Hiring packers in Surrey is billed by the hour, on the actual time the packers work, not as a flat rate. Three things set your number. How big the home is and how full it is, how many packers are on the job, and how much of the packing you want done. A full pack of everything, closets and garage included, runs long. A kitchen and fragiles pack is short. Materials get counted separately from the labour.
Packers on the job, times the hours they actually work, plus materials.
That is how our packing service in Surrey is billed too, on the real hours worked, with the crew size, the rate and the materials handed to you before anyone opens a box.
A flat packing price quoted sight unseen should make you pause. The Canadian Association of Movers tells consumers to stay away from anyone who does not inspect the job first. Nobody sees inside your closets from a phone call, so that number is either padded or it moves on the day.
Square footage sets the floor. Contents set the real number. A packed 700 square foot one bedroom with a full kitchen and a wall of books takes longer than a sparse two bedroom.
This Old House’s 2026 packing labour table has two packers taking about four hours on an 800 square foot home, about six at 1,200 square feet and about ten at 2,000. Those are hours, not prices. Kitchens and garages blow past every estimate, because nobody has emptied them in years.
Two packers is the normal starting crew. Three on bigger homes. That same This Old House table only steps up to three packers once a home hits 2,400 square feet.
More packers means more billed hours per hour on the clock, and the pack finishes in one visit. Half-packed on move day is the expensive outcome, because then the moving crew boxes your kitchen with the truck at the curb.
A full pack is everything. Closets, garage, the shelf above the washer. A partial is the kitchen, glassware, art, electronics and anything breakable. We do both.
Partial packing is the lever that moves your number most, because you buy fewer hours, not a cheaper rate. The Canadian Association of Movers flags the catch. Movers will not move loose items, they pack them in boxes and charge for the packing. What you did not finish gets packed on move day, on the clock.
Boxes, tape, packing paper, bubble wrap, blankets, pads, wardrobe boxes, dish packs, TV boxes. Materials are counted separately from labour, and both lines show on your breakdown.
Cargo Cabbie’s Canadian box price guide lists movers charging roughly $3 to $5 for small boxes, $6 to $8 for large, $30 to $40 for a wardrobe box and $22 to $30 for a dish pack. Those are their figures, not ours. Dish packs and wardrobe boxes surprise people. They are also the two that stop the damage.
You pay for the actual hours the crew works, billed in 30-minute increments after the minimum charge. Packing is time-based, the same as every move we do, and we break it down up front. The hourly rate, the crew size, the materials.
Get it in writing. The Canadian Association of Movers says a written estimate should carry the hours to be billed, the hourly rate charged, and an itemized list of services and materials with the cost. Canada’s Office of Consumer Affairs adds that a payment taken before delivery usually will not exceed the estimate by more than 10 per cent.
Cargo Cabbie’s 2026 Canadian packing cost guide puts packers in Toronto and Vancouver at roughly $70 to $90 an hour per packer. It is the closest Canadian benchmark to Surrey in print.
Published numbers swing wildly for two reasons. Most are US averages, and they mix two billing models. Per the Canadian Association of Movers, van lines base packing charges on the number of boxes packed, while local crews bill by the hour. Those two quotes are not comparable. MoveAdvisor’s 2026 guide even calls its own table an example only, and all of it is other companies’ pricing for other cities. We give you your own number before the job starts.
Number of packers, times hours on site, times the hourly rate you were quoted, plus materials.
Against that, put the evenings you would spend doing it yourself and the risk on the fragile stuff.
That risk is real. Canada’s Office of Consumer Affairs states that generally, the mover is not liable for loss or damage to goods packed by the owner. Pack the box yourself and the contents break, that is on you.
From six years of doing this in Surrey, a boxed and labelled home loads faster. Loose items and half-packed drawers stretch a moving day, so part of what you spend on packing comes back on the move. And a month-end possession date does not wait for you to finish.
Now the honest counter-case. If you are in a small unit, you are not short on time, and you have been boxing for two weeks, a partial pack on the kitchen and the fragiles beats a full pack. We will say so on the phone.
Ask these in this order and a vague quote shows itself fast.
It matches what the Canadian Association of Movers says an estimate should cover.
Both models exist. The Canadian Association of Movers says van lines base packing charges on the number of boxes packed. Local crews bill by the hour. We are hourly, with materials listed separately.
Go by square footage, not bedrooms. This Old House’s 2026 packing labour table has two packers taking about four hours on an 800 square foot home and about six at 1,200 square feet. Contents beat square footage, so a full kitchen pushes it longer.
On labour, yes. On risk, not always. Canada’s Office of Consumer Affairs states that the mover generally is not liable for damage to goods packed by the owner, so a self-packed box that breaks is on you. Plenty of people split it and hand us the fragiles.
The day before is the usual call in Surrey. The Residential Tenancy Act puts tenants out by 1 p.m. on the last day, and a strata elevator window is often only three to four hours. Neither leaves room to pack and load in one shot.
Walk us through the home room by room, garage and locker included. You get crew size, hourly rate, estimated hours and materials in writing before anyone starts.
Tell us what needs packing and we will put real hours and a real breakdown in front of you before we touch a box. Our own crews, no subcontractors, the same people who handle our commercial work for IKEA, Cozey and Samsung. Six years in Surrey, 5.0 stars across 395 Google reviews, phones on 24/7.
Local Movers Ltd · Surrey, BC V4N 3K4 · (778) 242-2877 · Open Mon-Sun
