Condo & apartment moving in Vancouver.
Vancouver condo and apartment movers who handle elevator windows, loading bay clearances, strata insurance certificates and walk-ups with no lift. One flat rate.
Most moves in Vancouver are condo and apartment moves, and almost none of them are decided by how much stuff there is. They are decided by the elevator, the loading bay, and the stairs. Get those three right and a condo move is one of the smoothest jobs in the business. Get them wrong and you are negotiating with a concierge at 11am for time nobody promised you.
The elevator is the schedule
In a house, the pace is set by how much there is to carry. In a building, it is set by the lift.
Most Vancouver towers reserve a service elevator in two or three hour blocks, booked through the concierge or building manager, often a week or more ahead. Buildings will not take that booking from a moving company, so it has to come from you. What we can do is make sure you book the right amount of time.
Rough guide, assuming the crew stages properly:
- Studio or one bedroom: two hours is comfortable.
- Two bedroom: three hours.
- Three bedroom or a unit with a lot of furniture: book two consecutive windows rather than hoping.
If the building's elevator is slow, shared, or has an awkward door size, add time. We would rather tell you that at quote time than watch a window run out.
Staging is what makes a short window work
Everything gets wrapped and carried to the elevator lobby on your floor before the booked window opens. Then, when the clock starts, the elevator runs continuously: load, descend, unload, return, repeat.
Done that way, two hours moves a one-bedroom comfortably. Done the other way, with people still deciding what goes in which box while a booked elevator sits idle, the same move overruns and everyone has a worse day.
This is also why we ask about the unit rather than pricing by bedroom count alone. A one-bedroom with a full storage locker and a packed balcony is not a one-bedroom's worth of work.
Loading bays, clearances and certificates
Two things go wrong with loading bays, and both are avoidable:
- Height. A great many Vancouver bays are 2.4 metres or lower, which will not take a full-height truck. We check the clearance for your specific building before move day rather than at the top of the ramp. If it will not fit, we bring a vehicle that does or plan a street-level carry with parking arranged in advance.
- Access rules. Some buildings restrict bay use to certain hours, or require the concierge to open it. Worth knowing before 8am on a Saturday.
Most stratas also want a certificate of insurance naming the strata corporation before they will confirm an elevator booking. This is routine. Send us the strata's legal name when you book and the certificate goes over ahead of time.
Walk-ups: the other half of the city
Not every apartment has an elevator. Large parts of the West End, Kitsilano, Mount Pleasant and Marpole are three and four storey buildings put up before elevators were standard in low-rise construction, and some that do have one have a cab too small for a mattress to stand up in.
For those buildings the questions are different:
- Which floor, and do the stairs turn at each landing? The turn is what slows a crew down, because every large item has to be lifted and pivoted rather than carried straight.
- Is there a back staircase? Often wider and closer to the lane than the front one. We will use it if it exists.
- How far away can the truck legally park? In permit-only neighbourhoods this is frequently not right outside the door, and the carry distance is real work.
None of this appears on a floor plan, which is why we ask directly. It is also exactly why a flat rate suits apartment moving: these constraints are knowable in advance, and once they are known there is no honest reason for the price to move on the day.
Storage lockers, bike rooms and parkade cages
The most commonly forgotten part of a condo move. Almost every building has a locker somewhere in the parkade, and a great many residents genuinely forget what is in theirs until moving day.
Tell us about the locker at quote time. It is often a surprising volume of the total move, and it is usually the furthest carry in the building.
Move fees and deposits
Many buildings charge a move-in or move-out fee, and many hold a refundable damage deposit. These are charged by the strata rather than by us. We flag them during the quote anyway, because a surprise bill from the building on top of moving day is nobody's idea of a good time.
The price we confirm is the price you pay. Whether it is a studio downtown or a three-bedroom on the west side, the quote is built from your actual elevator, your actual stairs, and your actual inventory.
Ready for a number? Get your flat-rate quote and tell us the building, the floor, and whether there is an elevator; those three answers decide most of the day.
We've moved stranger.
Real photos from real Nash moves, not stock photography.
A Dalí dancer, crated by hand
Tubs stacked wall to wall
A Dalí clock, right on time
One clawfoot tub, wrapped tight
A motorcycle, babied
An entire backyard playhouse
What our customers say.
Nash Moving helped my parents move recently and were fantastic. My parents loved how friendly, fast and efficient they were. The guys were always happy and really seemed to enjoy what they were doing. Highly recommend.
Nash Moving is the way to go! Nate, Aaron and their team are master packers and movers. Fast, efficient and very professional. Their years of experience really showed throughout the process.
Thank you Nash Moving for helping myself and my many clients move!
Asked before booking.
Do you book the service elevator for me?
We cannot, because buildings only accept bookings from residents or owners. What we do is tell you exactly what to ask the concierge for, how long a window your move genuinely needs so you do not underbook, and then schedule the crew around whatever slot you get. If your strata wants a certificate of insurance before it confirms the booking, send us the strata's legal name and we issue it ahead of time.
How long a window should I book?
For most one-bedroom condos, two hours is workable if the crew stages properly. Two bedrooms usually want three. Larger units, or buildings where the elevator is slow or shared with another move, are better served by booking two consecutive windows than by gambling on one. Tell us the unit size and the building and we will give you a straight answer before you book.
What is staging, and why does it matter so much?
Staging means everything is wrapped and carried to the elevator lobby on your floor before the booked window opens. Once the clock starts, the elevator runs continuously instead of waiting while somebody upstairs decides what to pack. It is the single biggest difference between a two-hour window being comfortable and being a scramble.
My building has no elevator. How does that change things?
It changes the time, which is what the flat rate is scoped from, so it is priced up front rather than added later. What we need to know is the floor and whether the stairs turn at each landing. A straight run to the second floor and three flights with a turn at every landing are genuinely different jobs, and a lot of Vancouver's older apartment stock is the second one.
Can you move between two buildings on the same day?
Yes, and it is one of the most common jobs we do. The work is in sequencing two elevator bookings with a realistic drive and load buffer between them. Give us both buildings at quote time and we will plan the timing so you are not paying a crew to wait in a loading bay.
Are there fees the building charges that you do not?
Often, yes. Many stratas charge a move-in fee or a refundable damage deposit. Those are between you and the building rather than something we bill, but we flag them during your quote so the number in your head is the real total.
The rest of what we do.
Where we do it.
When are you moving?
Pick a date and we'll carry it straight into your quote. Not sure yet? You can skip it.
Get your flat-rate quote →