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Serving West Vancouver and the North Shore since 2008.
Most of the people who call us are not the person moving. They are the son or daughter. They have a job, a family, sometimes a flight to book, and a parent in West Vancouver who has lived in the same house for thirty years.
The question underneath the call is almost never about trucks. It is: who is actually going to be in the room with my mother while this happens?
That is the part we do. NextPhase Moving & Downsizing has been managing senior moves on the North Shore since 2008. One person plans the move, is present on the day, and stays until the bed is made and the kettle is plugged in. You get a single number to call and one person who knows where everything is.
West Vancouver has one of the oldest populations in the country. In the 2021 Census, 12,580 residents, 28.5% of the district, were 65 or over, against 19.0% nationally. More than half of the district’s 17,690 occupied homes are single-detached houses.
In practice that means the typical West Vancouver downsize is not a one-bedroom condo clearout. It is a large family home, owned for decades, with a garage, a crawlspace, a workshop, and forty years of accumulated life in it.
Above the highway, through the British Properties, Chartwell, Sentinel Hill, Cypress Park and Altamont, the streets curve up the slope and the houses follow the grade. Much of the British Properties was built out between 1955 and 1985 on an Olmsted Brothers street plan that follows the contours rather than a grid. Those are split-level and multi-level homes with long staircases, steep driveways, tight turning circles, and no straight run from the front door to the truck.
None of that is a problem if it is planned for. It is a very expensive problem if it is discovered at 8 a.m. on moving day. We walk the property first and plan the access, the parking, the stair route, and the order of the load before a single box is packed.
A move from a house in Dundarave or Altamont into an apartment in Ambleside is usually not limited by the old house. It is limited by the new one. Elevator bookings, loading-bay windows, move-in hours, and a suite plan that will only take about a third of the furniture. That is why the floor plan comes first and the packing comes second.
Some are moving into a condo near Ambleside or Dundarave village so they can walk to the seawalk, the library, and the Seniors’ Activity Centre on 21st Street. Others are moving into a residence. Locally that usually means one of the retirement residences in Ambleside or along Marine Drive.
And a good number are not moving locally at all. They are moving to be near a daughter in Kelowna or a son in Ontario, and the West Vancouver house has to be emptied and readied for sale from a distance. We do that too.
Stage 1, a free in-home consultation. We come to the house in West Vancouver, walk every level including the garage and crawlspace, look at the floor plan of the new place, and work out what fits. You are welcome to join by phone or video if you are out of town. You leave this stage with a plan and a timeline, not a quote scribbled on a clipboard.
Stage 2, sorting and downsizing, at your parent’s pace. What goes with them, what goes to family, what goes to a charity that will actually use it, what goes to consignment or auction, what gets recycled. Sentimental rooms are left until last, on purpose.
Stage 3, packing and moving day. Careful packing of fragile items, antiques, and heirlooms. Movers, transport and timing coordinated on one schedule. Mobility aids and stair lifts handled as part of the move, not as an afterthought. Someone is in the house the whole time.
Stage 4, settling in, the same day. Furniture placed to the plan, beds made, kitchen unpacked, art hung, electronics connected, clear walkways and safe footing checked. Packing debris and boxes removed before we leave. Your parent sleeps in a finished home that night.
Ambleside · Dundarave · British Properties · Chartwell · Sentinel Hill · Hollyburn · Cedardale · Altamont · West Bay · Cypress Park · Caulfeild · Eagle Harbour · Whytecliff · Horseshoe Bay · Glenmore · Westmount
We are based in North Vancouver, a few minutes across the bridge, and we also work throughout North Vancouver, Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Richmond, the Sunshine Coast, and Vancouver Island.
Simpler times ahead. Let’s get there together.
Helping West Vancouver families move and downsize since 2008.
You do not need a decision, a date, or a plan to make the first call. You need to know what is involved.
Call (604) 209-4241 or send us a note and we will arrange a free in-home consultation in West Vancouver, with you on the phone or in the room, whichever works.
