PACKING, UNPACKING & SETUP
Packing, Unpacking and Move-In Setup
Start your quote here
A few details is all we need to come back to you with something real.
This page covers both halves of the job people usually have to buy separately: the packing before the move, and the unpacking, furniture placement and move-in setup afterwards. You can have either, both, or only the rooms you would rather not do yourself.
Packing is the part of a move people most often underestimate and most often abandon halfway. An average kitchen alone is a full day for someone who has never packed one, and unfinished packing is the single most common reason a moving day runs long.
Unpacking is the part people most often assume they will simply get to, and then do not. Six weeks later the spare room still has fourteen cartons in it. That is the half of the move we are most often thanked for taking on.
How it works
From Quote Request to Moving Day
Start
Tell us what you know through the quote form or a phone call. You do not have to know every detail before you start.
Show Us
Send photos, a short video or a shared Drive folder, or book a virtual or in-home visit. Our emails guide you through what to send.
Quote
You receive a written quote package to review and sign. Every move is different, so we confirm the scope before finalizing the plan.
Move Day
A careful, methodical crew protects your home and belongings, with the day planned so nobody is rushing off to the next job.
Full, Partial, or Just the Hard Bits
There is no obligation to hand over the whole house. The most common arrangement is that the household packs books, linens and clothing while we take the kitchen, the china, the artwork and the garage — the rooms where technique actually matters.
- Full-home packing, done in the days before the move
- Partial packing — the rooms you nominate
- Fragile-only — kitchen, china, glass, art and mirrors
- Pack-and-move on the same visit for smaller jobs
- Unpacking and put-away at the new address
- Cartons and materials supplied (charged as used), waste taken away
Materials Are Not a Detail
Proper cartons are made to stack and to take a load on the lid. Supermarket boxes are not, which is why they crush in the middle of a tier and why the damage shows up at the bottom of the stack rather than at the top.
We use purpose-made cartons, dish packs for kitchens, paper and wrap for padding, wardrobe boxes for hanging clothes, and mattress covers. Packing supplies are charged as used, and your quote says how. It is not glamorous and it is the whole difference.
Labelling So Unpacking Is Not a Second Move
We label by destination room and contents, not by origin room, because at the new address you care where a box is going rather than where it came from. That also lets an unload be sequenced: bedding, kettle and bathroom first, ornaments last.
On a downsize this is essential, because the destination room for a great many boxes is not the equivalent room — it is a different room, storage, or nowhere at all.
Unpacking and Put-Away
Unpacking means putting things where they belong, not stacking them onto countertops. Dishes into cupboards, clothes into closets, bathroom things into the bathroom, bed assembled and made.
It can be the whole house or the three rooms that matter most. The usual arrangement is that we unpack the kitchen, the bathroom and the bedrooms — the rooms that decide whether the first night is liveable — and the household works through the books and the ornaments at its own pace.
Cartons and packing waste leave with us, which in a small space is the difference between a home and a recycling depot.
Furniture Placement and Move-In Setup
Placement is a separate skill from carrying, and it is the part that decides whether a new home feels settled or provisional. A sofa dropped in the middle of a room is not placed; a bed that is in the right place but not assembled is not set up.
So we lay the room out with you rather than guess: the bed against the wall you want, the chair where the light and the television actually are, the dresser where its drawers can open, the rug under the furniture rather than beside it. If you look at it and change your mind, we move it again — that is normal, not an extra visit.
In a small space this matters more, not less. Retirement suites, condos and one-bedroom apartments have one workable arrangement and several unworkable ones, and finding it with the furniture still on the dollies is far easier than a fortnight later.
- Furniture positioned to a plan agreed in the room, and moved again if it is wrong
- Beds assembled and made, and furniture reassembled at the other end
- Televisions, lamps and everyday electronics plugged in and working
- Kitchen and bathroom set up so they are usable the first evening
- Closets and dressers filled, rather than clothes left in wardrobe boxes
- Mirrors, art and heavy pieces placed and hung where it is a matter of weight and position
- Cartons, wrap and packing waste taken away when we finish
What Packing, Unpacking and Setup Include
- Purpose-made cartons, dish packs and wardrobe boxes — supplied and charged as used
- Paper, bubble wrap and padding materials — charged as used
- Fragile and specialty packing for china, glass, art and mirrors
- Labelling by destination room and contents
- Disassembly of furniture and fittings that need it
- Mattress covers and furniture protection
- Unpacking and put-away — the whole home or only the rooms you choose
- Furniture placement to a plan agreed in the room, adjusted if it is wrong
- Move-in setup: beds made, kitchen and bathroom usable, electronics working
- Removal of cartons, wrap and packing waste when we finish
Reviews
What Customers Tell Us
If you have to move this is the company to work with. Having experienced multiple moves within Canada we are comfortable saying that Stallion Movers are one of the best! Excellent and prompt communication, respectful of the family and their belongings. Thank you for providing excellent moving services.
Deb M.
Moving customer · via Google
Brett and his team are always professional and caring, I feel as if they would treat each person they help move as their own Grandparent. They respect guidelines surrounding move times for our building, and make sure each piece they move is treated with care and concern.
Amanda M.
Chartwell, Terrace on the Square · via Retirement community
Their whole team are extremely organized, flexible, dedicated and friendly. Stallion makes the moving process seamless and enjoyable for residents and staff.
John Whiting
Chartwell, Westmount · via Retirement community
Ready to Get This Moving?
Tell us what is moving and we will come back with a real plan and a real price — or call and talk it through with someone who does this every day.
Prefer to talk? Call us.
Questions Families Ask Us
How long does packing a house take?
For an average family home, professionals generally need one to two days depending on contents, and the kitchen alone is usually most of a day. Households doing it themselves should allow considerably longer and start earlier than feels necessary.
Can you pack the day before the move?
Yes, and it is the most common arrangement — packing the day before, moving the next. For smaller jobs we can sometimes pack and move on the same visit; tell us the volume and we will say whether that is realistic.
What should I not let anyone pack?
Identification, wallets, keys, current medication, jewellery, and any document you would not want to hunt for in a box. Keep those with you and tell us what is set aside so nobody boxes it by accident.
Do you take the empty boxes away?
Yes, when we have done the unpacking. It is one of the most appreciated parts of the service, particularly in an apartment or a suite where there is nowhere to put twenty flattened cartons.
Can you unpack without having done the packing?
Yes. Unpacking, furniture placement and move-in setup can be booked on their own, whether we did the move or not. Tell us which rooms you want made liveable and roughly how many cartons there are.
Will you put the furniture where I want it, and move it if I change my mind?
Yes, and changing your mind is expected rather than a problem. A room reads differently once the furniture is in it. We agree the layout with you as we go and shift pieces until it is right, which is far easier while the crew and the dollies are still there.
Want the Packing — and the Unpacking — Off Your List?
Tell us which rooms and which end of the move, and we will price it. All of it, or only the parts you dread.
Prefer to talk? Call us.