The cheapest day to hire movers in Surrey is almost always a weekday, ideally Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, in the middle of the month. Weekend and month-end bookings routinely cost 15% to 25% more simply because everyone wants those same dates. Source: movers.ca
Why Weekdays Cost Less
Demand drives price in the moving industry the same way it does in almost every other service business. Most people work a standard Monday to Friday schedule, so Saturdays, and to a lesser extent Sundays, are when the majority of people are actually available to move. Movers know this, and pricing reflects it. A Tuesday afternoon slot might sit open on a company’s calendar while every Saturday for the next month is already booked.
The Math Behind Picking Your Day
Here’s a real calculation. A two-bedroom move that costs $900 on a Wednesday could cost $1,080 to $1,125 for the exact same job on a Saturday, purely from the weekend surcharge. If your schedule has any flexibility at all, shifting your move by even two or three days can save you $150 or more without changing anything else about the job.
Why Month-End Is Its Own Problem
Beyond the day of the week, the last few days of any month carry their own surge in demand, since that’s when most leases turn over. If you can choose your move-out date, picking a day in the middle of the month rather than the last few days avoids competing with everyone else whose lease ends on the same date. This matters even more in Surrey, where rental turnover has been climbing alongside the city’s rapid population growth. Source: RENX
What If Your Lease Forces a Weekend Move?
Not everyone gets to choose. If your lease ends on a specific date and it happens to land on a weekend, you’re not stuck with no options. Booking well in advance still gives you more room to negotiate on price than a last-minute weekend booking would, even if you can’t avoid the weekend itself entirely. Our local moving team can tell you honestly whether a specific date has any flexibility on pricing or whether it’s firmly in peak-demand territory.
How Availability Ties Into Price
Beyond the direct discount, weekday bookings also come with more available time slots, which matters if your schedule has any constraints of its own. A Tuesday morning slot booked three weeks out is almost always available. A Saturday slot in July booked three weeks out might already be gone, forcing you into a more expensive last-minute option anyway. Choosing a weekday doesn’t just save money directly, it protects you from the secondary cost of limited last-minute availability.
Comparing a Few Real Scenarios
- Tuesday, mid-month, off-season: cheapest realistic combination
- Saturday, mid-month, off-season: moderate premium, still reasonably available
- Tuesday, month-end, peak season: moderate premium from both season and lease-turnover demand
- Saturday, month-end, peak season: the most expensive and hardest to book combination possible
Time of Day Matters Too
Beyond the day itself, an early morning start, first thing in the morning, tends to give your crew a full day to work with and avoids any backup from a previous job running long. Some companies also offer a small discount for off-peak time slots, like early afternoon starts on a weekday, since it’s easier to slot into a crew’s existing schedule.
A Simple Decision Framework
- Best for price: Tuesday to Thursday, mid-month, off-peak season
- Good middle ground: weekday, any time of month, during peak season
- Most expensive: weekend, month-end, during peak season (May through September)
If you’re choosing between two possible dates and price matters to you, this hierarchy is a quick way to decide without needing to call five companies and compare quotes manually.
What to Do If Every Day Looks the Same Price
Occasionally a company’s pricing doesn’t vary much by day at all, particularly smaller operators with simpler pricing structures. If that’s the case, ask directly whether availability differs even if price doesn’t, since a less-demanded day might still get you better scheduling flexibility or a less rushed crew, even without a dollar discount attached.
A Real Scenario Worth Walking Through
Picture a straightforward two-bedroom move. Booked as a Saturday in July, it might run $1,100 to $1,200 once weekend and peak season surcharges are factored in. The exact same job, shifted to a Wednesday in November, could land closer to $850 to $950. That’s the same crew, the same truck, the same amount of furniture, with a difference of a couple hundred dollars purely from picking a different day on the calendar. Few other decisions in your entire move offer that kind of savings for zero extra effort.
A Mistake I See Often
People lock in a weekend date out of habit, because that’s when they assume everyone moves, without ever asking whether a weekday would be cheaper or more available. A five-minute phone call comparing a Saturday quote against a Tuesday quote for the same job often reveals a bigger gap than people expect. It costs nothing to ask.
The Trade-Off Worth Naming
Weekdays are cheaper, but they’re not always practical. If you work a standard job, taking a weekday off means using vacation time or unpaid leave, and that has its own cost even if it doesn’t show up on your moving invoice. Weigh the dollar savings against what a day off actually costs you personally before assuming a weekday move is automatically the better deal for your situation.
The Honest Risk
Even the cheapest day on paper doesn’t guarantee the cheapest total cost if the move itself runs long due to poor planning, access issues, or an underestimated crew size. Picking a good day helps, but it’s one piece of a bigger budget picture, not a silver bullet on its own.
Quick Answers
Is Sunday cheaper than Saturday? Sometimes slightly, since Saturday tends to be the single most requested day, but both weekend days generally cost more than a weekday.
Does the day of the week affect availability, not just price? Yes. Weekday slots are easier to book on shorter notice, since fewer people are competing for them.
Should I always pick the absolute cheapest day? Not necessarily, balance cost against your actual schedule. A slightly more expensive day that fits your life without adding stress is often the better choice overall.
Ready to compare a couple of dates for your move? Our Gentle Moving team can give you a straight answer on pricing for a few different days so you can pick the one that actually works best for your budget and your calendar.
The Bottom Line
Picking the cheapest day to hire movers is one of the simplest, lowest-effort ways to save money on a Surrey move. It doesn’t require decluttering, negotiating, or doing any extra work yourself, just choosing a Tuesday instead of a Saturday when your schedule allows for it. Small decision, real savings.