Packing, crating and storage under one roof
The move itself is usually one day. Packing takes a week of evenings, and storage fills the gap when the dates of two leases, a sale and a purchase, or a renovation do not line up. These are the parts of a move that people underestimate most, and they are the parts where a professional crew saves the most time and prevents the most damage.
Simplex offers packing, unpacking, moving supplies, custom crating, palletizing and storage — on their own or as part of a move with us. The people who pack your kitchen are the same crew that loads the truck, so boxes are packed to be carried and stacked, not just filled. The two services people ask for most have their own pages: packing services and storage.
Packing services
Full packing
Our crew packs everything the day before the move: kitchen, closets, bookcases, décor, bathrooms and storage areas. Every box is labelled with its room and a short description. On moving day, you only need to keep aside what you are taking with you.
Partial packing
Most customers pack their own clothes and books and leave us the parts that break: the kitchen, glassware, framed pictures, mirrors, lamps and electronics. A partial packing job is often a few hours for two packers and makes the biggest difference to the risk of damage.
Unpacking and setup
At the new home we unpack boxes, put dishes in cupboards, make beds, place furniture and take away every box and scrap of paper. Unpacking is the service people do not think they need until they are surrounded by eighty boxes on the first evening.
Moving boxes and packing supplies
If you pack yourself, you need the right materials: sturdy boxes in a few sizes, wardrobe boxes for hanging clothes, dish packs with dividers for the kitchen, mattress bags, TV boxes, packing paper, bubble wrap, stretch wrap and good tape. We supply boxes and materials and bill only what you use. A typical one-bedroom apartment needs twenty-five to forty boxes; a three-bedroom home, sixty to ninety.
| Supply | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Small boxes | Books, files, canned goods — anything heavy |
| Medium boxes | Kitchen items, toys, small appliances |
| Large boxes | Linens, pillows, lampshades — anything light |
| Wardrobe boxes | Hanging clothes, straight from the closet |
| Dish packs | Plates, glasses and bowls with dividers |
| Mattress bags | Keeping mattresses clean and dry |
| TV boxes | Flat-screen TVs and monitors |
| Packing paper and bubble wrap | Wrapping fragile items |
| Stretch wrap and furniture blankets | Protecting furniture finishes |
Furniture services
Some furniture needs to come apart to leave the building: bed frames, dining tables, wardrobes, sectionals, desks. We disassemble and reassemble standard furniture as part of every move. We also move furniture inside a home — to rearrange a floor, clear a room for painters or flooring, or bring furniture up from a basement — and install office furniture for businesses.
Custom crating and palletizing
Some pieces cannot travel in a box or a blanket: a large painting, a marble or glass tabletop, a chandelier, an antique cabinet, a piece of machinery. For those, we build a wooden crate to the piece, lined with foam where needed. Crates for export are made of heat-treated wood stamped to the ISPM 15 standard. Palletizing — strapping and wrapping goods on a pallet — is used for commercial moves, shipments that go into a shared trailer or container, and storage.
Storage
Storage is often part of a move rather than a separate need: the new home is not ready, a renovation runs late, a house sale closes before the purchase, or you are leaving Montreal for a few months. We store household goods, office furniture and inventory in a secure facility, and we pick up and deliver with our own trucks, so there is no second company and no need to rent a van.
- Short-term storage — a few days to a few weeks, usually between two moving dates.
- Long-term storage — months or longer, for time abroad, downsizing or a family estate.
- Household storage — furniture and boxes wrapped as for a move, stored with an inventory.
- Commercial storage — surplus office furniture, archives, retail fixtures and seasonal stock.
- Transit storage — goods waiting for a long-distance or international shipment.
Storage starts at $90 per month; the contents of a one-bedroom apartment from $120 per month. The details are on the storage page.
Pricing
Packing and unpacking are billed by the hour: $120 an hour for two packers, plus $40 an hour for each additional packer. Materials have no minimum — you pay only for what you use. Custom crates are quoted per piece after we measure. Storage is billed by the month according to the volume you store. When packing, storage and a move are combined, everything is on one quote and one invoice. Current rates are on the pricing page.
Tips if you pack yourself
- Start with the rooms you use least — the basement, the guest room, the bookcases — three or four weeks before.
- Heavy items in small boxes, light items in large boxes. A large box of books is too heavy to carry safely and often breaks.
- Fill every box to the top. Half-empty boxes collapse when stacked; fill gaps with paper or towels.
- Plates on their edge, glasses wrapped one by one. Plates stacked flat are the most common kitchen breakage.
- Label on the side, not the top. Stacked boxes hide their tops. Write the room and a few words on two sides.
- Keep an essentials box. Chargers, medication, toilet paper, a kettle, coffee, sheets for the first night — and keep it with you.
How much packing do I need?
| Home | Typical number of boxes | Full packing time |
|---|---|---|
| Studio or 1½ | 15–25 | 2–3 hours, 2 packers |
| 1 bedroom or 3½ | 25–40 | 3–5 hours, 2 packers |
| 2 bedrooms or 4½ | 40–60 | 5–7 hours, 2–3 packers |
| 3 bedrooms or 5½ | 60–90 | a full day, 3 packers |
| House, 4+ bedrooms | 90–130+ | one to two days, 3–4 packers |
These are averages. Kitchens, books and collections add boxes; minimalist homes need fewer. Your quote estimates the boxes and hours for your home.
Packing and storage for common situations
Between two leases
The old lease ends on June 30, the new one starts on July 5. We pack and load on the last day, store for the gap and deliver on the first day of the new lease. Your belongings stay wrapped and on an inventory the whole time.
Selling a house
Staging a house for sale often means removing half the furniture. We pack and store what the stager wants gone, move the rest when the sale closes, and deliver everything together to the new home.
Renovations
Clearing rooms for painters, floor refinishing or a kitchen renovation. We can move furniture into another part of the house, or pack and store it until the work is done and bring it back.
Downsizing and estates
Moving from a family home to a condo or a retirement residence, or emptying the home of a family member. We pack what goes to the new home, store what the family has not decided on, deliver pieces to relatives and charities, and arrange disposal for the rest.
Businesses
Office packing before a move, archives into storage, retail fixtures between locations and furniture for offices that are not yet ready.
Crating: when a box is not enough
A crate is the right choice when an item is fragile, valuable, heavy for its size or travelling far: a painting, a marble or glass tabletop, a large mirror, a chandelier, a sculpture, an antique, a piece of equipment. Crates are measured and built for the piece, lined with foam where needed, and marked with handling instructions. For anything leaving Canada, crates and pallets are made of heat-treated wood stamped to the ISPM 15 standard.
Buying boxes, reusing boxes or letting us pack
There are three reasonable ways to handle packing, and the right one depends on your time and what you own.
Reusing boxes from stores or friends is cheapest, but mixed sizes stack badly and used boxes are weaker. It works for books, clothes and unbreakable items.
Buying proper boxes and materials costs more but makes the move faster and safer: boxes of the same sizes stack solidly, dish packs protect the kitchen, and wardrobe boxes save hours of folding. We supply them and bill only what you use.
Letting us pack costs the most in hours but the least in your time, and it is the option with the lowest risk of breakage. Many customers split the difference: they pack clothes and books themselves and leave us the kitchen, glassware, pictures and electronics.
What happens to the materials after the move
After unpacking, we take away boxes, paper and bubble wrap. Boxes in good condition are reused, and the rest is recycled. If you unpack yourself, flatten the boxes and we can collect them on a later visit.
Prices at a glance
Packing and unpacking are billed by the hour — $120 for two packers, $40 for each additional one — and materials have no minimum: you pay only for what you use. Storage is billed by the month, from $90; a one-bedroom apartment from $120. Custom crates are quoted per piece after measuring. When packing, storage and a move are booked together, they appear on one quote and one invoice, and pick-up for storage is simply part of the moving day.
