Any recommendations for moving companies from Canada to AU?

[thermojetics]

We are going to move from Toronto to Melbourne at the beginning of next year. We are still debating if we should move our stuff or just sell it here in Canada and buy new furniture and all the other stuff in Australia.

Can anyone give me an idea about how much will cost to move our stuff. We don’t have a lot of stuff ~ 2 bedrooms. Is sharing a container an option? I heard it's cheaper...

[BrianDamage]

I have not made the move as of yet, but I have talked to these guys and they provide door to door service, including short-term storage if required at your destination.
Sorry I cannot post links yet but here you go
H T T P : brytor dot CA

[michelle744]

Hi there - I was just wondering if you have found any more information about moving companies. I have been looking on the internet and seem to be having trouble finding information. We are looking at moving in 2010, probably in August or September, but I"m just trying to find out what the costs would be (moving from Cambridge to Queensland).
Thanks,
Michelle

[peaches]

I used Brytor from Toronto. Their estimates are contingent upon the cubic feet of your goods shipped in a shared container or not, if you will require professional packing and delivery door-to-door.

Be prepared to pay from 3600$ cad and up. You will have to make some tough choices and discard much of your belongings, unless you want to pay 40-50k in moving fees. I would strongly suggest you bring your most valuables, photos, clothes,antiques, artwork and anything that is of emotional value; the rest ie furniture, kitchen stuff etc can be bought there.

I found them to be meticulous, organized,competitive and overall exceeded my expectations.

[comet555]

Shipping an entire house is nowhere near $40-50k. When we moved from Fort McMurray last year we were quoted about $15,000 from our door to Brisbane. This was for our own 20 foot container. We opted not to as we priced out how much it would cost to replace everything (and I do mean everything) in Australia and it worked out to between $15k to 20k. We didn't bother because we still had lots of crappy furnture from university and there wasn't all that much that we needed to bring. Plus we figured we'd probably only be coming for about 3 years so we left everything in storage at our in-laws. I know of someone else who moved from the Toronto area to Adealide and they paid about $10,000 for their 20 foot container back in 2006. I believe they went with Allied. Here's a discussion on shipping: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthre ... ght=Allied

Read more: Post a reply : Travel Tips & Advice posting.php?mode=reply&f=5&t=6849&sid=8edeccf6b97768b2aa18011d287b537e#ixzz0XpbE8OHj

[peaches]

Michelle, I have known people who had substantial belongings from mansion-sized homes. Corporate clients... perhaps an unfamiliar area for some. They certainly did not possess 'crappy' university furniture and had everything insured. You must realise that what they paid is the exception to the rule.

As mentioned by another poster, do give a few companies a call. Some have found Brytor a very reliable and efficient company. AMJ Campbell has extensive affiliations all over the world. I have quite a few of my clients who moved to NZ and OZ to assume executive duties for global companies. Shoot me a PM if you wish and I can hunt down more succinct and answers from many sources, not just a couple of websites. Best of luck with your move!

[comet555]

Oh, for goodness sakes.....

To ship an average house it is nowhere near 40-50k. The only way you could approach that total would be if you filled two 20 foot containers and also shipped a vehicle along with it (or a combo of vehicles and containers). I would also consider the fact that knowing the relocations are being paid for by a company could help escalate the costs if you know what I mean. Company moves sometimes include a relocation agent and assistance on the other end which would further add to the costs. When my husband was going through job interviews the relocation packages they were describing were very thorough, and I would not be surprised if what they described was 40-50k. However, we came without jobs (by choice) and so would have been paying for it ourselves so we opted to leave everything in Canada.

Also, I love the slight dig and your presumption that we might not be in the same league or something. I presume you think we are poor, which couldn't be farther from the truth. The fact is that we knew we were moving over shortly after we left university so we didn't bother replacing or getting expensive stuff. It had nothing to do with affording new stuff, in fact the money we saved was used to pay off two student loans in full and buy a house within 2 years of leaving school.

Without getting into salaries my husband is a senior mining engineer so does quite well and would certainly be in the league of those who get those generous packages you seem to go on about. I'm a teacher myself although by choice I'm not working and am staying home with the kids. We're fortunate that I don't need to work unless I really want to (which I will once they're in school).

Enough about that though.... I think you'll find that the average person shipping a house (no car) over in a 20 foot container on their own it would be at the most more in the range of 15-20k. I'm not disagreeing that those 40-50k moves happen, it's just not going to happen for most people. When we had our quote it was about $15,000 for a 20 foot container which would have fit our entire 3 bedroom house and all the furniture without getting rid of any. This was in 2007 so it's not that long ago.

And about that other forum.... it's not an attempt to spam it but rather an attempt to get people more information. There is only so much traffic on this site and there are often interesting questions that get unanswered or very few responses. I found that "other" forum particularly helpful when we moved over as this board in particular was not as active back in 2006-2007. Not to say it's a fountain of activity now, but it has picked up a bit. Let's face it there are hardly any Canadians immigration to Oz compared to the amount from the UK and the rest of the world. Why limit your answers to those coming from Canadians when you can ask questions from far more on another site. If this site had that kind of activity I never would have needed to look elsewhere.

-- Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:09 pm --

Peaches - I see you felt the need to edit your first post to get rid of the comments directed at me.

Topic: Any recommendations for moving companies from Canada to AU?
Author: peaches
Message:

I hate to burst your bubble, Comet, but I have known people who hadsubstantial belongings. Corporate clients... perhaps an unfamiliar area orfor you. By the way, does every post of yours spam that other forum? A bit rude, no?Or does the site Admin(s) approve of this?

[peaches]

I am heartened you saw my comments Comet and thanks for the clarification. As a Moderator for one of Internet Brands' largest sites (B.E is owned by them), we discourage spammers.

I trust you are enjoying your life in Brisbane and have a well-rounded life. I can imagine how hard it is to not have much of a career in a new country; I found it difficult at first but my education and experience - much like your husbands- enabled me to add to the family's coffers. We are blessed with a terrific household income and blessed to live in Australia permanently. Your lifestyle and mine would be equitable to comparing apples to oranges and I am not the competitive sort nor do I feel I have to overcompensate.

Sorry if you took offense. You can retract your claws now....