Questions people actually ask

Priority bookings are typically on site within three hours during business hours. Standard bookings are scheduled for the next day or later. If we cannot make your window, dispatch tells you before you commit.

Gophers are employees on payroll. When we send someone to your site they have turned down other work and travelled to you, and we pay them for that. The 3-hour minimum is what makes it possible to pay a fair wage and still show you a $49.99 rate.

You are billed the 3-hour minimum. Most customers use the remaining time for something else on the list — that is what the crew is there for.

The crew keeps going if they are free and you approve it, billed by the hour at the same rate. If they are booked elsewhere, dispatch tells you before the end of the block so you can decide.

Employees. We run payroll, remit CPP, EI and income tax, issue T4s and carry WorkSafeBC coverage. This matters to you: when you direct a worker’s tasks and hours, misclassification risk is real, and with us it sits with us rather than with you.

Yes — liability insurance on every job and WorkSafeBC coverage on every hour worked. We will send a WCB clearance letter before the first shift if your general contractor asks for one.

Anything that needs a licence or a ticket. That means work at heights and roofing, demolition, asbestos, mould and hazmat, electrical, plumbing and gas, confined space entry, heavy equipment operation, and the rest of the list on our services page. If your job includes any of it, we will tell you and point you at the right trade.

Not for the basics — Gophers bring boots, hi-vis, gloves and a hard hat. Equipped bookings arrive with a vehicle, dollies, straps, blankets and hand tools. If the job needs specific equipment, say so in the booking and dispatch will confirm what we bring.

Three parts, all shown before you book. The crew by the hour, the vehicle by the hour ($69.99 for a van, $149.99 for the 24 ft truck, billed once for the job rather than per Gopher), and disposal by weight at $0.39/kg for general junk. Clean yard waste and untreated wood tip cheaper at the transfer station, so we charge $0.29/kg for those instead of flattening everything into one rate.

We cannot, so we do not pretend to. The quote estimates the weight from the vehicle and how full it goes, and the invoice uses the actual weight off the transfer station scale ticket — which means it can come in under as well as over. It is the same arrangement as the hours: estimated up front, billed on what actually happened. Minimum $49.99 per disposal run, because even a near-empty load costs a round trip and time in the scale queue.

Two, and both are the transfer station passing a cost to us. Mattresses and box springs are $29.99 each because the station charges per unit. Prohibited materials found in a load are $99.99 — that only applies if something banned turns up that was not mentioned at booking, and it is charged per load, not per item. The station's per-load transaction fee and small-load minimum we absorb rather than itemise.

Not for a small job. Crews of 4 or more always include a Gopher Pro crew lead, who is one of the people on site rather than an extra body added to the bill — they walk the site with you, plan the work, keep the crew moving and report at the end of the day. Below that it is optional, because most one- and two-person jobs are directed by the customer.

Nothing is charged when you book. Hours are logged on site and sent to you to approve. Homes pay by card after approval; business accounts are invoiced net 15.

Free with 12 hours notice. Inside 12 hours, or if the crew arrives and cannot start, we bill the 3-hour minimum, because the Gophers are on payroll and turned down other work for your booking.

We are open 9am–9pm on weekdays and 9am–5pm on weekends. There is no weekend surcharge — a Saturday morning costs the same as a Tuesday morning. A job starting outside our hours is +50%, shown in the quote before you book, so the price you see already includes it.

Metro Vancouver: Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, the North Shore, the Tri-Cities, New Westminster, Delta, Langley and Maple Ridge. Outside that we travel for bookings of 6 hours or more — ask dispatch.