Apartment Movers in Burbank, CA

Green Moving's apartment movers in Burbank bill by the hour, and a good share of those hours is decided before anyone picks up a box: which entrance the building gives movers, when the elevator is free and where a truck may stop. For house moves and the full scope of home moving, see our residential moving service; the Burbank moving page covers everything else we do in the city.

Renting is the norm here. Burbank's Housing Element counts 58.2% of occupied units as renter-occupied and 41.8% as owner-occupied, so a move often runs on a lease end date, a manager's move rules and a walk-through before the deposit comes back. We plan the day with all three in view.

Below you'll find what shapes an apartment job in this city: street and alley rules for the truck, the paperwork a building may ask for, how the hourly rate adds up and how many movers a unit needs. If you're leaving California, the guide further down covers that as well.

Parking and permits

Burbank's municipal code bars commercial vehicles over 6,500 lbs unladen weight from parking in residential zones at any time, except for the time reasonably needed to load or unload or to finish nearby service work. So the truck arrives in its window, loads and leaves; it doesn't sit on your block overnight.

Some residential streets are permit-only parking zones, and where a zone has more homes than curb spaces, the code allows at most one permit per qualifying unit. On such a block we agree on the truck spot with you and the manager a few days ahead instead of hoping for a gap that morning.

HOA, condo and building rules

Using state estimates for 2020, the Housing Element puts 40.6% of Burbank's housing units in buildings of five or more units and 10.5% in buildings of two to four. Move rules there come from the owner, manager or HOA and differ by address, so we ask for them in writing.

Our usual questions: which door and elevator movers use, whether the elevator must be reserved or padded, which hours moves are allowed, and whether a deposit or certificate of insurance is required. A COI is $50 per building, so leaving one managed building for another with the same rule means two certificates.

Area notes: Downtown, the Media District, post-war low-rises

The same plan says Burbank's multifamily growth has come almost entirely in larger projects of five or more units, with larger buildings introduced in Downtown and the Media District. There, the path from unit to truck can run through corridors, an elevator and a garage, so the crew walks it on arrival.

Older stock differs. The City's 1999 Historic Preservation Plan notes that relatively limited parts of Burbank were built with low-rise multiple-family units, mostly after World War II. Where such a building has no elevator, everything goes by stairs, so the crew lays runners on landings and pads walls and door frames at the turns.

Logistics and timing

Burbank's Mobility Element names Olive Avenue and Hollywood Way as major arterials that must balance car traffic with transit vehicles. For a building on either street, we look for a garage ramp or side-street door before planning a curb load. Alleys are no shortcut: the code allows only loading there, caps materials at 20 minutes and bans blocking through traffic, and a Street Use Permit isn't issued for an alley without a Traffic Engineer exemption.

All of it lands on the hourly clock. The minimum is three hours, or four when the job reaches 30 or more miles beyond our service area, and hours past eight are billed at 1.5 times the rate.

Checklist: before moving day in a Burbank apartment complex. Go through it a week ahead, for both addresses.

• Read the parking signs on your block; in a permit-only zone, ask the manager where movers usually stop.
• Don't expect the truck the evening before: residential zones let a heavy commercial vehicle stop only to load or unload.
• If the loading door faces an alley, plan only a short top-up there, since materials loading is capped at 20 minutes.
• On Olive Avenue or Hollywood Way, ask whether movers may use the garage entrance or a side-street door.
• In a larger Downtown or Media District building, reserve the elevator for the arrival window plus the whole job.
• In a post-war low-rise without an elevator, count the flights of stairs at both addresses and tell us.

How the Hourly Rate Works on an Apartment Job

Apartment moves in Burbank are billed by the hour for a crew with a truck. Monday through Thursday, two movers cost $129 an hour, three cost $169 and four cost $209; Friday through Sunday, the same crews cost $145, $185 and $225. Each extra mover adds $40 an hour.

With the three-hour minimum, the smallest weekday booking is $387. There's no separate fuel surcharge, equipment fee or stair fee, and blankets, unlimited shrink wrap, tape and furniture disassembly come with the rate. Seniors, returning customers and military personnel get 5% off; the full list of extras is on our pricing page.

What moves the total is time, and in an apartment much of it goes to the path rather than the lifting: the corridor, the wait for the elevator, the distance from the lobby door to the truck. The same furniture takes longer from a fifth floor reached through a garage than from a ground-floor unit with the truck at the door.

Picking the Crew Size for Your Unit

For a studio or one-bedroom we send two or three movers; for three bedrooms and up, four to six. A two-bedroom falls in between, and the choice comes down to the furniture and the access. Your quote names the crew before you book.

To size it, we ask for the rooms, the large pieces such as a sectional or a tall dresser, the floor at each end, the elevator or stairs, and how far the truck will stand from the door. The more exact that list, the closer the quote comes to the hours on the day.

A bigger crew costs more per hour but can finish sooner, which matters when the building gives you a fixed elevator window. When the truck has to stand well away from the entrance, a third mover keeps the carry going while the other two load.

Hallways, Elevators and Pieces That Won't Fit

In a shared building the hallway and elevator belong to everyone, not only to the household that's moving. The crew lays floor runners in the unit and corridor, pads walls and door frames at tight turns, and wraps each piece in blankets and shrink wrap before it leaves the apartment. If the building has its own elevator pads, we hang them the way the manager asks.

Some pieces need more than a careful carry. When a sofa can't make the stairwell turn, hoisting it by rope over a balcony costs $130 per item; a crate for a glass tabletop runs $75–$200, and the surcharge for extra heavy items is $150. Beds, tables and desks are taken apart to clear narrow doors and rebuilt in the new unit within the same hourly rate.

Timing a Move-Out From a Burbank Rental

For a renter, the move date sits between two leases and two building calendars. Leave time before the old lease ends for cleaning and the landlord's walk-through, and confirm the first day the new building accepts move-ins.

If the leases overlap, a Monday-to-Thursday date costs less per hour than a Friday-to-Sunday one for every crew size. Keep keys, fobs and parking passes for both buildings with you rather than in a box, since the crew may need a garage or elevator opened at either end.

Owners run on a different clock: a closing date or a renovation schedule instead of a lease. The building rules still apply, and an HOA may ask for the same certificate and elevator booking as a rental manager.

Boxes still unpacked when the crew arrives slow everything else, so decide early whether you'll pack yourself. Our packing services in Burbank cover the whole unit or only the fragile items. Boxes are sold individually: small $4, medium $5, large $6, dish packs $3.50 and book boxes $1.25.

When the Next Home Is Farther Away

Not every move out of a Burbank apartment ends nearby. If the next place is a house in Palmdale, our page on residential moving in Palmdale is the place to start.

Moves to another state go through our long-distance moving service and are priced with a binding estimate built on distance, weight and the services you pick, not by the hour. If a business is relocating at the same time, see commercial moving in Burbank.