One House, Three Trucks: A Two Small Men Moving Story

Some moving jobs are obviously big, right from the get-go. Others only reveal their true size once the tape comes out, the boxes start stacking up, and the crew realizes they’re standing in the middle of something much larger than expected. For Kalmin Contenti Ranger, a mover with Two Small Men with Big Hearts, one packing job in Calgary quickly became the latter.

“We had a job where it was all nine movers,” he says. “It was three different trucks going to pack it.”

At first, it sounded manageable. The crew knew it was a larger house with a lot of belongings. But as Kalmin put it, “when we were told it was a pack job, you don’t really expect three full trucks of packing.” 

By the end of the day, that’s exactly what it took.

The move involved packing up an entire home and placing everything into storage while the customers built a new house. That meant nothing was going directly to a new location. Everything had to be packed carefully, protected for long-term storage, and organized in a way that would make unloading months later just as smooth.

“It was going into storage for the time being because they were building their home,” Kalmin explained. And not just one container. “So we ended up using three different containers.”

Inside the house was a wide range of items, each with its own challenges. “Lots of different things,” Kalmin said. “We were doing gym stuff, patio stuff, all household items.” On top of that, there were “really, really nice, expensive  tables,” and other furniture that required extra care and planning.

Then there was the sauna.

“It would be like a portable sauna almost,” Kalmin said. “It was like a pretty small square.” Small or not, it wasn’t something you could just wrap and carry out the door. “The sauna stuff I ended up having to disassemble, which was actually my first time. It was weird.”

Disassembling a customer’s sauna is not an everyday task, even for experienced movers. But this job required flexibility. “Just basically like a really big, interesting packing job,” Kalmin said. “Lots of different things to it. Lots of different people involved.”

To keep things moving, the crew split the house into zones. “We ended up having basically like different stations going,” he explained. “Some people upstairs, some people on the main floor, some in the basement.” That room-based strategy allowed nine movers to work simultaneously without getting in each other’s way, maximizing efficiency on a job that could have easily stretched even longer.

Even with that system in place, the sheer volume was surprising. “I think it took, with nine people, it took us over eight hours, I believe, to get it all packed,” Kalmin said. And yet, it all got done in one day. “Yes, all in one day, and then the move was the next day.”

Storage adds a different layer of pressure to packing. Items aren’t just being protected for transport—they need to sit safely for months. Kalmin walked through the crew’s approach. “Put pads on it depending how big or, like, how nice the item is,” he said. “We do one or two pads and then we would put shrink wrap around it to keep it nice and tight, nice and safe.”

Smaller details mattered too. “We’d make sure the legs or anything loose are taken off of it before—pack those separately.” For flat items like tables, there was a specific solution. “We would put it usually in between two beds so it’s nice and safe.”

The storage containers themselves were designed for durability. “They go on long hauls or whatever, they get shipped everywhere,” Kalmin said. “So usually they are built very safely.”

Still, even with all that protection, the human side of the move mattered just as much. The customers were understandably anxious. “For sure, you can tell they’re a little anxious for just how things would go,” Kalmin said. “Nice furniture—they were a little anxious about that.”

That anxiety is common. “That’s probably the biggest stress,” Kalmin explained. “Either that or marking the walls - more in the new home.”

To manage that stress, the crew focused on visible preparation. “If there was a wooden railing on the stairs, we put pads over the railings to make sure nothing gets scratched,” Kalmin said. “For flooring, we’d put our runners out to keep the floors nice and safe.” Big items were wrapped before they ever moved. “We do have ways, usually, to try and keep or ensure our safety about pieces.”

As the day went on and the strategy became clear, the customers’ nerves eased. “They end up calming down after seeing our ideas and the strategies we’d go about it,” Kalmin said.

By the end of the job, the reaction was clear. “Yes, they were extremely happy,” he said. “By the end of the day, they kept thanking us.” What surprised them most was the continuity. “They thought we’d send someone else after the pack, but all of us wanted to go back and complete the move.”

Looking back, Kalmin took practical lessons from the experience. “For sure, just… more like room strategy,” he said. “There’s lots of things. So how we pack things—it helped me think of different ways of packing to make everything fit.”

It’s a reminder that at Two Small Men with Big Hearts, moving isn’t just about strength. It’s about planning, adaptability, and earning trust when customers hand over everything they own—sometimes for months at a time. On this job, what started as “just basically a really big job” turned into a masterclass in coordination, care, and calm under pressure.

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