They are hard to stack and it is difficult to carry an adequate number of them in one go.


Site Preparation

Please make sure hallways are free of obstacles and tripping hazards.

Please ensure all furniture and appliances are reasonably clean, empty and free of debris.

For everyone’s safety, please plan to keep children and pets away from the areas where we are working.

If moving to/from an apartment complex, please communicate with the concierge/security ahead of time to find out what the rules are regarding moves, what entrance we are required to use and to reserve the elevator if applicable.

If we must load from the street, then please try your best to reserve as much parking space as possible (a full three car lengths is ideal, but we make do with whatever is available).


Winter Preparation

If possible, ensure that the parking area, walkways and outdoor stairs are free of snow and apply road salt before our arrival.