How to Start in Canada

How to Start a Moving Company in Canada

Start a moving company in Canada: carrier registration is the real gate (Ontario CVOR, BC NSC certificate, Alberta safety fitness), driver licence classes by truck size, insurance and workers' compensation, and local hourly versus long-distance flat-rate pricing.

Written October 24, 2026 · Edited November 8, 2026 · 13 min read

Applies in: across Canada

The short answer

There is no moving-company licence in Canada, and the paperwork that does exist is about trucks, not movers. New operators waste weeks looking for a mover's licence that no province issues, while the real gates sit in plain sight: carrier registration for any truck over the weight threshold, a driver licensed for that truck's size, commercial insurance that actually covers cargo, and workers' compensation once you hire a crew. Get those four right and the rest is an ordinary service business: a truck, a crew, a booking book, and a reputation built one careful move at a time. Get them wrong and a single roadside inspection, injury, or damaged piano can end the business before it starts.

Step 1: Pick your lane before you buy a truck

Moving is not one business. The lane you pick decides your truck, your pricing, and your paperwork:

  • Local residential: moves inside one city or metro area, priced hourly, usually with a two- or three-person crew in a cube van or straight truck. Lowest startup cost, highest competition, and the easiest lane to start in.
  • Long distance: moves between cities or provinces, priced flat from an inventory, usually with a larger truck and at least one driver licensed for it. Higher revenue per job, but the paperwork, the scheduling, and the claim risk all grow with the distance.
  • Niche lanes: seniors downsizing, student moves, office relocations, and specialty items such as pianos and safes. A niche lets a small company charge for expertise instead of competing on the hourly rate, but specialty items need real skill: a piano moved badly is a claim, not a learning experience.

Start in one lane. A company that advertises local, long-distance, piano, office, and storage moves in its first month is really advertising that it has done none of them well yet. One lane, done carefully, earns the reviews that let you add the second.

Step 2: Get the carrier registration — this is the licence

Every province runs the same National Safety Code system under a different name, and the name on your certificate is the name of your home province's system:

  • Ontario: the Commercial Vehicle Operator's Registration (CVOR). Required for trucks, tractors, and truck-trailer combinations over 4,500 kilograms in registered or actual weight, and for tow trucks and buses over the passenger threshold. Apply online or by mail or fax, pay the $287 fee (HST included), and complete the online CVOR learning and assessment within six months if you are Ontario-based. A copy of the certificate must be carried in each vehicle, and your safety record follows the certificate.
  • British Columbia: the NSC Safety Certificate from the Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement branch, required for trucks over 5,000 kilograms licensed gross vehicle weight. Evidence of the certificate must be carried in every vehicle it covers, and the carrier's name must be displayed on both sides of each business vehicle in letters at least 5 centimetres high.
  • Alberta: a Safety Fitness Certificate, required for trucks over 4,500 kilograms operating outside Alberta (Federal operating status) and for trucks registered at 11,794 kilograms or more operating only inside the province (Provincial operating status). Confirm your operating status with Alberta's carrier registry before you take a cross-province job.
  • Other provinces: the same safety fitness concept under the provincial registry. If you operate in a province other than your home province, you operate under your home certificate plus that province's recognition of it, so check before the job, not at the weigh station.

Two practical consequences follow. First, a commercial vehicle over 4,500 kilograms in Ontario also needs an annual safety inspection, so budget for inspection and maintenance, not just the certificate. Second, your carrier safety rating is visible to insurers and to larger customers, so a clean early record is worth more than a cheap early shortcut.

Step 3: Match drivers to trucks, and trucks to jobs

The truck you buy decides who can legally drive it. In Ontario, the ladder runs: Class G up to 11,000 kilograms, Class D for straight trucks over 11,000 kilograms towing up to 4,600 kilograms, and Class A for tractor-trailers, with a Z air-brake endorsement added where the truck has air brakes. Most local moving companies run DZ trucks: a straight truck big enough for a two-bedroom move, driven by a driver with a DZ licence. Hiring a driver before you know your truck's class, or buying a truck your drivers cannot legally drive, is a startup error that costs weeks.

For the trucks themselves, start with the smallest truck that handles your lane well. A rented cube van keeps a solo operator legal and cheap while the bookings prove the lane, and a straight truck is the first purchase once local jobs fill it regularly. A tractor-trailer before you have long-distance volume is a payment looking for work. Whatever the truck, the equipment list is the same: moving blankets, dollies, straps, shrink wrap, mattress bags, tools for disassembly, and floor and door protection for the customer's home. The truck gets you to the job; the blankets and the crew's care get you the review.

Step 4: Register the business

The business paperwork is the same as for any Canadian service business, and it is the cheapest part of the startup:

  • Structure: most movers start as sole proprietors and incorporate later, when revenue and liability justify it. If you trade under a name other than your own legal name, register that name provincially.
  • Ontario: registering a sole proprietorship under a business name costs $60 through the Ontario Business Registry and lasts five years. Operating under your own name does not require registration.
  • British Columbia: request name approval first ($30), then register the sole proprietorship ($40) using the name request number within 56 days, or the approval lapses.
  • CRA business number: free, and needed for payroll and GST/HST accounts — since November 3, 2025, new business numbers and CRA program accounts must be registered online through Business Registration Online. Register for GST/HST once taxable supplies exceed $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, or voluntarily before that.
  • Municipal business licence: check your city's licensing page — BizPaL generates the list of permits and licences your business needs from all levels of government. Some cities license businesses generally, some regulate storage or warehouse premises, and some require nothing mover-specific. Do not assume a neighbouring city's answer applies to yours.

Registration gives you a business number for tax purposes. It does not give you carrier authority, a licensed driver, or insurance. Those are the previous steps, and they are the ones that matter.

Step 5: Insurance, workers' compensation, and the contract

Three insurance conversations, in the order a broker will want them:

  • Commercial vehicle insurance for each truck, rated for commercial use with the cargo it carries. A personal auto policy does not cover a truck fitted out as a moving vehicle.
  • Commercial general liability for damage to someone else's property: hallways, elevators, door frames, and driveways are the claims that actually happen.
  • Cargo coverage for the customer's goods, with the limit and the claim process written into the moving contract. State plainly what basic coverage includes, what full replacement coverage costs as an add-on, and how a customer files a claim. A contract that hides the cargo limit until after the damage is a dispute, not a policy.

Workers' compensation is the fourth conversation, and it starts the day you hire. In Ontario, register with the WSIB within 10 days of hiring your first worker if your operation is in a mandatory-coverage industry, and confirm your classification with the board rather than guessing it. Solo operators can apply for optional coverage, which is worth pricing honestly: a solo mover with a back injury and no coverage has no income and no claim.

The contract itself is the last piece of the insurance picture. A good moving contract names the addresses, the inventory or the hourly basis, the price and the extras, the deposit and cancellation terms, the cargo coverage level, and the claim window. Walk the customer through it before loading, not after unloading, and keep a signed copy with the job record. The cheapest dispute is the one the contract already answered.

Step 6: Price honestly and build a booking book

Local pricing is hourly because local costs are time. Quote the crew size, the hourly rate, the minimum hours, and the travel time policy, and say what the clock does during an elevator wait or a parking delay. Long-distance pricing is flat because long-distance costs are distance and volume. Quote from a written inventory, name the access extras, and put the binding or non-binding nature of the estimate in writing: a binding estimate holds the price if the inventory holds, and a non-binding estimate moves with the actual weight.

The booking routine matters as much as the price. Before move day, confirm: elevator booking and the building's certificate of insurance requirements for condos, parking and loading-zone permission at both addresses, stair and long-carry conditions, and any item that needs disassembly or special handling. A crew that discovers a freight-elevator booking on arrival is a crew billing hourly while nobody moves anything, and the customer notices.

The business steadies when customers rebook and refer. Offer a written confirmation, a crew that arrives on time, protection on floors and doors without being asked, and a follow-up message after the move. Track the numbers from day one: revenue per job, jobs per week, damage claims, crew hours per job, and cost per job including fuel, insurance, and truck payments. A mover who knows the cost per job prices with confidence; one who does not drifts into long days for hourly wages.

What not to do

  • Do not drive a truck over the carrier threshold without the carrier certificate, and do not let an unlicensed driver drive a truck their licence does not cover.
  • Do not promise cargo coverage your policy does not provide, and do not hide the cargo limit until after the damage.
  • Do not hire a crew before registering for workers' compensation coverage in your province.
  • Do not quote a long-distance job without a written inventory, and do not quote a local job without stating the minimum hours and the travel-time policy.
  • Do not take a piano, a safe, or a specialty item you have not been trained to move: refer it to a specialist and keep the customer's trust for the rest of the move.

Related guides:

Starting a moving company in Canada, in six steps

  1. Pick your laneLocal residential moves, long-distance moves, or a niche such as seniors, students, or offices. The lane decides your truck size, your pricing model, and your paperwork.
  2. Get the carrier registrationOntario CVOR, BC NSC Safety Certificate, or your home province's safety fitness certificate once your trucks cross the weight threshold. No mover-specific licence exists; this is the gate.
  3. Match drivers to trucksA regular licence covers a small truck, but a straight truck over 11,000 kg needs a Class D licence in Ontario and a tractor-trailer needs Class A. Hire or train to the truck, not the other way around.
  4. Register the businessProvincial business name registration if you trade under a name, a free CRA business number, and GST/HST registration once you cross the threshold.
  5. Insure the truck, the crew, and the cargoCommercial vehicle insurance, liability coverage, cargo terms stated in the contract, and workers' compensation coverage once you hire staff.
  6. Price honestly and fill the bookHourly pricing for local work, flat-rate or weight-and-distance pricing for long distance, written estimates, and a booking routine that handles building rules before move day.

Questions people ask

Do I need a licence to start a moving company in Canada?

There is no mover-specific licence in Canada, and that is what confuses new operators. What you need is carrier registration for your trucks, a municipal business licence where your city requires one, and drivers licensed for the size of truck they drive. A mover who skips the carrier step and drives a heavy truck on a regular licence is operating illegally even if the business itself is registered, so treat carrier registration as the licence, because in practice it is.

When do I need a CVOR, an NSC certificate, or a safety fitness certificate?

It depends on your home province and your truck weight. In Ontario, a commercial vehicle operator's registration (CVOR) certificate is required for trucks, tractors, and truck-trailer combinations over 4,500 kilograms in registered or actual weight, costs $287 (HST included: a $255 processing fee plus a $32 learning and assessment fee), and Ontario-based applicants must complete the online CVOR learning and assessment within six months of applying before the certificate is issued. In British Columbia, the equivalent is the National Safety Code (NSC) Safety Certificate issued through the Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement branch, required for trucks over 5,000 kilograms licensed gross vehicle weight: evidence of the certificate must be carried in every vehicle it covers, and the carrier's name must be displayed on both sides of each business vehicle in letters at least 5 centimetres high. In Alberta, a Safety Fitness Certificate is required for trucks over 4,500 kilograms operating outside the province, and for trucks registered at 11,794 kilograms or more operating only inside the province. If your trucks stay under the threshold, a small crew in a rented cube van still needs the business registration, insurance, and municipal licence, but not the carrier certificate.

What driver licence class do my movers need?

It follows the truck, not the job title. In Ontario, a full Class G licence covers cars, vans, and small trucks up to 11,000 kilograms gross vehicle weight rating. A Class D licence covers straight trucks over 11,000 kilograms, towing a trailer up to 4,600 kilograms, and with a Z air-brake endorsement it becomes a DZ licence, which is what most moving straight trucks need. A Class A licence covers tractor-trailer combinations, and with the Z endorsement it becomes an AZ licence. Applicants for Class A or D must be at least 18, hold a valid Class G or higher licence, pass a knowledge test, meet vision standards, and provide a medical certificate. Class A applicants must also complete a mandatory entry-level training course before the road test. Check your own province's classes before you hire, because the letters and thresholds differ outside Ontario.

Do I need workers' compensation coverage for my moving crew?

In Ontario, most employers are required by law to have Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) coverage, and employers in mandatory Schedule 1 industries must give the WSIB their business information within 10 calendar days of the first worker starting and complete registration by the end of the following month. Moving work, as transportation and heavy manual labour, sits in the mandatory-coverage world for employers with staff, so register before your first crew member's first shift rather than after the first injury. Solo operators without employees can apply for optional coverage. Every other province has its own board with its own registration trigger, so register with the board in the province where your crew works.

How should I price a move: hourly or flat rate?

Local moves are usually priced hourly and long-distance moves are usually priced flat, and mixing the two up is the most common pricing mistake. Hourly pricing fits local work because the variables are time on site, stairs, elevator waits, and driving between two addresses in the same city. Flat-rate pricing fits long distance because the variables are distance, total weight or volume, and access at both ends, all of which can be estimated from an inventory before the truck is loaded. Whichever model you use, put the estimate in writing, list what is included, name the extras that cost more, such as stairs, long carries, shuttle trucks, and piano handling, and state the deposit and cancellation terms before the customer books.

What insurance does a moving company need?

Three kinds, and they cover three different risks. Commercial vehicle insurance covers the truck itself and third-party liability on the road. Commercial general liability covers injury or property damage to someone else, such as a scratched hallway or a damaged elevator. Cargo coverage covers the customer's goods while you carry them, and the limit and the claim process must be stated in the moving contract, because basic included coverage is limited and full replacement coverage is usually an add-on the customer chooses. Get all three quoted by a commercial broker before your first paid move, and never promise a customer a coverage level your policy does not actually provide.

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