How to Choose a Mover in Vancouver
The short version of how to choose a mover in Vancouver: confirm the company holds a current City of Vancouver business licence, get the whole job in writing before you pay anything, and make sure the name on the truck matches the name on the contract. Everything below sits under those three. The useful part: Vancouver hands you a free licence check that takes about a minute.
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Check the Business Licence First
Best payoff for the time it takes. Any organization doing business in or from Vancouver must hold a City business licence, including companies based outside the city. The City publishes every issued licence in its Open Data Portal, updated daily, free. Type the name in and read what comes back.
A licence that exists is not the same as a licence that is live. The Status field separates Issued and Pending from Gone Out of Business, Inactive and Cancelled. Licences run under Licence By-law No. 4450 and expire on December 31 every year, so a company working the new year on last year’s record is a fair question.
Get the Whole Job in Writing
The Government of Canada’s Office of Consumer Affairs and the Better Business Bureau give the same instruction: at least three written estimates from different movers, preferably based on a visit to your home. Write a household inventory first and make sure every company sees every item. Otherwise you are comparing three different jobs, not three prices.
CAM’s president told CBC the only way anyone can give a reasonable estimate is to come to the house, or do a virtual survey by video call. She also says you should have your contract well in advance of moving day and know your fees up front. A company that will not look at the job keeps the right to reprice it.
What the paper should say
Get the quote on company letterhead, signed by a company representative. It should carry the number of boxes, the size and value of the items, the cost, the terms of payment and the timing of the services, plus the delivery date commitment and anything needing special care. Ask in writing whether a deposit is refundable or held as a penalty.
The phone call is the shortlist, not the deal
The BBB notes most movers will quote over the phone and that you should still get written documentation of every service. When the truck is loaded you should be handed a bill of lading with complete move details. A company that resists that is on CAM’s red flag list. On a straightforward local move, all of it is settled days ahead.
The Vancouver Rules That Decide Your Move Day
Plenty of moving websites say the City’s noise bylaw sets your move hours. It does not. The City’s page on commercial deliveries says businesses may receive deliveries from lanes, streets and loading bays 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays, and that it cannot investigate noise from those vehicles because the Noise Bylaw does not regulate it. For vehicle noise it points to WorkSafeBC and the Motor Vehicle Act. What gets misquoted is the construction rule, limited under Noise Control By-law Section 16 to weekdays 7:30am to 8pm and Saturday 10am to 8pm on private property, nothing Sunday or holiday. A move is a delivery, not construction.
The City curfew that does not exist
Plenty of moving websites say the City’s noise bylaw sets your move hours. It does not. The City’s page on commercial deliveries says businesses may receive deliveries from lanes, streets and loading bays 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays, and that it cannot investigate noise from those vehicles because the Noise Bylaw does not regulate it. For vehicle noise it points to WorkSafeBC and the Motor Vehicle Act. What gets misquoted is the construction rule, limited under Noise Control By-law Section 16 to weekdays 7:30am to 8pm and Saturday 10am to 8pm on private property, nothing Sunday or holiday. A move is a delivery, not construction.
The strata is the real clock, and it owes you the document
In BC, owners, tenants and visitors must follow the strata’s bylaws and rules, and sections within a strata can add their own. Rules govern the use, safety and condition of common property. Only bylaws can govern the use of a strata lot. Two things follow. A council can create a rule without consulting owners, and it applies until the next annual general meeting, where it must be ratified or it stops having effect. A user fee rule for common property cannot be enforced until owners approve it at that AGM. And any bylaw differing from the Standard Bylaws only takes effect once filed at the Land Title Office. So when you are told your elevator window, notice period or move fee, ask the manager for the filed bylaw or written rule. Council must set out all rules in a document that can be photocopied. One more: parking areas and driveways are not automatically common property, so who controls your loading spot is not a given. Our condo moving page has the rest.
The street permit clock starts at payment
If holding the curb means suspending the posted parking rules, that is a temporary street occupancy permit, and the City lists moving trucks and moving and storage containers among the covered uses. It asks for a minimum of 7 to 10 business days from the time payment is received, so it can post signs and cover meters. From payment, not from application. Inside 5 to 7 business days you can email engineering.clientservices@vancouver.ca to ask whether the request can still go in, with no guarantee. Three limits people find out the hard way: no crew parking, no taking over a space someone already parked in legitimately, and emergency work on your stretch takes priority. Temporary occupancies fall under Section 30 of the Street and Traffic By-law, and Engineering Client Services is at 507 West Broadway at Cambie Street, 604-871-6730, weekdays 8:30am to 4pm.
Read your own parkade sign
Do not accept a general answer on truck height. BC’s Commercial Transport Regulations set the maximum legal vehicle height at 4.15 m, which is 13 ft 7 in, and the limit covers the vehicle and the load together. A legal truck can still be too tall for your entrance, and even legally configured vehicles strike overhead structures when nobody verified the load height. Walk down, read the sign, send that number to the mover before you book.
The Red Flags, From the People Who Track Them
Not hunches. These come from the Canadian Association of Movers, the Better Business Bureau and the CBC Marketplace investigation.
On the quote
They say they do not need a site survey to estimate. They give a price on the phone and will not put it in writing. They ask for a large deposit up front, which CAM says professional movers do not do and the BBB flags as a possible sign of a fraudulent business. CAM calls a deposit demanded before any walk-through a big red flag. Lowballing is a known pattern: undercut, deliver poorly, then push for more.
On the company
No physical address. No information about registration or insurance. A generic greeting on the phone, “Movers”, or no name at all. A wall of one-line five-star reviews. Unsolicited mass texts followed by repeated calls, which CAM calls quote bombing. And logos prove nothing. CAM warns that companies falsely claim association membership and display counterfeit badges, so verify with the association itself.
On move day
The crew arrives in an unmarked truck instead of a marked company vehicle. Someone tells you a written contract is not necessary. Nobody will produce a bill of lading. Any of those, and the moment to stop is before the first box goes on.
Ask Who Is Actually Going to Show Up
This is the question other guides skip, and it is what the CBC Marketplace investigation was built on. A customer hired a mover and was handed a contract with a different company name at the top. Across one three-day move she was given contracts carrying more than one name. Several companies in the investigation appeared to run out of the same office and warehouse and shared directors. New contracts were produced on moving day after the goods were loaded, and none stated a total price. Her things were already in the truck.
So ask one sentence before you book, in writing. Will the name on the truck, the name on the contract and the name I booked all match, and is any part of this job going to another company? If a long move is billed by weight, CAM says the truck should go to a certified scale rather than have someone estimate it, and you can ask to see the tickets. Our long distance moving page covers that paperwork.
Check the Company on More Than One Surface
One good-looking website is not evidence. Stack the checks. Look the company up on the Better Business Bureau and read the complaints and the responses, not the score. Search the name in Google’s news tab, because local outlets cover questionable moving practices. Call your province’s consumer protection office and ask whether they have taken complaints. Check the Canadian Association of Movers directory. And when a message arrives out of nowhere, call the official published number, not the one in the message.
Run every one of those on us. Always Best Moving Vancouver, 422 Richards St, Vancouver, BC V6B 2Z4, 236-885-7710, open 24 hours, 7 days. Our Google profile sits at 4.9 stars across 102 Google reviews, with owner replies and customer photos attached, the second-surface signals this guide told you to look for. We put the whole job in writing, we file the certificate of insurance your strata requires, and we tell you which crew and truck are coming. If any mover, this one included, will not answer the checks above, that is your answer. Our packing services and storage run on the same paperwork.
A 4.9-star record across 102 reviews
“On time, careful with every piece, and the price was exactly what they quoted. They rebuilt the bed and placed everything by room.”
“Booked the elevator, pulled the parking permit, and wrapped everything. A downtown move with zero stress.”
“Answered the phone at night when I called last minute. Same crew start to finish, and they took the paper away after.”
Frequently asked questions
How do I check if a Vancouver moving company is licensed?
Search the company name in the City of Vancouver Open Data business licences dataset. It is free and the current-year extract is updated daily. Any organization doing business in or from Vancouver must hold a licence, including companies based outside the city. Read the Status field, which separates Issued and Pending from Inactive, Cancelled and Gone Out of Business.
Is there a City of Vancouver curfew on moving hours?
No. The City says businesses may receive deliveries from lanes, streets and loading bays 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays, and that the Noise Bylaw does not regulate noise from those vehicles. The hours people quote as a move curfew are the construction noise hours. Your real limit is your strata.
Can my strata charge a move-in fee?
It depends on the document behind it. A user fee rule for common property cannot be enforced until owners approve it at the annual general meeting following its adoption by the council. Bylaws that differ from the Standard Bylaws only take effect once filed at the Land Title Office. Ask for the filed bylaw or the written rule.
Do I need a permit to park a moving truck on a Vancouver street?
If holding the curb means suspending the posted parking rules, yes, that is a temporary street occupancy permit, and moving trucks and moving containers are listed uses. The City asks for a minimum of 7 to 10 business days from the time payment is received, not from the day you apply. Ask your mover early who is applying.
What should a written moving quote include?
Get it on company letterhead and signed by a company representative, covering the number of boxes, the size and value of the items, the cost, the terms of payment, the timing of the services, the delivery date commitment and any special-care items. Ask in writing whether a deposit is refundable or held as a penalty.
Why will a mover not give me a firm price over the phone?
Because nobody can see your stairs down a phone line. The Canadian Association of Movers puts it plainly: the only way to give a reasonable estimate is to come to the house, or do a virtual survey by video call. Ask for the survey, then ask for the result in writing.
How do I know the company that shows up is the one I hired?
Ask before you book and get the answer in writing. In the CBC Marketplace investigation, a customer hired one company and was handed contracts carrying more than one different company name across a single three-day move, with new paperwork produced after the goods were loaded. Confirm the truck, the contract and your booking all carry one name.
How do I know if a moving truck fits in my parkade?
Read the clearance sign at your own entrance and give that number to the mover before you book. British Columbia’s Commercial Transport Regulations set the maximum legal vehicle height at 4.15 m, which is 13 ft 7 in, and the limit covers the vehicle and the load together. Even a legal truck can hit an overhead structure.
Take this list to three companies. Ask for the licence, the survey, the paper, and who is driving. The one that answers all four without flinching is the one to book, and it does not have to be us.
If you want to start with us, send the two addresses, a rough inventory, and whether either end is a strata. You get a written plan and a clear, no-obligation quote agreed up front and put in writing before we start, in every area we serve, 24 hours a day.
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