From cartons to a working home

A move is not finished when the truck pulls away. It is finished when the beds are made, the kettle is on and you can walk from the front door to the kitchen without stepping around a wall of cartons. For most households, that last stretch takes far longer than the move itself, and it lands in the same week as new routines, school runs and work.

Our unpacking services in Brisbane close that gap. Our crew opens your cartons, places items in the rooms and locations you choose, reassembles beds and basic furniture, and removes the used cartons and packing materials. You can book the whole home, or only the rooms you need working first.

Brisbane Moving Company is based in Slacks Creek and unpacks homes and offices across Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Logan, Ipswich, Redlands and Moreton Bay. Unpacking suits professionals with full diaries, families who want the children's rooms set up before bedtime, downsizers fitting a lifetime of belongings into a smaller home, and anyone arriving in Brisbane who would rather spend the first weekend exploring than flattening boxes.

Unpacking is not all-or-nothing. Tell us which rooms matter most and which cartons you would rather open yourself, and we scope the work around that.

Full-house unpacking

Every carton opened and every item placed: kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, living areas, linen, books and the study. This suits busy households, and it pairs naturally with our packing service, because the cartons arrive labelled the way they will be unpacked.

Partial unpacking

The rooms that take longest, unpacked by us; the personal ones, left to you. Kitchens are the usual choice. They hold the most cartons, the most wrapping and the most fragile items, and a working kitchen changes how the first week feels. Wardrobes, paperwork and keepsakes are often better sorted by you, at your own pace.

Essentials first

If you only need the basics ready on day one, we can focus on beds, kitchen essentials and the bathroom, and leave the remaining cartons stacked in the right rooms for you to finish later.

Office unpacking

For businesses, unpacking means desk cartons placed at the right workstations, archive boxes in the right storeroom, and the kitchen and reception set up before staff arrive. It pairs with our office removals service, so the floor plan used for the move also guides the unpack.

Whichever you choose, we place items where you ask. If you want a cupboard arranged a particular way, show us once or leave a note on the door, and the crew follows it.

Unpacking goes fastest when it follows a sensible order. This is how we approach it.

1. Agree the scope before the day

When you request a quote, tell us the rooms to unpack, a rough carton count, which boxes you will handle yourself and the furniture that needs reassembling. That lets us allocate the right crew and give you a realistic idea of the time involved.

2. Furniture before cartons

Beds, tables, shelving and wardrobes are reassembled and placed first, so everything has somewhere to go. Unpacking into a room where the bookcase is still in pieces only means handling the same items twice.

3. Your priority rooms next

Usually the kitchen and bedrooms, but the order is yours. A home office that has to be working on Monday morning can come first.

4. Cartons opened, contents placed

Fragile items are unwrapped over a clear surface and checked as they come out. Contents go into the room and cupboard you have nominated, and empty cartons are flattened as we go, so the floor stays clear and the crew can keep moving.

5. A walk-through, then the cartons go

Before we finish, we walk through the agreed rooms with you. Then the used cartons and packing materials are loaded and taken away.

Basic furniture assembly and setup is part of unpacking, and the tools for it are included at no extra charge. That covers the pieces most homes take apart to move: bed frames, dining tables, desks, bookshelves, wardrobes that separate into sections, and the legs, mirrors and glass shelves removed for the trip.

If you have new flat-pack furniture waiting to be built, mention it when you request a quote so it can be scoped with the rest of the job.

What sits outside unpacking

Some setup work needs a licensed tradesperson, and our crew does not do it. That includes:

• Connecting plumbed-in appliances, such as dishwashers and fridges with water lines
• Anything hard-wired, such as light fittings, ceiling fans or cooktops
• Gas appliance connections
• Any work that cannot be completed safely by a moving team

We place appliances in position, ready for your trades to connect. Booking the plumber or electrician for soon after moving day means the kitchen and laundry are not left waiting. For offices, computers and network equipment should be reconnected by your IT provider once we have placed them.

A full house move produces a surprising volume of cardboard, paper and plastic wrap. Removal of used cartons and packing materials is part of agreed unpacking, so it leaves with us rather than filling your garage for a month.

That matters more than it sounds. Cardboard belongs in Brisbane City Council's yellow-lid recycling bin, but a whole home's worth of moving cartons is far more than one household bin holds. Soft plastics such as bubble wrap and stretch wrap cannot go into Council recycling bins at all. Taking it all away in one go saves weeks of cutting boxes to fit.

Want to keep some cartons for storage, or for a future move? Set them aside and tell the crew.

Carton removal does have limits. It covers the packing materials from your move, not general household junk. Old furniture, broken appliances and clutter you have decided not to keep belong with our junk removal service, which is charged by time plus a disposal fee based on weight and type.

The quality of an unpack is decided on packing day. A carton labelled "kitchen" is useful. A carton labelled "kitchen: glasses, top cupboard left of the sink" is far better.

If you are packing yourself, a few habits make unpacking quicker, whether we do it or you do:

• Label the top and at least one side of every carton with its destination room
• Number cartons and keep a simple list of what is in each
• Pack one room per carton, never a mix
• Mark an "open first" carton for each bedroom and the kitchen
• Keep the screws and fittings for each piece of furniture together, in a labelled bag taped to the item

If you would rather hand the whole process over, our packing service covers full and partial packing, fragile and high-care items, and packing for local, interstate and overseas moves. Packing, moving and unpacking booked together means the whole job is planned as one, from the first carton taped to the last one flattened.

Unpacking is charged by the hour. When it is booked as part of your move, it runs within the same job at our hourly rates of $125 to $169 per hour + GST, depending on the type of move and truck size, for a moving truck, two professional movers and all standard equipment. Unpacking booked for a separate day is quoted to suit the scope, with every charge confirmed before you book.

The time involved depends on a few things you can influence:

• Carton count. Fifty cartons and a hundred and fifty are very different days.
• How much is fragile. Glassware, china and ornaments take longer to unwrap and place than books or linen.
• Furniture to reassemble. Each bed, table or wardrobe adds time.
• Decisions. Someone on hand to say where things go, or clear notes on cupboards and doors, keeps the crew moving.

After-hours, weekend and public holiday unpacking can be requested, subject to availability, with any additional charges confirmed before booking. A deposit secures your date, the balance is payable on completion, and we ask for at least 48 hours' notice to cancel or reschedule. See our pricing page for the full breakdown, or request a quote. Our team aims to call new enquiries back within five minutes during business hours (8am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday).