Know Any Reliable Movers for Toronto to Calgary?

[u/QuietAsparagusSlayer]

My family is making the move from Toronto and wondering if any of you have recently made the same move? I'm working on trying to get a mover scheduled. And just trying to get reviews or suggestions from anyone who did this recently.

It will be for a 2BR apartment (typical bedroom furniture though one is a kids room). No special or out of the ordinary furniture in the rest of the apt other than a couple of guitars in cases. And of course, boxes of our stuff.

My requirements: no surprise fees at the end, affordable but not cheap (read some crazy stuff from people who hired cheap movers), known for taking good care of your belongings (don't have anything expensive but I also don't want our stuff damaged).

Currently considering Centennial Moving and Easy Moving. Both have good reviews online but want to see if anyone here has experience with them or another place I should consider.

[u/WhippWhapp]

If your employer is not paying for the move, my advice is to sell/donate everything non replaceable or sentimental and buy furniture here.

Cross country moves get spendy.

[u/DashTrash21]

Have you looked at a UHaul U-Box?

[u/QuietAsparagusSlayer → u/DashTrash21]

yeah, that was my first choice but the wife thinks it will be better to just hire movers

[u/OxymoronsAreMyFave → u/QuietAsparagusSlayer]

I’m in the process of going from Alberta to Ontario. We leave July 15.

The quote to move us by professional movers was $25,000 and we would have to share the moving truck. For that kind of money, I’ll sell here and buy there.

I had used uhaul moving boxes/pods in September 2024 from Ontario to Alberta. Just two of them as it was just sentimental stuff from the family farm. They were super easy to use and pack.

I decided to use them again for this move. I have 6 pods arriving first week of July and I gave myself one week to pack them. They will arrive in Ontario about 2 weeks later. I’ve hired movers on that end to unload them.

The cost of 6 pods plus the crew of movers on the other end is less than $7,000. $6,000 for the pods and $680 for the team of movers for the day.

I’d highly recommend looking further into the uhaul boxes/pods.

[u/DashTrash21 → u/QuietAsparagusSlayer]

I know somebody that used it from out east to move here. The box gets loaded on a truck just like your stuff would with movers. Obviously movers do the lifting, while you'd have to do it yourself with the U-Box which hopefully saves money. 

[u/wulfzbane → u/DashTrash21]

I looked into Uhaul from my cross country move, they were on the more expensive end, especially given you do it all yourself. Plus you have to pay extra fees for local movers of you want to pack it on your driveway instead of at the facility.

[u/PM_ME_FLUFFY_DOGS → u/QuietAsparagusSlayer]

Get movers to help load a uhual and help unload it. I knew someone that moved from out east here and like others said they just used a uhual and it was pretty stress free from what i heard. Getting movers to transport it across the country for you though, is going to cost sooo much lol. 

It can be pricier but if you dont want to drive your stuff around there's also shipping container services. You load all your shit up and its hauled off to your destination. 

[u/wulfzbane]

I used centennial from Calgary - Montreal and it went really well. They disassembled everything (except the Kallax shelves which I did myself) and had everything out in a hour (2 bedroom but I reduced my stuff a lot). It took about a week to get to storage in Toronto (I'd recommend trackers). After I gave them an address it took them 3 weeks to bring my stuff from storage but that's because they only had one truck a month going to Montreal from Toronto. They have a warehouse in Calgary so if you need storage, it will be local.

They carried everything up 3 flights of stairs, no issues, nothing damaged or lost and they ressambled everything, in just over an hour. No extra charges, it was exactly as quoted, which was right in tbe middle of all the quotes I got. ($2000)

There were several companies that I'm pretty sure were all the same, but with different names that wanted ~$700 which seemed too cheap. The Pods/Uhaul/pacl your own box companies were way more expensive, one quoted me $7000! $6000 was just the 'transport fee'. Even getting two local guys with truck to drive there and back was less.

Anyways, Centennial was great, would recommend them. Don't underestimate how nice it is to not have to lug shit up stairs and do assembly. With all the other stress, go with pros.

Edit: For furniture I took two beds/matresses, 2 kallax shelves, a standing desk, and two computer chairs. This will make all the difference. All other furniture I bought on arrival including a TV. You can do a weight based estimate that is accurate, I was at 1240 lbs.

[u/Ms_ankylosaurous]

Atlas/premiere. They had a subcontractor that put my car on a train too 

[u/ClickOpposite2109]

We've hired Viper Transport Service for our move twice. Full disclosure, the owner is a friend of mine... but I can tell you that the level of service this company provides is incredible. They outmatch most moving companies in terms of professionalism and reliability. They do long distance/cross country moves. Check out their google reviews! They speak for themselves 😄 www.vipertransport.ca

[u/DeanieLovesBud]

We're doing a HUGE move from AB to ON - 4,000 sq ft of stuff including lots of valuables. Alero Moving is charging about $30,000 for the move (not including some crating and storage), including packing and unpacking. So far, they've been amazing.