Five hundred and forty kilometres on the 20 and the 401. Montreal to Toronto is the big trip: loading one day, the road, delivery the next. The price is written before departure, and the two directions look much the same.
Change the floor, the packing, the extras, or the date. The range follows.
What to know
Toronto is a city of towers. Condos in Downtown, Liberty Village, North York, or Mississauga need an elevator booking, often a deposit, and a certificate of insurance in the building’s name. The truck parks in the loading zone or with a street permit. Houses in Leslieville, High Park, or Etobicoke have narrow stairs and shared laneway parking. We ask about all of it beforehand.
Six hours of road for a car, seven for the truck, plus the 401 approaching Toronto. We usually load in Montreal on day one and deliver in Toronto on day two, within an agreed window. Your belongings stay in the same truck until delivery. Our main work is in Quebec: this trip is done on reservation, and we confirm the date before writing the quote.
Questions
Q1
How much does a Montreal to Toronto move cost?
The table on this page gives the range by home size, before taxes, and the ballpark at the top of the page is for a 2-bedroom with easy access at both addresses. Stairs, packing, and the date come on top.
Q2
How many days does it take?
Count on two days: loading on the first, delivery on the second. For a large house with full packing, packing often happens the day before loading.
Q3
Do you do Toronto to Montreal?
Yes, and the price is much the same. Many people come back to Quebec after a few years; the trip is the same, the other way.
Straightforward advice, written to be read at your pace.
Dates, July 1, and lead time
A few weeks of notice makes the day simpler, especially in summer. In Quebec, many leases change on July 1. That day, elevators are taken and the streets in apartment neighbourhoods are full. If your date can be a Tuesday in May or September, the same home moves more calmly. If the date is fixed in that busy week, call early and already have the elevator time. We say clearly whether the day is still open.
A weekday move is often smoother than a Saturday, because buildings and streets are less crowded. That is not always possible, and it is not a rule. Evenings can be discussed when the building allows them. In winter, in Quebec City as in Montreal, ice and snow add time on outdoor steps. Tell us if the entrance is a porch that has not been cleared. That is not a cosmetic detail. It is the path the sideboard has to take.
What changes the price
There is no single rate on this site, because a studio and a suburban house do not need the same crew or the same time. The price follows the volume, the distance, the stairs, the elevator, the packing, and, if needed, holding the goods. A long carry from the street, a third floor with no elevator, or two buildings that each require a booking, make the day longer. One heavy item is still a real job: the price then follows the weight, the steps, and the distance, not the size of a whole house.
What does not change the price is a question asked beforehand. Call to ask if a date is open, or whether a piece will fit through a door. What changes it is a new fact on the morning. We would rather have a ten-minute call the week before than a discussion on the sidewalk. The accepted quote is the one that governs. If a page on the site and that text differ, the accepted text is the one that counts.
Straps hold the stacks. The mattress stays upright, on its own.
A small job or a full house
You do not need a full house to call. A few boxes, a bed, a washing machine, or a piano are welcome. The care does not shrink because the list is short. A condo may still require a certificate and an elevator time for a single piece. Tell us the name of the item, the floor it leaves, and the floor it goes to. A photo helps for an armoire or a piano whose width we do not know.
At the other end, a full house needs a calmer inventory: basement, garage, shed, balcony. Tools and paint are not handled like picture frames. If part of the contents is staying, say so. We do not empty a home for you, and we do not choose what is given away or thrown out. Family can take a piece before truck day. What stays behind does not go into the quote.
A short drive or a longer one
A local move is often done in a day: load, drive, unload. Kilometres do not say everything. Two elevators, a bridge, and a narrow street can take longer than a suburban drive with two driveways. Laval, Longueuil, the North Shore, and the island do not share the same timing even when the addresses look close on a map. We count that time in the quote instead of discovering it at rush hour.
A longer distance, for example between Montreal and Quebec City, adds road and a delivery window said in advance. Packing matters more there, because the boxes stay in motion longer. Our main work is in Quebec. For a trip that starts or ends outside the province, call. We say whether the date is possible. We do not promise a map of the whole country. We promise a clear answer.
Pads on the fabric, plastic on the sofa.
What the quote actually looks at
A fair quote starts with two addresses, not a price given on the phone with no detail. We ask for the floor you are leaving, the floor you are going to, whether there is an elevator, and how many steps there are if there is not. A house with a basement is not the same volume as a small apartment. A piano, a built-in fridge, or a very heavy bed has to be named at the start, or the first number will not hold on truck day. Distance counts too, especially when a bridge sits between the two doors. Where the truck parks is part of the time: a driveway, a dock, or a street that needs a permit is not the same half hour.
The quote is written, and it is free. It says whether packing, unpacking, or holding goods between two dates is included. It books nothing until you accept it. If a floor was left out, or twenty boxes appear in the morning that were not in the story, the work changes and we say so before going on. The aim is not a surprise at the end. The aim is that the text you read stays the text of the day, as long as the home you described is the home we find.
How the day actually goes
We arrive in the window we agreed. Someone on the crew says where we start: often the fullest room, or the one whose doorway blocks the others. You do not have to carry. You can sit, answer the phone, or simply point to the corner for the bed and the wall for the sideboard. A family member can be there for the decisions. One person confirms whether a piece goes or stays. Too many instructions at once slow everyone down and scuff the door frames.
Medication, papers, the charger, and a change of clothes stay with you, not at the back of the truck. So do the keys to both homes. If the building has an end time for the elevator, we keep it. A finished room and boxes grouped together is better than running past the hour and leaving everything in the lobby. At the end of the load, we do a last walk of the closets, the balcony, and the garage if you told us they are part of the trip.
The piano stays in the room until the doorway is clear.
Buildings, stairs, and parking
In Montreal and nearby, many moves are decided by the building’s rules more than by the road. The elevator is often booked days ahead, especially at the start of the month. Management sometimes wants a certificate of insurance before they release the time. Ask them the exact name to print and the deadline. We prepare the document. Then tell us the start and the end, and whether it is the service elevator or the one in the lobby. A narrow hall or a low ceiling changes how a sofa turns.
Without an elevator, the number of steps is the detail people forget most often. A third floor in a walk-up is nothing like a ground floor. Turning stairs in a duplex sometimes mean taking a piece apart on the landing. The truck does not always park at the door. Some streets need a permit, some buildings have the dock at the back, and in Old Quebec a large vehicle stops farther away. The longer the carry, the more it needs to be said beforehand, not on arrival.
Packing without losing track
Packing often takes longer than loading. If you do it yourself, start with the kitchen and with what breaks: dishes, lamps, mirrors, frames. Fill the empty space. A half-empty box gets crushed under the others. Write the room on two sides, not only on the top, because the top disappears in the stack. “Fragile” alone does not say whether the box belongs in the bedroom or the living room. If we pack, we use paper and pads, and the boxes carry the same kind of label.
Unpacking can be added to the quote, or left for the next day. Nothing requires every box to be opened that night. Open the essentials first: sheets, the coffee pot, one pot, toiletries. The rest can wait. What is not coming should not sit in a box “just in case”. A quote based on the whole house will be too high if half the furniture is staying with family. Decide before the truck, not while the ramp is already out.
