Everybody underestimates packing. You picture a few quiet hours with some boxes and a roll of tape, and then it’s 1 a.m. the night before the move, you’re out of boxes, the kitchen is half done, and you’re wrapping wine glasses in bath towels because it’s all you’ve got left. Packing is the part of moving that quietly eats your evenings for two weeks, and it’s the part that decides whether your things show up intact or in pieces. Nobody books a mover and then lies awake worrying about the couch. They lie awake worrying about the box of dishes.
Moving Co. packs for you. Full packing where we box the entire home, partial packing where we take the rooms you don’t want to deal with, or fragile-only packing where we handle the breakables and you do the easy stuff. We work across Toronto, the GTA, and out across Ontario, we bring proper materials rated for the job, and we pack so things actually survive being stacked, driven, and carried up a flight of stairs. You get your evenings back, and you stop guessing whether the boxes will hold. It bolts straight onto any move, pack a house, a condo or apartment, or a long-haul job, or book packing on its own. Call 905-752-7787 or request a free packing quote.
Full, partial, or just the parts you dread
There’s no single right amount of help, so we offer three levels and you pick the one that fits your week, your budget, and your tolerance for cardboard.
Full packing
We pack the entire home, room by room, top to bottom, every cupboard, closet, and shelf, and label it all by room so the unload is fast and sane. This is the option for people who are slammed at work, moving on a tight timeline, doing a long-distance move, or who simply don’t want to spend two weeks living out of half-packed boxes with a path cleared to the bathroom. You wake up on move day with a house that’s ready to go and nothing left on your plate. It’s also the right call for anyone moving with small kids or a demanding job, where the realistic number of free evenings between now and the move is roughly zero.
Partial packing
You handle the simple stuff, books, clothes, linens, the things that just go in a box, and we take the rooms that are an actual project. Usually that’s the kitchen, the artwork, the electronics, the china cabinet, the garage. You save money by doing the easy half yourself and hand off the half that actually takes skill and the right materials. Most people who call us land here once we talk it through, because it’s the honest middle: you’re capable of boxing your own sweaters, and there’s no reason to pay someone to do it, but a full set of stemware is a different conversation.
Fragile-only packing
The most popular call we get. People are perfectly happy to throw their t-shirts in a box, but the idea of wrapping a full set of dishes, a flat-screen, a mirror, or a grandparent’s crystal makes them nervous, and it should, because that’s exactly the stuff that breaks when it’s packed wrong. We come in and pack only the breakables, properly, and you keep the rest. Small fee, big drop in the 1 a.m. anxiety.
Not sure which you need? Tell us what your place looks like and how much time you’ve actually got, not the optimistic version, the real one, and we’ll tell you honestly where the line should be. Sometimes fragile-only is plenty. Sometimes, if you’re moving in five days with a full house, full packing is the only thing that saves the move. We’d rather say that up front than watch you run out of runway.
How we actually pack a box
\”We pack it carefully\” means nothing on its own, so here’s what careful actually looks like on the day, item by item, because the difference between a box that survives and a box that doesn’t is all in the small decisions.
- The right box for the contents. Books and dense items go in small boxes so they don’t become un-liftable bricks that blow out at the bottom on the third stair. Light bulky things, duvets, pillows, lampshades, go in large boxes. Dishes and stemware go in dish-pack boxes (double-walled, made for the weight). Clothes on hangers go straight into wardrobe boxes with a built-in bar, so they move closet-to-closet and you’re not ironing everything at the other end.
- Every box full and snug. A half-empty box collapses when something’s stacked on it; an overstuffed box splits down the seam. We fill the gaps with paper so nothing rattles or shifts in transit. A properly packed box should feel solid in your hands, not loose, and the lid should close flat without a fight or a bulge.
- Fragiles wrapped, not just dropped in. Dishes are individually wrapped in clean packing paper and stood on edge, not stacked flat, plates survive a bump on their edge and shatter on their face. Glasses and stemware get paper and cell dividers so they’re not knocking into each other. We use clean newsprint, not printed newspaper, so your white dishes don’t come out smudged with grey ink.
- The awkward stuff gets the right treatment. TVs and monitors get corner protection and padding (the original box is ideal if you kept it; if not, we have a plan). Mirrors, glass tabletops, and framed art get wrapped and boxed flat or stood on edge depending on the piece. Lamps come apart, base, harp, shade packed separately. Marble and stone, electronics, musical instruments, each has its own method, and we use it rather than guessing.
- Labelled so the unload isn’t a treasure hunt. Every box is marked with the room it belongs in and a note if it’s fragile or this-side-up. When the truck is unloaded, boxes land in the right room instead of in one giant pile by the front door, which is half the reason a packed move feels organized instead of chaotic.
None of this is exotic. It’s just done every single box, the same way, by people who’ve packed thousands of them and have seen what arrives broken when a step gets skipped. The discipline is the product.
Materials: we bring the good stuff (or you can buy it)
You can’t pack a move well with grocery-store boxes and a hardware-store tape gun, and the wrong materials are the single biggest reason DIY boxes arrive crushed. A used liquor-store box has already done its one job, getting bottles to the store, and the cardboard knows it.
When we pack for you, we bring everything: sturdy moving boxes in the right sizes, dish-pack boxes, wardrobe boxes, clean packing paper, bubble wrap, tape, mattress bags, and furniture padding. It’s all rated for the job, which matters more than people think. A real moving box is built to be stacked five high in a truck and carried by its hand-holds; a used grocery box is built to be recycled by Thursday. The cost of materials is real, and we’d rather show it to you on the estimate than bury it in a vague hourly rate.
Packing yourself but want decent materials? You can buy supplies from us too. A lot of people pack their own clothes and books to save money and just grab proper dish-pack and wardrobe boxes from us for the parts that need them. Tell us roughly the size of your place and we’ll suggest a sensible materials list, so you’re not standing in your living room at 11 p.m. realizing a two-bedroom needs far more boxes than you bought. It always does. Everyone buys too few the first time.
The stuff that needs a different plan
Some things don’t go in a standard box no matter how good your technique is, and these are the ones that keep people up at night. We’ve got a method for each.
Artwork and mirrors
Framed pieces and mirrors crack if they’re packed flat under weight or stood loose in a truck where they can slide and tip. We wrap them, corner-protect the frames, box them where it makes sense, and stand them on edge between solid items so nothing presses on the glass and nothing can fall onto them. Big or genuinely valuable pieces, an oversized canvas, an heirloom mirror, can get a custom-built crate if it’s warranted. If you’ve got something irreplaceable, say so when you book, and we’ll plan for it rather than improvising on the day.
TVs and electronics
A flat-screen is a sheet of glass that hates pressure on its face, and modern panels are thinner and less forgiving every year. If you kept the original box with its molded foam, that’s ideal and we’ll use it. If not, we pad it, corner-protect it, and move it upright, never flat with weight on top. Cables get bagged and labelled with the device they belong to, so setting up the living room at the other end isn’t a guessing game with a fistful of identical black cords. The same goes for desktop computers, sound systems, and game consoles.
The kitchen
It’s the room everyone dreads, and for good reason, it’s the most fragile, most-packed room in the house. Dishes, glassware, stemware, small appliances, the random heavy cast-iron in the bottom cupboard, the bottles in the pantry. This is the single most common thing people hand to us, and it’s where proper dish-pack boxes and real wrapping earn their keep. A kitchen packed by hand the night before is the classic origin story of \”we opened the box at the new place and half the wine glasses were already gone.\” If you only hand us one room, make it this one.
Wardrobes and clothing
Hanging clothes go into wardrobe boxes on the built-in bar, closet to closet, no folding, no re-ironing on the other side. Folded clothes and shoes box normally. It’s a small luxury that makes the unpack dramatically less painful, especially for anyone with work clothes that can’t show up in a wrinkled heap. Suits, dresses, and coats are exactly what wardrobe boxes were invented for.
Lamps, plants, and the awkward orphans
Lamps come apart and pack in pieces, base, harp, shade separate, never crammed in together. Odd-shaped items, the standing lamp, the exercise gear, the floor mirror, the thing that doesn’t fit any box, get individual handling. There’s always a handful of these in every home, and they’re exactly what gets damaged when someone tries to force them into the wrong box because it was the only one left.
Why this matters most on a long-distance move
If you’re staying in the neighbourhood, a slightly under-packed box might survive a fifteen-minute drive across Toronto. On a long haul, it won’t.
A long-distance move is hours of highway vibration, plus more loading and unloading at both ends, plus boxes packed tighter and stacked higher to fill the truck efficiently. That combination is a stress test, and it finds every shortcut. This is the one situation where we’ll actively push you toward professional packing for anything fragile, not as an upsell, but because we’re the ones who unload the truck in Ottawa or London and see what arrives broken when someone packed their own dishes for a six-hour drive. If you’re moving across the province or out of it, pack the breakables right, or let us. It’s cheaper than replacing them.
Packing yourself? A few hard-won tips
Maybe you’ve decided to pack the whole thing on your own, and that’s a perfectly good plan if you’ve got the time. We’re not going to talk you out of it, half of a smart move is doing the easy parts yourself. Here’s what we’d tell a friend doing the same, free of charge.
- Start two weeks out, not two days. Packing always takes two to three times longer than people guess. Begin with the stuff you don’t use daily, books, off-season clothes, the spare room, the decor, the garage, and leave the kitchen and bathroom for last. If you wait until the night before, you will end up wrapping glasses in socks. Everyone does. It’s practically a law.
- Buy more boxes than you think. The most common DIY mistake is running out at the worst possible moment. A one-bedroom usually needs more boxes than people expect; a family home, far more. Get small boxes for heavy things and large boxes for light bulky things, and don’t mix, a big box full of books is a box that breaks and a back that complains.
- Don’t make any box too heavy to lift. A box you can’t comfortably carry is a box that hurts someone or splits on the stairs. Keep the heavy stuff in small boxes, and fill out the top of a heavy box with something light like a folded towel so it’s full but not back-breaking.
- Label the side, not the top. Once boxes are stacked, you can’t read the tops. Mark the side with the room and a note if it’s fragile. Future-you, standing in the new place in front of a wall of identical brown boxes, will be quietly grateful.
- Pack a \”first night\” box and keep it with you. Toilet paper, phone chargers, a change of clothes, basic toiletries, any medications, the coffee setup, and scissors to open everything else. Put it in your own car, not the truck. The night you move in, you will not want to dig through twenty boxes to find a toothbrush at midnight.
If partway through you realize you’ve bitten off more than you want to chew, and it’s usually right around the time you open the kitchen cupboards, call us and we’ll come finish it. Plenty of people pack half a house, hit the fragiles, and tap out. There’s no shame in it, and it’s a normal call for us to get.
Unpacking, too, if you want it
Packing gets all the attention, but unpacking at the other end is its own slog. You arrive exhausted from a full day of moving, and now there’s a wall of boxes standing between you and anything resembling a normal life. The kettle is in one of them. So is the bedding.
We offer unpacking help at the new place: we bring boxes into the right rooms, unpack them, set things on counters and shelves, and haul away the empty boxes and packing paper so your new home isn’t buried under flattened cardboard for a month. You can take the whole service or just the worst room, usually the kitchen, so you can actually cook something on night one instead of ordering in again. And because we’re a full-service mover, we can reassemble the furniture we took apart, and if you’re purging as you settle in, pair it with junk removal so the old stuff and the empties leave together in one trip.
What packing actually costs
Honest pricing, because this is exactly where moving estimates tend to go vague and slippery.
Packing is priced on two things: how much you want packed and the materials it takes. A whole four-bedroom house is a bigger job than a one-bedroom condo, and full packing is more than fragile-only, straightforward enough. Materials are a line on the estimate because a full pack genuinely uses a lot of boxes and paper, and that’s a real cost we’d rather show you than hide inside an hourly rate that creeps.
A few things shift the number. A kitchen packed to the rafters, or a serious collection of art, china, or glassware, takes more time and more careful materials than average. A place that’s already half-organized goes faster than one where everything’s loose. We give you a clear estimate up front, we tell you what’s driving it, and we’ll point out where you can save, which is almost always \”you pack the books and clothes, we’ll do the kitchen and the fragiles.\” Request a free quote with a rough idea of your place and how much help you want, and we’ll lay it out plainly. Packing is most economical bundled with your move, since the crew is already booked.
How it works
- Tell us how much help you want. Full, partial, or fragile-only, and roughly the size of your place. Not sure where the line is? Describe it and we’ll recommend honestly. Use the quote form or call 905-752-7787.
- Get a clear price and a date. We estimate based on scope and materials, schedule the packing (usually a day or two before the move for a full pack), and confirm anything your building needs, like an elevator booking or a certificate of insurance.
- We pack. The crew arrives with all the materials, protects your floors and doorways, and packs methodically, right boxes, proper wrapping, labelled by room. Point out anything especially precious or irreplaceable so it gets extra attention and the right materials.
- Move day, and beyond. Everything’s boxed and ready when the movers arrive, so loading is quick and there’s no scramble. Want us to unpack at the other end too? We’ll bring it into the right rooms and clear the empties so you’re not living in a cardboard maze.
Packing services across the GTA and Ontario
We pack homes across the region and beyond, condos and houses in Toronto, family homes out in Mississauga and Markham, and across Hamilton and the wider GTA. See the locations page for the full list and the services page for everything we do. Outside the core GTA and still in Ontario? Ask, we likely cover you, and packing travels well with a long-haul move to anywhere in the province.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you pack just my kitchen or just the fragile items?
Yes, fragile-only and partial packing are our two most common requests. We pack the breakables (dishes, glassware, art, electronics) properly, and you handle the simple stuff like books and clothes, or we pack the whole home. You choose how much help you want, and we’ll tell you where we think the sensible line is for your place.
Do you bring boxes and packing materials?
Yes. When we pack for you, we bring everything, moving boxes, dish-pack boxes, wardrobe boxes, packing paper, bubble wrap, tape, and padding, all rated for the job. If you’d rather pack yourself, you can also buy materials from us, and we’ll suggest how many boxes your place is likely to need so you don’t run out halfway through.
How much do packing services cost in Toronto?
It depends on how much you want packed (full, partial, or fragile-only) and the materials it takes. We give a clear estimate up front and explain exactly what’s driving it. Packing is most economical bundled with your move, since the crew is already on site. Request a quote with a rough idea of your place for a real number.
How long before the move should packing happen?
For a full pack we usually come a day or two before move day, so everything’s boxed and ready when the truck arrives. Fragile-only or partial packing can often be done the morning of the move, depending on the size of the job. We’ll set the schedule with you when you book so it lines up with your move date and your building’s rules.
Do you unpack at the new place too?
We do. Unpacking help is available, we bring boxes into the right rooms, unpack them, set things on shelves and counters, and haul away the empty boxes and paper. You can take the whole service or just the worst room, which is usually the kitchen so you can cook on night one.
Will my dishes and glasses actually survive?
That’s the entire point of packing them properly. We use dish-pack boxes, wrap each piece in clean paper, stand plates on edge rather than stacking them flat, and use cell dividers for glassware. Done right, fragiles travel fine, even on a long-distance move, which is exactly where DIY packing tends to fail under highway vibration.
Can I pack some of it myself to save money?
Absolutely, and we recommend it. Pack your own books, clothes, and linens, the stuff that just goes in a box, and let us handle the kitchen, the art, and the electronics. You save on labour and still get the parts that need real skill done right. That’s exactly what partial packing is, and it’s the option most people land on.
Do you use newspaper to wrap things?
No. We use clean packing paper (unprinted newsprint), so the ink doesn’t transfer onto your dishes and light-coloured items. It’s one of those small details that separates a professional pack from a DIY one that leaves you scrubbing grey newsprint off the good china at the other end.
Tell us how much you want packed and we’ll give you a clear price and a date, proper materials, careful work, labelled by room, ready before the truck arrives. Call 905-752-7787 or request your free quote.