Binding estimate
A binding estimate is a quoted price the mover agrees to honour for the inventory and services described in it, regardless of how long the job actually takes.
What it means for you
The protection is real but conditional: it binds only the work described. Adding items on moving day, or a service nobody quoted for such as a long carry, generally takes those additions outside the binding price. The question worth asking is not "is it binding" but "what exactly is it binding on".
At Next Movement
The instant quote returns a real bookable price for the inventory and access details you enter, so the figure is tied to a specific described move rather than an estimate to be revised later.
Non-binding estimate
A non-binding estimate is a mover’s prediction of what a move will cost, which the final invoice may exceed because the price is based on actual time or weight rather than the quote.
What it means for you
It is not inherently a problem — hourly local moves are commonly quoted this way — but it transfers the risk of an underestimate to you. The practical safeguard is asking what happens if the job runs long: whether there is a cap, how overage is billed, and in what increments time is rounded.
Hourly rate move
An hourly rate move is billed on time worked, typically for a crew of a stated size plus a truck, rather than on a fixed price for the job.
What it means for you
Two details change the total more than the rate itself: what counts as billable time, and the minimum. Travel time to and from the depot is often billable, and most hourly moves carry a minimum number of hours, so a very small job may not cost proportionally less. Comparing hourly rates between movers without comparing those two terms compares almost nothing.
Travel time
Travel time is the time a crew spends getting to your origin and returning from your destination, which many movers bill in addition to the time spent loading and unloading.
What it means for you
It is one of the most common surprises on a final invoice, because customers reasonably assume billing starts when the crew arrives. Some movers charge a flat travel fee, others bill actual driving time, and some include it. It is worth confirming before booking rather than reading it on the invoice.
Bill of lading
Also known as: BOL
A bill of lading is the contract between you and the mover for the transport of your goods, and the receipt for what was picked up. It is the governing document for the move.
What it means for you
Signing it is the moment the terms become binding, which is why it should be read before signing rather than on the truck ramp. It records the declared valuation, the services agreed, and the condition of goods at pickup — and in a damage claim, it is the document both sides argue from. Never sign a blank or incomplete one.
Inventory list
Also known as: cube sheet
An inventory list is the itemized record of what is being moved, used to size the truck and crew, price the job, and establish what was in the mover’s possession.
What it means for you
Its accuracy drives everything downstream: an understated inventory produces a quote that cannot hold, a truck that may be too small, and a dispute about whether an item was ever picked up. For long-distance moves the list is also where pre-existing damage should be noted, because an item recorded as already scratched cannot become a claim later.
At Next Movement
The quote flow builds the inventory from what you enter, so the price and the crew sizing come from the same list.
Valuation coverage
Valuation coverage is the mover’s stated liability for loss or damage to your goods. It is a limit of liability under the moving contract, not an insurance policy.
What it means for you
This distinction matters because the two are routinely conflated. Basic released-value protection is typically included at no charge and pays by weight, which for a heavy but inexpensive item may be adequate and for a light, valuable one is not — a damaged laptop compensated by the kilogram is the standard illustration. Full-value protection costs more and repairs, replaces, or pays the item’s value. High-value items usually must be listed separately to be covered at all.
High-value inventory
High-value inventory is the separate declaration of items worth more than a stated threshold per item or per weight, which must be listed for the mover’s liability to extend to their actual value.
What it means for you
Items that go undeclared are generally covered only at the standard rate, however valuable they are. Art, jewellery, instruments, and collections are the usual cases. Some movers exclude certain categories entirely, in which case the answer is separate insurance or carrying the item yourself rather than assuming it is covered.
Long carry
A long carry is an accessorial charge that applies when the crew must carry goods an unusually long distance between the truck and the door, because the truck cannot park close by.
What it means for you
It is one of the charges most likely to appear on moving day rather than in the quote, because it depends on where the truck can actually park. Describing the access accurately when quoting — a narrow street, a rear entrance, no loading zone — is what prevents it from being a surprise.
Stair carry and elevator fees
Stair carry is a charge for carrying goods up or down flights of stairs beyond an allowance. Elevator fees apply where goods must be moved by elevator, which is slower than a direct carry.
What it means for you
Both are about labour time, not difficulty in the abstract. Walk-ups are common in Montreal and Quebec City, where exterior staircases and tight interior turns are routine, and a third-floor walk-up genuinely takes materially longer than a ground-floor unit. Buildings frequently also require a reserved elevator and a certificate of insurance, which is a scheduling constraint as much as a fee.
Shuttle service
Shuttle service is the use of a smaller vehicle to move goods between your door and a larger truck parked further away, when the large truck cannot reach or legally park at the address.
What it means for you
It appears most often with narrow streets, low overpasses, weight-restricted roads, and dense urban blocks with no loading zone. Because it adds a handling step and a second vehicle, it is one of the larger accessorial charges — and it is largely predictable from the address, so a mover that asks about street access is trying to price it correctly rather than being difficult.
Accessorial charges
Also known as: additional services
Accessorial charges are fees for services beyond basic loading, transport, and unloading — long carries, shuttles, stair carries, packing, appliance servicing, storage handling, and similar.
What it means for you
They are legitimate charges for real work, and they are also where quotes diverge most from final invoices. The useful discipline when comparing quotes is to check which accessorials are included versus itemized, because a lower base price with everything itemized can easily finish higher than a fuller quote.
Certificate of insurance (COI)
A certificate of insurance is a document a building management office requires from the mover, confirming the mover carries specified liability coverage before crews are allowed to work in the building.
What it means for you
It is an administrative gate that stops moves entirely when missed: buildings can and do refuse elevator access without one on file, and processing it is not instant. Condo and office towers are the usual requesters, and the requirement often arrives with a required elevator reservation window.
Elevator reservation
An elevator reservation is a booked window during which a building’s service elevator is dedicated to your move, typically arranged with building management in advance.
What it means for you
It converts a flexible move into a scheduled one. Missing the window can mean waiting for the next available slot — sometimes another day — and buildings commonly restrict move-in hours and days entirely. This is why moving-day timing in a tower is driven by the building’s rules more than the crew’s pace.
Full-service vs partial packing
Full-service packing means the mover packs your belongings; partial packing means they pack only agreed categories, commonly fragile or bulky items, while you pack the rest.
What it means for you
Beyond cost, the practical consequence is liability: goods packed by the owner are generally treated differently from goods packed by the mover in a damage claim, because the mover cannot vouch for how a box it did not pack was filled. If breakables matter, having the mover pack them changes who is answerable for them.
At Next Movement
Packing can be added as a service when quoting rather than arranged separately.
Origin and destination
Origin is the address goods are collected from and destination is the address they are delivered to, as recorded on the moving contract.
What it means for you
They sound trivial and are worth confirming precisely, because access conditions at each are what drive accessorial charges and crew sizing. A move quoted between two addresses is priced on both sets of conditions — a ground-floor origin and a third-floor walk-up destination is not an average of the two.
Local vs long-distance move
A local move stays within a defined radius or region and is usually billed hourly. A long-distance move crosses that boundary — commonly between cities or provinces — and is usually priced on distance and volume or weight.
What it means for you
The billing model changes with the category, which is why the same volume of goods is quoted so differently. Long-distance moves also introduce delivery windows rather than fixed delivery times, and may involve consolidation with other shipments, both of which affect when you actually receive your belongings.
Delivery window
Also known as: delivery spread
A delivery window is the range of dates within which a long-distance shipment is scheduled to arrive, rather than a single guaranteed delivery date.
What it means for you
Windows exist because long-haul trucks serve multiple shipments and are subject to weather, weight limits, and road conditions. The planning implication is concrete: arrangements that assume a fixed arrival date — a rented elevator slot, a returned key, a first night with a bed — should be made against the end of the window, not its start.
Consolidated shipment
Also known as: LTL, shared load
A consolidated shipment combines your goods with other customers’ goods on the same truck, with each shipment kept separately identified and billed by its own volume or weight.
What it means for you
It lowers cost for smaller long-distance moves by sharing the trip, and in exchange it lengthens and loosens the schedule, because the truck follows a route that serves several deliveries. The trade is money for date certainty, which is the right trade for some moves and the wrong one when a hard date exists.
Storage in transit (SIT)
Storage in transit is temporary warehousing of your goods by the mover between pickup and final delivery, used when the destination is not ready to receive them.
What it means for you
It is distinct from long-term storage in how it is billed and how liability is treated, and it adds two extra handling steps — into and out of the warehouse — which is where the added damage risk of a storage leg comes from. Closing-date gaps between a sale and a purchase are the most common reason people need it.
Moving permit
A moving permit is municipal authorization to occupy street space with a moving truck, typically by temporarily reserving parking in front of an address.
What it means for you
Where required, it is what prevents the truck from being ticketed or towed and prevents a long carry from an inconvenient parking spot. Requirements, lead times, and cost are set by the municipality and vary between cities and even boroughs — in dense Montreal neighbourhoods this is a routine part of planning rather than an edge case.
Peak season and July 1 in Quebec
Peak season is the period of highest moving demand, when capacity is scarcest and scheduling least flexible. In Quebec, demand concentrates sharply around July 1.
What it means for you
Quebec’s residential leases have historically run to June 30, which pushes an unusual share of the province’s moves into a single window. The practical consequences are availability rather than any single fee: crews and trucks book out well in advance, date changes become hard, and same-day flexibility mostly disappears. Booking early matters more here than in most markets.
Appliance servicing
Appliance servicing is the disconnection and reconnection of appliances — washers, dryers, refrigerators with water lines, stoves — as a distinct service from moving them.
What it means for you
Movers transport appliances; disconnecting plumbing, gas, or hardwired connections is separate work and is frequently not included by default. Gas connections in particular are often outside a moving crew’s scope entirely and require a qualified trade, which is a scheduling item to resolve before moving day rather than on it.
Damage claim
A damage claim is the formal process for seeking compensation for goods lost or damaged during a move, filed with the mover under the valuation coverage in the contract.
What it means for you
Claims turn on evidence and timing. There is a filing deadline, damage should be noted at delivery before signing off rather than discovered later, and photographs taken at both ends are what make a claim straightforward. The compensation available is set by the valuation coverage chosen at booking, not by the item’s sentimental or replacement value.
