Rigging-Busters handles industrial equipment removal for plants, warehouses and machine shops across Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Our machinery movers and riggers take heavy machinery out of the building, load it and haul it away, whether you are closing or consolidating a plant, clearing a line for new equipment, or collecting machines you bought at a liquidation auction.
Each machine goes where you decide: your new plant, storage, the buyer’s dock, or the scrap dealer or recycler you choose. We are riggers, not a scrap buyer: we don’t buy equipment or pay for scrap, so any resale or scrap value stays with you.
- Industrial removal only: machines, process lines and plant utilities, not household junk, furniture or appliances.
- One crew from rig-out to drop-off: rigging, loading and transport, plus set-in-place and levelling when a machine is going to a new plant.
- Quote replies within 2–4 business hours, which matters when an auction gives you only a week or two to clear your lots.
- Coverage: Toronto and the GTA, plus plant closures across southern Ontario, with City and MTO oversize permits arranged.
Want a rough number before you send the lot list? Our Heavy Lifting & Moving Calculator gives a quick price range.
or give a call +1-647-846-5179
Safe Heavy Machinery Removal in Toronto: How We Clear a Plant
Taking heavy machinery out of a building that is closing, or one that has to keep running around you, is a rigging job with a hard deadline. This is how our crew runs a Toronto machinery removal, from the first photo to an empty bay:
- Lot list and photos: what is leaving, with make, model and approximate weight, where each machine sits in the building, and the date the space must be empty.
- Walk-through: doors and docks, floor condition, overhead obstructions, the route out and where a trailer can stand. For an auction pickup we also note the hours the site is open to buyers.
- Removal plan and permits: the order machines leave in, the crew, the rigging method and trailer for each one, and any oversize permits for the haul.
- Shutdown and disconnect: your licensed electricians isolate and disconnect power, and air and water lines are capped and fluids drained by whoever the sale terms or your plan assign.
- Unbolt and rig out: anchors released or cut as agreed, then each machine lifted and rolled out on skates, a hydraulic gantry or jack-and-roll, with heavy-capacity lift trucks at the dock.
- Load and haul: machines secured on trailers matched to the load, with escorts when the permit calls for them.
- Drop-off and a clear floor: delivery to your new site (set in place and levelled), storage, the buyer or the scrap yard, with our skates, cribbing and rigging gone from the bay.
Rigging Gear We Bring for a Rig-Out
- Machinery skates and toe jacks to raise a machine off its pads and roll it across the floor
- Hydraulic gantries for lifts where the building’s overhead crane is gone, too small or already shut down
- Jack-and-roll systems for very heavy presses and machine bases
- Heavy-capacity lift trucks to carry machines to the dock and load trailers
- Trailers matched to each load, from tilt-decks to lowboys for tall machines
- Crane lifts through licensed crane partners for the occasional lift that needs one
Plant Closures, Consolidations and Line Removals
For a full plant clear-out or an industrial plant removal, we work through the building in an agreed order: equipment going to buyers or to your other site leaves first, then whatever is left for the scrap dealer, so docks stay free and nothing blocks the route out. Long lines, tall presses, conveyors and tanks that cannot travel in one piece are dismantled into transportable sections and match-marked when they will be rebuilt. If you are only clearing one line for a new installation, we take the old machines out around your running production.
Building demolition, environmental clean-up and hazardous-material handling need specialist contractors, and your licensed electricians handle the disconnects. We set our dates around theirs so the building is empty on time.
Machinery Transport and Permits in Toronto
On Toronto streets, a truck and load that meets or exceeds 4.15 m in height, 2.59 m in width, 21.33 m in length or 50 tonnes needs a City of Toronto single-trip oversize load permit. The City normally takes 7 to 10 business days to issue one, and the carrier must scout the permitted route 48 hours before the move.
Oversize loads are barred from the Don Valley Parkway, Black Creek Drive, the Allen Expressway, the elevated section of Lake Shore Boulevard West and the Gardiner Expressway east of the Humber River. Highways 401, 427 and 400 are provincial, so a large haul also needs an MTO oversize/overweight permit, which Ontario asks carriers to apply for at least 5 business days ahead. Against a one-to-two-week auction window that lead time matters, so we start the permit work as soon as you send the lot list.
Auction Removal in the GTA: Getting Your Lots Out on Time
Plant liquidation auctions in the GTA and southern Ontario usually give buyers a short removal window, often one to two weeks. Before you bid, check the sale terms for three things:
- Removal dates and hours: when buyers may be on site, and the final pickup day.
- Rigger rules: some sales use one exclusive rigger, while others approve riggers in advance and ask for safety and insurance documents before pickup.
- Site conditions: who disconnects power, whether anchors must be cut flush, and how fluids, floors and the assigned dock must be left.
Send us the lot numbers, the sale terms and the deadline. Within 2–4 business hours we tell you which terms and dates we can meet and what the removal involves, so you can bid knowing the real cost of getting each machine home. Bought it for your own plant? We can set it in place and level it at your shop, in Toronto or elsewhere in Ontario. For sales outside the GTA, and for the paperwork that auction houses ask riggers for, see our auction machinery removal page.
Industrial Dismantling and Disposal: Where the Equipment Goes
Industrial dismantling here means taking equipment apart only as far as it must go to leave the building and travel safely: guards and covers off, long frames split, conveyors and platforms unbolted, and parts labelled if the machine will run again. Then each item goes to one of four places:
- Your new plant: set in place, levelled and ready for your electricians. Moving the whole operation? See factory and plant relocation in Toronto.
- Storage: machines kept on skids until a sale closes or the new building is ready.
- The buyer: delivery to a dealer, a broker’s client or another plant in Ontario, or across the border to the United States.
- The scrap dealer or industrial recycler you choose: we deliver, and they weigh the metal and pay you. We don’t buy scrap or recycle equipment ourselves.
Still deciding between selling, auctioning and scrapping? Our guide to machinery disposal options: auction, broker or scrap compares them.
Equipment We Remove from Toronto Plants
From a single toolroom lathe to a giant transfer press, our crew removes:
- CNC machining centres, lathes, grinders and other machine tools
- Stamping presses, press brakes and shears
- Injection moulding machines and extruders
- Food, beverage and packaging lines, conveyors and process tanks
- Printing presses and bindery equipment
- Compressors, generators, switchgear and transformers
- Welding, fabrication and tool-and-die equipment
Equipment Removal Cost in Toronto: What Affects the Price
We price each removal per job, from the lot list and photos or after a walk-through. The cost comes down to six things:
- The machines: how many, how heavy, and where their weight sits
- Prep at each machine: anchors, fluids, dismantling and any crating
- The way out: door and dock sizes, floor capacity, ramps and the distance to the dock
- The haul: distance, trailer type, and City of Toronto or MTO permits and escorts
- The deadline: a short auction window, evening access or weekend work
- The destination: your plant (with set-in-place and levelling), storage, a buyer or a scrap yard
Our quote covers the work: rigging, dismantling, loading and transport. Any resale or scrap value is paid to you by whoever takes the equipment. Estimates are free, and quotes are in Canadian dollars (CAD).
Service Area: Toronto, the GTA and Southern Ontario
About 90% of Toronto’s manufacturing and warehousing jobs are in the City’s Employment Areas, which cover only about 11% of its land (City of Toronto, 2025). That is where most plant equipment in the city sits: Rexdale-Airport and South Etobicoke in the west, the Downsview and Keele-Finch lands in North York, and Tapscott in north-east Scarborough. Tapscott, South Etobicoke and Rexdale-Airport also had the most proposed development projects of any employment area in 2025, and redeveloping an older industrial building usually starts with clearing out its equipment.
From Toronto we also take removals in Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan and Concord, Markham, Richmond Hill, Oakville, Burlington, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa. For closures further out, such as Kitchener-Cambridge, Brantford or London, we plan the work as a multi-day job; for Hamilton, see plant decommissioning in Hamilton.
GTA Cities We Cover for Equipment Removal
| City | Province | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Toronto | Ontario | Canada |
| Mississauga | Ontario | Canada |
| Milton | Ontario | Canada |
| Vaughan | Ontario | Canada |
| Markham | Ontario | Canada |
| Richmond Hill | Ontario | Canada |
| Brampton | Ontario | Canada |
| Bolton | Ontario | Canada |
| King City | Ontario | Canada |
| Whitchurch-Stouffville | Ontario | Canada |
| Oakville | Ontario | Canada |
| Burlington | Ontario | Canada |
| Whitby | Ontario | Canada |
| Ajax | Ontario | Canada |
| Pickering | Ontario | Canada |
| Newmarket | Ontario | Canada |
| Aurora | Ontario | Canada |
| Oshawa | Ontario | Canada |
| Georgetown | Ontario | Canada |
| Halton Hills | Ontario | Canada |
or give a call +1-647-846-5179
Why Toronto Plants Call Us for Equipment Removal
- Riggers, not junk haulers: we move heavy industrial equipment only, with skates, gantries, jack-and-roll and lift trucks.
- Planned around your deadline: a lease end, a closing date or an auction pickup window.
- One crew from rig-out to drop-off, including set-in-place and levelling when a machine goes to a new home.
- Permits arranged: City of Toronto and MTO oversize permits and escorts for the haul.
- No stake in the scrap: we don’t buy your equipment, so our advice on where it goes is about logistics, not price.
- Fast answers: quote replies within 2–4 business hours.
- Insured: liability and workers’ compensation insurance (WSIB in Ontario), with a certificate of insurance on request.
A good fit: plant closures and consolidations, line removals before a new install, auction and liquidation pickups, machines sold to another plant, and equipment headed to storage or a scrap yard.
Not a fit: household junk, furniture or appliance pickup, bin rental, buying scrap or paying cash for metal, hazardous-waste disposal, building demolition, and equipment repair or rental.
What to Send for an Equipment Removal Quote
Send these with your removal quote request and we can price the job without guesswork:
- The lot or equipment list: make, model and approximate weight of each machine (nameplate photos help)
- Key dates: closing or sale date, removal deadline and the hours the site is open
- Access: dock and door sizes, floor type and anything in the way
- Disconnect status: whether power and air are off and fluids drained
- Destination: your plant, storage, a buyer or a scrap yard, with the address
- Photos of each machine and the route to the door
Other Services in Toronto
Moving equipment rather than clearing it out? These Toronto pages cover it:
- Machinery movers in Toronto and the GTA
- Industrial rigging services in Toronto
- Factory and plant relocation services in Toronto
- Heavy equipment loading and unloading in Toronto
- Transformer removal and moving in Toronto
- Machinery movers in Mississauga and machinery movers in Brampton
- Auction machinery removal in Ontario
- Lab & Medical Equipment Movers in Toronto, ON
- Forklift Moving Service in Toronto, ON
- Data Centre Equipment Rigging in Toronto, ON
- Crane Rigging & Heavy Lifting in Toronto, ON
- Millwright Services & Machinery Installation in Toronto, ON
- Robotics Equipment Moving in Toronto, ON
- Solar Manufacturing Equipment Moving in Toronto, ON
Location of our sales office:
120 Eglinton Ave E, Toronto, ON M4P 1E2, Canada 👇
Looking for something other than removal? Browse all Rigging-Busters services in Toronto.
Industrial Equipment Removal in Toronto: FAQ
Removal is priced per job, not by weight alone. The quote depends on how many machines are leaving and how heavy they are, anchor and fluid prep, any dismantling, the route out of the building, the haul and any City of Toronto or MTO permits, and how tight your deadline is. Estimates are free, and our Heavy Lifting and Moving Calculator gives a rough range.
Usually not. Many machines are top-heavy, with their weight sitting off-centre, so they can tip as they come off their anchors or pads. Power has to be isolated and disconnected by a Licensed Electrical Contractor, as Ontario Regulation 570/05 requires for electrical work done for hire. A rigging crew with skates, gantries and rated slings takes that risk off your floor and your staff.
Yes. Send the lot numbers, the sale terms and the removal deadline. Liquidation sales in the GTA and southern Ontario often allow only one to two weeks for pickup, and some approve riggers in advance or use their own exclusive rigger, so check the terms before you bid. We reply within 2–4 business hours with what we can meet, then rig out, load and deliver to your shop.
No. We are riggers, not a scrap buyer or recycler. We remove and haul the equipment, and any resale or scrap value is paid to you by the buyer, dealer or scrap yard you choose. Because we take no cut of the metal, our quote is simply the cost of the rigging, dismantling, loading and transport.
You decide. We deliver each machine to your new plant and set it in place, to storage until a sale closes, to the buyer, or to the scrap yard you pick. Machines heading to a buyer or another plant can be match-marked and crated first, and we haul to buyers elsewhere in Ontario or across the border in the United States.
Yes, the machinery side of it: rig-out, dismantling, loading and removal of production equipment, lines and plant utilities, in an order that keeps docks and routes clear. Building demolition, environmental clean-up and hazardous-material handling need specialist contractors, and your licensed electricians handle the disconnects. We schedule our crew around theirs so the building is empty on time.
Only for the haul, and only if the load is large. On Toronto streets, a truck and load that meets or exceeds 4.15 m high, 2.59 m wide, 21.33 m long or 50 tonnes needs a City single-trip oversize load permit, normally issued in 7 to 10 business days. Provincial highways such as the 401 also need an MTO permit. We apply for both as part of the job.
A single machine with a clear route to the dock can usually be rigged out and loaded in one visit. A full plant or a large auction lot takes several days, sequenced around docks and other trades. Permits and disconnects cause most delays, since a City of Toronto oversize permit normally takes 7 to 10 business days, so book as soon as you know your dates.
All of Toronto, from Rexdale-Airport and South Etobicoke to Downsview, Keele-Finch and Tapscott, and the wider GTA, including Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, Markham, Oakville, Burlington, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa. We also take plant closures elsewhere in southern Ontario, such as Hamilton, Kitchener-Cambridge, Brantford and London. Send the site address with your quote request.
No. We remove industrial machinery and plant equipment only. For furniture, appliances, electronics and other household items, the City of Toronto runs curbside collection and drop-off depots, and junk-removal companies take mixed loads. If you are clearing presses, CNC machines, production lines or other plant equipment anywhere in the GTA, send us the list.
