What Is the Cheapest Moving Company to Use?

There isn’t one. Here’s how to find the cheapest option for your move instead.

It’s the first question almost everyone asks when they start planning a move, and it deserves an honest answer: there is no single cheapest moving company. Cost depends on how far you’re going, how much you’re bringing and how easy it is to get your belongings in and out of both buildings. A company that quotes low for a one-bedroom condo move across Burnaby may be the most expensive option for a household relocating to Kelowna.

The better question is which service model fits your move, because that’s where the real savings are. Below we break down the cheapest approach for each type of move, the hidden costs that quietly inflate a “cheap” quote and what actually drives moving prices here in the Lower Mainland.

The Short Answer: Match the Service to the Move

Moving costs follow a fairly predictable pattern. The more of the work you hand over, the more you pay, and the more you take on yourself, the more your own time and risk go into the equation. The cheapest option is whichever point on that scale matches what you’re actually moving.

• Small local moves – the lowest-cost route is renting a truck and doing the labour yourself. If you don’t have the help, hiring movers by the hour for loading and unloading only still costs far less than a full-service package.
• Long-distance moves – portable moving containers are usually the cheapest option, because you pack and load them yourself and only pay for transport.
• Mid-sized or flexible moves – shared-load or consolidated long-distance transport lowers the rate considerably if you can be flexible on your delivery window.

Cheapest Options by Type of Move

Local Moves Across Greater Vancouver

For a short-distance move, a rental truck plus a few friends is the cheapest thing you can do, full stop. The trade-off is that you’re responsible for everything: the driving, the lifting, the stairs, the damage and the day itself.

The middle ground is what most people actually want. Hiring an hourly crew for loading and unloading while you handle the truck and the packing keeps the bill low but takes the heavy, injury-prone part off your plate. It’s one of the most cost-effective ways to move within Vancouver, Burnaby or North Vancouver, and it’s a service we offer specifically because so many people only need that piece. The same logic applies to a Vancouver apartment move, where the final bill is shaped far more by elevator access and loading-bay timing than by the distance travelled.

If you’re moving a single bulky item rather than a household, that’s cheaper again. A single-item move is priced as its own small job instead of a half-day booking.

Long-Distance Moves

Once you’re crossing provinces or heading up-province, distance and fuel dominate the price. Portable containers come out cheapest because your labour replaces the crew’s. You pack, you load, the container gets transported and you unload at the other end. The savings are real, but so is the workload, and container schedules can be less flexible than they first appear.

If you’d rather not do the loading, a long-distance move with a professional crew is still competitively priced once you account for the fuel, the days off work and the accommodation a self-drive trip involves. Island moves are a good example: a Vancouver to Vancouver Island relocation or a move from Vancouver to Nanaimo involves ferry timing and vehicle deck bookings that are easy to get expensively wrong on your own.

Mid-Sized and Hybrid Moves

If your load is too big for a container but you don’t need an exclusive truck, shared-load transport is worth asking about. Your belongings travel alongside other shipments, which spreads the cost of the trip. The catch is timing: you’ll usually be given a delivery window rather than a date, so this only works if you have somewhere to stay in the meantime.

Why the Cheapest Quote Isn’t Always the Cheapest Move

• Estimates that aren’t real estimates – A rate quoted over the phone without anyone asking about your stairs, elevator or parking is a guess, and guesses get revised upward on moving day.
• Uninsured movers – If something is damaged or someone is injured on your property, an unlicensed crew leaves you carrying it. One broken television erases every dollar you saved.
• Hours lost to access problems – In this region, that’s the big one. A crew that arrives without an elevator booked or a parking permit in place can lose an hour before a single box moves, and on an hourly rate, you’re paying for that hour. It’s exactly why our apartment and condo movers confirm strata move-in windows before the truck leaves the yard.
• Add-on charges – Stair fees, long-carry fees, fuel surcharges, materials, minimum hours and travel time all belong in the conversation before you book, not after.

What Actually Drives the Price of a Move in BC

• Volume – Movers price by what fills the truck. Fewer items, lower cost, which makes decluttering the single most effective way to cut your bill.
• Access at both ends – Ground-floor to ground-floor is quick. A fourth-floor walk-up, a shared elevator or a loading bay you have to reserve is slower, and slower means costlier.
• Distance and traffic – A cross-town move that crosses a bridge at the wrong time of day can add real hours to the clock. Route planning isn’t a nicety here, it’s a line item.
• Timing – Month-end, weekends and the summer season are the busiest and priciest windows in Greater Vancouver. Mid-month and midweek dates are noticeably easier on the budget.
• Packing and specialty items – Full packing is convenient and adds cost. Pianos, safes, appliances and large furniture that needs disassembly and reassembly take extra time and equipment. That’s one reason furniture moves in Vancouver are quoted on the pieces involved rather than a flat rate.

How to Keep Your Moving Costs Down

1. Get rid of what you’re not taking – Sell, donate or recycle before you get a quote, not after. If you’re downsizing rather than simply relocating, our senior moving service is built around sorting first and moving second, which shrinks the load before it ever reaches the truck.
2. Book off-peak – Midweek and mid-month dates are cheaper and easier to secure. If your dates have already slipped, a last-minute move in Vancouver is still very doable. Just book the moment you know, because short notice narrows the crew and truck options that keep the rate down.
3. Be genuinely ready – Boxes sealed, labelled and stacked by the door when the crew arrives. Every minute the crew spends waiting is billable.
4. Sort out your building first – Reserve the elevator, confirm your strata’s move-in window and pull a municipal parking permit if the truck can’t get close. This is the cheapest hour you’ll ever save.
5. Ask for reusable bins – They’re faster to pack, sturdier than cardboard and you’re not buying boxes.
6. Pay for only the parts you need – Do your own packing and book a crew for the heavy lifting, or hand over just the kitchen and the fragile items and let our packing and unpacking team handle the part you’re dreading.
7. Compare like with like – Ask every company for a written estimate covering the same scope, including travel time, minimum hours and materials.

Where President Movers Fits

We’re not the cheapest option on this page. Nothing beats a rental truck and a generous friend. What we offer is affordable, transparent pricing from a licensed and insured local team, with no surprise line items at the end of the day.

That affordability comes from how we work. Our movers know this region: which buildings need elevator bookings, which streets need permits, which routes to avoid at 4 p.m. That knowledge keeps the clock short, and on an hourly move a short clock is exactly what you’re paying for. You can also book us for just one piece of the job rather than a package you don’t need, whether that’s a full residential move, an after-hours office relocation or an hour of muscle at one end. Our reusable bins cut your packing-supply costs entirely, and we’re upfront about what a move will cost before we start.

Over a decade of moving households and businesses across the Lower Mainland has taught us that most people don’t want the cheapest movers. They want the lowest price that still gets their belongings there intact.

Frequently Asked Questions