I’ve been moving all my life. As a teenager I learned the business working with my dad. As I got older I had no doubt that becoming an Owner Operator was what I wanted to do, buy my own truck and run my own crew. Many clients call back for a 2nd, 3rd or 4th move with OO movers, asking specifically for me. I work hard and honestly love what I do. The physical labor is what I like the most and after a long day of moving I will normally hit the gym for a while before going home for the night.

I started my moving career doing deliveries for Ikea but quickly decided to move on up to becoming a professional mover. I started working for a different Owner Operator and managed to learn quite a bit, not just about how to do the job, but how to do the job well. I saw how much I could make by striking out on my own, as long as I kept up excellent standards of service. This led decided to buy my own truck, start my own business, and join Owner Operator Movers myself.

What I always liked about working with the OO movers group is that they took care of my money so well. Ask any experienced mover and he will tell you stories of moving companies that cheated him. The Owner Operator group is always correct and fair when it comes to money and always err in the movers favour. On my last paycheck they even paid me double.

One time I moved a gigantic globe of the Earth into the lobby of a building in downtown Vancouver. The material made it tough to get ahold of and pick up, and it couldn’t be rolled because it had delicate mountain ranges sticking out. Eventually we got it wrapped in massive pads and resting on padded runners. This let us start to maneuver it into then out of the truck. I’m still proud to have pulled this move off without even minor damages.

I have been moving many years out of Maple Ridge and I think I will retire this year and sell my truck to my helper Chris. He has been with me more than three years now and the Owner Operators Vancouver group can provide him with financing. That old truck has completed more moves than I can count but it will be a good beginner truck for him and has a lot more moves in it yet. I am sure Chris and that truck will be a successful team.

What’s my favourite part of being an Owner Operator? I don’t have to answer to anyone but the customer. This makes it so much easier to just focus on moving. At the end of the day, I have no one to report to. I started with oomovers years ago as a helper to Brent R. and he taught me all the tricks he learned in over 25 years of moving around Port Moody and Coquitlam. Brent has retired and I bought his truck so I am my own boss and could not be happier.

My dad was a mover and I began moving when I was 13 years old. Everyone in my family has helped me with my moving company all over the Fraser Valley from our base here in Abbotsford. There have even been a few times when my wife, Swallow helped out and she definitely proved that women can work as hard as men. We always liked to think of our job as our family helping your family.

I started out moving odds and ends around Vancouver in a borrowed friend’s truck as a side gig. Moving started to take up more and more of my time and I took the jump to start moving full time in 2008. I bought my own truck and started working with Owner Operator Movers. I paid off my truck in no time and never looked back.

My best piece of moving advice would be that preparation is key. Careful packing and organization of your belongings can cut hours off the job time. It not only cuts down on the amount of trips needed to and from the moving truck, but proper packing makes it easier for me to maneuver all your belongings into one truck load. Everyone wins because you pay less and I make it home on time to Burnaby for dinner.

Piano moving requires a lot of confidence and the only way to get that is through experience. You need to know how the piano will behave as you tip it over or slide it down the stairs. Being on the bottom end of 800 pounds the first time is scary and a strong leader is required to keep everyone safe and confident. Let me show you my leadership skills when I move your piano.

I meet a lot of people on this job and some of them are business owners. Many times I talk a lot with the customer and then the next thing I know they are offering me a job. They see me working so hard and think I would work that hard for them. They don’t understand that I am working hard for myself and only an owner works that hard. I will never have to hunt for a job.

A good dolly is the best tool a mover can have. I had many but until I started living in Delta and got my super light magnesium dolly, I never knew how easy appliance moving could be. It was like pushing a bicycle instead of a motorbike. I have often heard the expression that a poor workman blames his tools but never the opposite. If there is a saying it should be something like “A good workman values his tools.”

I started working in construction here in Vancouver and developed an appreciation of hard physical work. When I started moving I found it filled that same spot in my life, exercise every day, but was much more interesting. I get to work somewhere new every day and have a different challenge at every jobsite. It took only 3 months of working as an employee mover to decide that I wanted to belong to Owner Operator Movers Vancouver

I joined OO movers Vancouver just this year. At first I had a rough start. I was not used to having such a strong support team and tried to solve all my logistical problems alone. Now a few months later I am very happy working together with Don, Miranda and Greg in dispatch and I am getting excellent reviews. I hope to be a strong team member with Owner Operators for a while to come.

The toughest move I’ve ever done was getting a stone statue up multiple flights of stairs. It weighed more than 700 pounds! After the first attempt we almost had to tell the customer that it just wasn’t going to happen, but we decided to try with another mover helping first. With four of us we eventually got the statue maneuvered up to the first landing. After getting it up the first section of stairs, we knew that moving it vertically was possible and so it was just a matter of time until we had it all the way up.

My favourite kind of moves are one man moves. I like to not worry about anyone else and the success of the job rests solely on my shoulders. It’s a lot of fun because usually I work closely with the customer and it is always interesting to meet someone new. When you are carrying the other end of a couch with someone you quickly learn to communicate or it starts to hurt. When you work with the customer as an equal they treat you better and it’s just more fun.

My cousin John and I were close growing up in Ontario, and when he went out west to start his own moving business, I followed him soon after. Working for a family member gave me the chance to learn and grow like no other and I had my own moving company in only a couple of years. OO movers Vancouver was a great training ground for me and I will always remember my early years here as a Vancouver mover.

A lot of people think Richmond is dull and call it Ditchmond and such but I have run a moving company and lived here for years just because it is such a great place. The best part about being a Richmond mover is that there is always lots of local work but it’s also so quick to move customers to Delta, Vancouver, or even New West. I find Richmond to be central to so much of the Fraser Valley and I don’t have to fight my way through Vancouver traffic to get somewhere. So I say hooray for Richmond!

I have tried a lot of other jobs but none of them give the freedom of working for yourself out in the field like long distance moving does. Being out on the open road away from all bosses and hassles is very peaceful and satisfying. Every day brings new things and nothing is finer than watching the sunrise from behind the wheel. Truckers and long distance movers are actually the last of the cowboys.

I have more free stuff than I know what to do with. I hate to see waste, so when the customer offers I never say no. I am an addicted junk collector. My house is full, my carport is full. my niece calls me junkle Jino. So please, when I come to move you, keep your junk to yourself. Vancouver has enough crazy collectors. Send it to the sally ann.

Careful lifting is the secret to surviving in the moving game. I have worked with many movers and you can spot a man who knows his job right away. Every lift is planned and coordinated together as we sail heavy objects like hide-a-beds through doorways and around corners. If you don’t know what you are doing, moving is a sweaty nightmare.

New Westminster is my favourite place to live and move. I love the smell of the river and the old downtown has a charm not found in the new centers like Metrown or Brentwood. The bad side is so many apartment buildings are old walkups, but I suppose that is why people hire movers. So hire me for your tough jobs and send me down to the river to cool off when I am done.

I sometimes think I am a duck. I spend so much time moving in the rain and not noticing it that I feel like one of the ducks in Burnaby’s deer lake park that I go to feed with my daughter. To be a real West coaster is to not carry an umbrella and they would be hard to carry with a couch at the same time. So I say “What rain?” let’s get this move happening!

My dad was a mover and so was my uncle Vince. When my uncle Vince started a moving supplies business I got my first jobs with several different Vancouver moving companies. I soon learned the business and could not wait to start up my own moving business as an owner operator. When Vince introduced me to OO movers, I knew I had found the place I wanted to be.

Anyone can say they are a mover and it is true anyone can pick up a box, but real movers pride themselves on moving difficult objects. Hot tubs, pool tables, pianos, and safes are where a mover displays his experience most. Every time we encounter these types of jobs it is important there is a master mover on site to supervise or big problems and big mistakes happen.

A mover’s truck can never be too big and you can never have too many blankets I say. It seems no matter how large a truck I get, I find a customer who just has too much stuff. My first truck was a 14 ft one-tonne and I thought it was all set when I got a 24 foot five-tonne. But I heard the same complaint over and over. Now I have a 27 ft seven-tonne and if you can't fit your life in one of those you need life guidance, or a second truck lol.

High rise movers pack the elevator like a sardine can and leave just enough room for the guys to squeeze in and ride up. We were doing a move in an older West End building and there was only room for me and the goods. My partner raced up the stairs and that was a good thing because the elevator froze between floors and I was stuck. Thank goodness my partner was not in there with me and he quickly got help. Now I walk, and he rides.

I have been with OO movers for over ten years now. When I first started, me and my buddy had an old beater but after learning a lot over time the OO movers group helped me buy my second truck. I enjoy working with a moving company that has moving work for me not only in Pitt Meadows and also all over BC. I expect I will be part of the OO team for a long time.

As a university student, moving was a convenient job because the hours were variable and I could fit in enough work time to earn a living. When oo movers first started, we were a tight group and the once-a-month the company Chinese dinners were a great way for us to bond. When John gave me a purple thousand dollar bill for the Mover of the Year Award, I knew I had found the best moving company in Vancouver to work for.

I think it was all my years of playing with lego as a child that made me such a good mover. The most important part of moving is packing the truck so nothing gets damaged in transit. For me, the careful building of the interlocking puzzle of furniture is a lot like building walls with lego. It is one brick at a time even though they come in a lot of non brick shapes. I am the Coquitlam lego mover.

My uncle Chris was a dispatcher for OO movers for several years and it was not long after high school I began working with them as a helper. In the Tri-City area where I lived. In a few years I was driving a huge 5 ton truck in heavy traffic as easy as riding a bike. Being a good mover requires that you train with experienced and qualified men. I was lucky with my family to have this opportunity so young.

I met my wife when I was working as an owner operator mover in Vancouver 28 years ago and she has given me a loving family and 26 years of true wedded bliss. Moving has supported my family all that time and still does in my job as marketing manager for OOmovers. Moving has given me everything good in my life. Moving is my life.

OO movers led me to love and happiness . If I was not a North Shore mover with OO movers I never would have met my lovely wife, Dawn, who was a bookkeeper in our Vancouver office. Every chance I could, I make up excuses to call into the office and talk to Dawn. One day we became more than co workers. Thank you oo movers.

One of the fun things about this job is you get to explore the city every day and see new areas. You get really hungry on this job and we eat at a lot of interesting takeouts. I like eating somewhere different each day. Over the years I have found some awesome little places for food from all over the world.

My favourite thing about moving here in Richmond is that fact that everyday is different. You are constantly visiting new places, going inside different buildings, and talking to new people. There is never a dull moment where you are just staring at an office wall. Compared to other jobs where you work with the public, you spend all day with each customer and actually get to know them a little. They aren’t just people stopping by for quick meetings or visiting your service desk.