How Much Does Moving Cost in Montreal?

Ask five Montreal moving companies what your move will cost and you will get vague answers, a request for your phone number, and sometimes a price that doubles on moving day. That last one costs real families hundreds of dollars every July 1. This guide is from AKA Moving, a Montreal moving and transport company based in Lachine, and it does the opposite: our real rate card is published below, the same numbers we quote on the phone.

Montreal movers hourly rates: the real rate card

Every rate carries a 3-hour minimum and includes the truck, the gas and kilometres, the equipment and the insurance. What moves the final number is your inventory, the access on both ends, and the distance. Stairs with no elevator add about 30 minutes per floor. A piano adds a flat $150. For July 1, Quebec's moving day, call us for your date's pricing: we keep moving-day rates competitive and quote them straight, on paper, before you book.

What does an all-inclusive moving price include?

This is the question Montreal movers avoid answering, and it is where most moving-day surprises live. Here is our complete list. If a company cannot produce a list like this, that silence is the answer.

What is the average cost of a move in Montreal?

Averages hide more than they reveal, so here are real scenario ranges built from our own rate card. Your inventory decides where you land inside the range.

Ranges use the real AKA rates above: crew size times hours, all in. Stairs, pianos and peak dates move you toward the top of a range.

A studio with an elevator on both ends is a 3-hour job for 2 movers, which is the $330 minimum. A 4½ in a Plateau walk-up with a spiral staircase takes longer, and we have carried enough couches up those staircases to quote them honestly the first time. A full house usually means a 3 or 4 mover crew and most of a day. Tell us the inventory and we give you a fixed number, not a range.

How much does a small move or single-item delivery cost?

You do not need a full crew for a fridge, a couch from Marketplace, or a dozen boxes. A small fixed-price delivery with AKA runs $250 to $350, everything in. Because we consolidate small jobs with other stops on the same route, that fixed price is often cheaper than renting a truck for the day once the waiver, the kilometres and the gas are added. We ran the full numbers in our U-Haul versus movers comparison.

How much does long distance moving from Montreal cost?

Montreal to Calgary starts around $800 with AKA, depending on your inventory. Other cross-Canada routes price the same way: you give us the inventory, we lay out the options. As a transport company we use interlining agreements to move your goods from point A to point B for far less than a dedicated truck, professionally and on time, from warehouse to living room.

For scale: driving a rented U-Haul from Montreal to Calgary cost $3,758.54 on a real December invoice, plus about $1,400 in gas, before a single box was lifted. Long distance is where professional consolidation beats do-it-yourself by the widest margin. Details on the long distance moving page.

When is the cheapest time to move in Montreal?

Mid-month, mid-week, outside moving season. Montreal demand peaks at the end of every month and explodes around July 1, when most Quebec leases turn over at once. Moving-day dates sell out weeks ahead at every serious company in the city. As one of Montreal's top-rated movers, AKA keeps July 1 pricing competitive: call early and we quote your exact date, on paper, before you book.

• Cheapest: a Tuesday or Wednesday in the middle of the month, October through April.
• Standard: end-of-month weekends most of the year. Book 3 to 4 weeks out.
• Peak: the last week of June and the first days of July. Book 6 to 8 weeks out and call for your date's pricing.

If your lease gives you any flexibility at all, a few days of flexibility is worth real money.

What are the red flags when hiring a moving company?

The Montreal moving market has honest companies and it has brokers, bait rates and moving-day hostage pricing. Here is how to tell them apart before your belongings are on someone’s truck.

To be fair to the industry: an honest small company can be busy, imperfect on the phone, and still excellent on moving day. The paperwork is what separates professionals from gambles. If the price, date and inventory are on paper, you are dealing with a company that plans to still exist next year.

Frequently asked questions about moving costs in Montreal