Plan ahead, Pack early

Like the trees and flowers, moving season is in full bloom in Montreal. After the prank mother nature pulled last week with the hope-crushing 15 cm of random snow the cold winter has passed and the longer days are filled with promise of a summer soon to come.

Summer time is also moving season in Montreal. Whether moving out of your parents house, moving in with a loved one, upgrading, downgrading, moving for work, etc there's no avoiding the fact that you'll have to move (despite your best efforts to ignore it). All of your stuff is going to have to get packed up and moved to a new place whether it be at the other end of the city or across the street.

Due to Quebec's famous 'Moving Day" over 80,000 Quebecers' spend Canada Day packing boxes. Also, lease patterns tend to end between May and August resulting in a large number of people having to move at that time. Companies therefor experience a huge amount of over demand during those peak times and charge higher rates.


Here are a few tips on how to save time, effort and money when hiring movers during the summer rush.

BOOK EARLY - Save Money - Booking in advance ensures that you will get a decent rate from your moving company. If you wait until the day before you can expect to pay higher prices.

BOOK EARLY - Save Time - Early bookings mean that you will be able to reserve easily. If you wait until the last minute you may have to contact multiple companies before finding one with openings and may end up with a company that you would never hire otherwise.

AVOID THE LAST DAY/FIRST DAY- Of each month. This can sometimes be tricky due to lease patterns but if your moving date is flexible and your budget is tight then avoiding these days are your best choice. These dates have higher demand and higher prices.

MID MONTH MOVES - The middle of the month can a quieter time for movers. By reserving a date between the 10th and 20th of each month, you may be able to benefit from a lower rate

There you have it! A few friendly tips from the team at Bust a Move Moving regarding your upcoming move in Montreal this summer.

When life gives you lemons, fill them with furniture.

Bust a Move moving started off with a 1993 Toyota pickup that was composed of more putty than steel. After helping a friend move her mattress, she secretly put an ad on Craigslist titled, " Student Mover with Truck".

It's safe to say that 70% of our customers muttered  "Whaaat the Heeeeck" under their breath as they witnessed this truck roll up to their front door.


We upgraded to a covered truck.  This cool looking 1972 Grumman Kurbmaster was better suited to serve ice cream to screaming kids in the park but we made it work. When I bought it had an "Antique license plate" I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing at the time.

1984 Grumman Curbmaster

Check out those rims! We loved this truck. You could drive it with the doors wide open, and the horn was an air pressured device which sounded like a train.


We then progressed to something a little more modern. Nothing too interesting to say about this thing. It was a 14 foot cube truck that ran well and helped us secure larger scale moves.

14-foot Ford E-450

The next step was to invest in a reliable, large moving truck that would enable us to offer a better service and undertake larger moves once again.

20 foot - Ford LCF Truck

Stored inside of this guy are dozens of protective blankets for your furniture, dollies, tools, straps, mattress covers, packing tape, shrink wrap, floor mats and everything else needed to complete your move in an efficient manner. The truck is clean, reliable and great for inter city moves.


And then this happened;

And then this;

Et voila, there is a history of our fleet which is always modernizing and improving to best serve our customers. It only makes sense, they deserve it.

Until Next time!

www.bustamovemoving.com

What a Waste!

Going Green is no longer a trend; it’s the new way of life. Nowadays companies are dreaming up amazing solutions that benefit both society and the environment. Bamboo laptops, water-less washing machines and solar powered refrigerators are just a few inventions which are beyond impressive.  When thinking of the moving industry however, there is nothing spectacular to be found.

This past January we moved two customers from Montreal to Toronto and brought a load back to Montreal on our way home. Once all was done, we were bothered by the amount of waste that we produced in order to complete our moves.  The distance of the entire trip was approximately 1500 km’s (return) and took two days. Below is a list of our supplies used;

-500 Litres of Diesel fuel.

-10 queen size mattress bags – Plastic

-600 meters of packing tape – Plastic

-140 boxes, give or take – Cardboard

-800 feet of Shrink Wrap – Plastic

It was disappointing to see how 'un-environmentally' friendly our business was and had us thinking of what could be done to reduce our impact. We have a few ideas, but they require a lot of extra time and effort to implement, not to mention they are more costly for us.  

We would be interested to hear from anyone who may have ideas as to how we could reduce our impact on the environment.  All ideas are welcome (no matter how small, large, ridiculous or unlikely).

Feel free to reply to this post or send an e-mail to info@bustamovemoving.com

A World of Weird

If you're moving and think that some of your belongings are 'special', it's always best to notify your moving company in advance.  Even good movers are unable to work with certain objects. Below are some of the most unusual objects that Bust a Move Moving has encountered over the years in Montreal.

THE BARBER CHAIR -  Moving an old school barber chair that weighed roughly 400 pounds down three sets of stairs (and it couldn't be tilted because it had oil in the base) was not easy for the movers!  Our client mentioned that he needed a "Chair" to be moved. One heck of a chair!

TURD BUCKET- "Can you load my cat litter?"  Yes, we can load the cat litter box after you remove that towering pyramid of turds, the actual litter and then rinse it out, over and over again. While you do that we will go get our hazmat suits.

EMPTY BEER BOTTLES - A 5 1/2 apartment with one room designated to empty beer cases. They were all 24's and all Budweiser.  The money they got back from the returns covered the $467 move and some extra. You do the math!

SNAKE SKIN - A big clear container full of snake skin. That is all.

FISH TANK FULL OF FISH - The fish tank is heavy enough on its own and they wanted to move it with all the water and the fish still inside!  Even the fish were rolling their eyes.  

BAGS OF BRICKS - About 60 bricks, placed in garbage bags. Unfortunately the ultra thin plastic could not handle the weight, which was surprising.......?  Once transferred to boxes the process went smoothly.

SEX SWING MACHINE THING -  This 'Sex Swing'  took up an entire bedroom. This thing could replace a jungle gym at a school playground. Metal bars, bungees, ropes, hydraulic lifts, chains. We didn't know what to say about this one.  We did not disassemble or move it.  We'll leave that part up to her lover(s)

Bellies Full - Spirits Up

Hot days, humid days, rainy days, snow, slush, stairs, bumps, bruises, cuts, tiny doors, stinky hallways, grumpy doormen, crying babies and broken elevators.

Just a few things that can put a damper on the morale while your movers work tirelessly to finish the job.  A three year study conducted by Bust a Move Moving has revealed that the single best remedy for a bad attitude is… Food. 

Research shows that a whopping 98.4% of Bust a Move movers experienced lifted spirits when offered food + drink during the move. Furthermore, the studies concluded that productivity increased by an astonishing 58% when movers ingested food or drink offered by customers. Below are notable offerings that were greatly appreciated. A big thank you to our amazing customers!

• Cheeseburgers from Burger de Ville / Capoli’s
• Smoked Salmon on fresh bagels from St Viateur
• Non-Alcoholic Becks
• Countless Pizzas
• Homemade Cookies – Straight from the oven
• Hundreds of bottles of Gatorade (You would think we were sponsored by them)
• Ham Sandwiches from Premier Moisson
• Smoked meat sandwiches from Shwartz’s

Top 10 - Make your Movers Hate You

Moving is tough so be sure to make things even more difficult for your movers by doing the following 10 things.


1- Find the biggest box you can and fill it with textbooks. Make sure to fill it to the top.

2- Don't sweep your place for three months prior to your movers arrival.

3- Place your 4L Jug of bleach upside down in a box. Make sure you don't tighten the lid.

4- Don't mention that your sofa was hoisted into your home with a crane the last time. We have the ability to move walls and door frames using mind power.

5 - Make sure not to reserve an elevator. They love constant high pitched beeping and being crushed by metal doors.

6-  If it's very hot out do not offer your mover a glass of water. Doing this will risk quenching their thirst.

7 - Never use moving boxes. Pack your dishes + glasses in garbage bags. Nothing protects better than an ultra thin garbage bag.

8- Ask your mover if you can help carry items into the truck. When he says "No",  do it anyway.

9- Remember that heavy box from #1?  Do not use tape to close the bottom, that way 4 years of university literature will surely fall through the bottom.

10- If you are pleased with the service and everything was great, do not tip your movers. If you tip them they will feel appreciated.

Make your movers love you

Your movers will love it if you;

1- Use boxes that are relatively all the same size
2- Sweep up dust/dirt/animal hair before they arrive
3- Are well prepared/organized
4- Reserve parking in front of your building so they can park
5- Reserve the elevator in your building so they are not constantly being crushed and beeped at
6- Offer them something to drink on hot days
7- Pack books and heavy items in smaller boxes
8- Remove ice + snow from stairways
9- Clean out your fridge
10- Clean dirty stoves and tables before they arrive

And remember, happy movers work harder!