Rigging-Busters handles the heavy side of a laboratory relocation in St. Catharines and across the Niagara Region. As lab and medical equipment movers and riggers, we rig, move, set and level the units that household and office movers don’t take on: autoclaves and steam sterilizers, environmental chambers, ultra-low freezers, fume hoods, bioreactors, process skids and hospital plant-room equipment.
Your lab or EHS team decommissions the space, a specialist lab mover packs the benchtop, and our crew takes each heavy unit from its old room to its new footprint, levelled and ready for the people who sign it off.
- Heavy units only: lab, hospital and production equipment; no household, office or benchtop packing.
- One crew from start to finish: rigging, transport, set-in-place and levelling, plus millwright installation when a unit needs it.
- Quick replies: quotes within 2–4 business hours.
- Minimum job: 3,500 CAD. Most industrial jobs cost more, and your written quote shows the full price.
- Where we work: St. Catharines and the surrounding Niagara area, Hamilton and the rest of southern Ontario.
For a first budget figure, our Heavy Lifting & Moving Calculator returns an instant price range.
or give a call +1-647-846-5179
Research Lab Relocation in St. Catharines: Our Part of the Move
Several trades share a lab move, and laboratory relocation services run smoothly when each trade knows where its job starts and stops. On a typical St. Catharines project the split looks like this:
- Your lab manager or EHS office empties, cleans and decontaminates each unit and signs the clearance.
- A biosafety cabinet certifier decontaminates each cabinet before it moves and recertifies it once it is installed.
- A specialist lab mover packs benchtop instruments, glassware, samples and chemicals.
- The manufacturer’s technician recalibrates analyzers and starts up anything that needs a factory start-up.
- Your licensed electricians disconnect and reconnect power, and plumbing or mechanical contractors handle water, drains, gases and exhaust ducts.
- Our riggers move the heavy units through corridors, elevators and docks, haul them, then set and level each one in the new room.
That makes us a practical partner for laboratory relocation specialists, for lab relocation companies that need riggers for the heaviest pieces, and for research groups planning the move themselves.
Heavy Lab, Scientific and Hospital Equipment We Move
- Autoclaves, steam sterilizers and glassware washers
- Environmental, growth and stability chambers
- Ultra-low freezers and lab refrigerators, emptied by your team
- Fume hoods, biosafety cabinets and glove boxes, after decontamination
- Bioreactors, fermenters, process skids and pilot-plant equipment
- Cleanroom tools and other heavy scientific equipment
- Hospital plant rooms: generators, chillers, switchgear and transformers
MRI, CT and X-ray systems are de-installed and installed by their manufacturer, and when the OEM needs riggers we can rig and move them under its direction; see MRI and medical imaging equipment rigging in Ontario. Linear accelerators for radiation therapy are handled the same way; see LINAC rigging in Ontario.
or give a call +1-647-846-5179
How We Move Heavy Lab and Medical Equipment in St. Catharines
From the first photo to the final level check, a lab or hospital move with us runs in this order:
- Equipment list and photos: make, model, weight and footprint of each unit, both addresses and the floor each unit sits on.
- Walk-through: corridor widths, door heights, freight elevator capacity, floor loading and the dock or ramp at both buildings.
- Plan and permits: method, crew and dates; if the truck and load are oversize, we arrange the road permits described below.
- Clearance and disconnects: your team hands over the decontamination clearance, and your licensed electricians and mechanical contractors disconnect the services.
- Rigging out: machinery skates, a hydraulic gantry or jack-and-roll, with each unit kept upright and inside the tilt limit in its manual.
- Transport: blocked and strapped on a trailer that suits its height and weight, on a route planned in advance.
- Placement: set on its marks in the new room, levelled and handed over for reconnection, recertification or OEM start-up.
Gear for Corridors, Elevators and Loading Docks
- Machinery skates to roll a unit down a corridor and through a doorway
- Floor protection laid over finished lab and hospital floors
- Hydraulic gantries to lift a unit off its stand where there is no overhead crane
- Jack-and-roll to raise heavy chambers and skids in small, controlled steps
- Lift trucks to load and unload at the dock
- Crane lifts by our crane or a partner crane, when a unit has no way out at ground level
Lab Equipment Transport and Permits in Niagara
Many lab units travel as legal loads. When a truck and load go over Highway Traffic Act limits, up to three road authorities are involved here: the City of St. Catharines for City streets, Niagara Region for Regional roads, and the MTO for the QEW and Highway 406. The City’s application asks for a sketch of the vehicle dimensions and the route; MTO applications go in at least 5 business days ahead.
Labs and wineries along the Niagara Parkway are a special case: Niagara Parks needs written permission for any vehicle over 5,000 kg and allows a heavy load only when the Parkway is the only way in, so we plan another route whenever one exists. Every unit also travels empty and clean, because a load with hazardous materials needs separate dangerous-goods paperwork.
Setting, Levelling and Sign-Off in the New Lab
In the new room we set each unit on its marks, level it and leave the clearances its service panels and exhaust need. Then the next trade takes over: your licensed electricians reconnect power, the certifier tests the biosafety cabinets, and the OEM technician starts up anything that needs a factory start-up.
Moving production machinery too? See machinery movers in St. Catharines. For a lift or set-in-place without transport, see industrial rigging services in St. Catharines.
or give a call +1-647-846-5179
Labs, Hospitals and Food Plants We Work For in Niagara
St. Catharines’ economic development office lists healthcare, industrial, and agriculture, food and beverage among the city’s key sectors. Those are the buildings where heavy lab and medical equipment lives: university and government research labs, hospitals and clinics, and food, wine and greenhouse operations.
University and Research Labs: Brock and Vineland
Brock University’s Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex, opened in 2012, houses a Containment Level 3 lab, chemistry and biotechnology labs, a vivarium and a phytotron. Moving laboratory equipment in or out of a building like that follows the university’s own health and safety sign-offs, freight-elevator bookings and working hours, and our schedule follows them too.
Down the QEW at Vineland Station, the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre opened its restored Jordan Building in 2023 as a central lab space with specialized fume hoods. Hoods like these are tied into the building’s exhaust, so a mechanical contractor disconnects the duct before we skid a hood out.
Hospitals, Clinics and Medical Contractors
Niagara Health runs the Marotta Family Hospital at 1200 Fourth Avenue in St. Catharines, and its South Niagara Hospital, a 1.3 million sq ft building at Montrose and Biggar roads in Niagara Falls, is on track to open in 2028. On hospital and clinic projects we move the heavy plant: sterilizers and washers in reprocessing areas, generators, chillers and switchgear, working to the site’s infection-control, security and after-hours rules.
If you’re the general or medical contractor on a St. Catharines clinic or lab fit-out, you can hand us the rigging scope as a subcontract and keep one schedule.
Food, Wine and Pharma Production Equipment
Process skids, mixing tanks, fillers and bottling equipment move the same way as lab units, only larger, and Niagara wineries and greenhouse growers usually want that work done outside harvest and crush. For a full production line or a whole building, see factory and plant relocation in Hamilton, which also covers St. Catharines.
or give a call +1-647-846-5179
Lab Equipment Moving Cost in St. Catharines and Niagara
We price each lab move as a project, once we have the equipment list or have walked the site. These are the things that move the number:
- The units: weight, height, centre of gravity and how sensitive each one is
- Building access: corridors, doors, freight elevators, stairs, docks and floor loading at both ends
- Method: skates and gantries, jack-and-roll, or a crane lift (crane time is included in your quote)
- Distance and road permits: City, Niagara Region, MTO or Niagara Parks permits for oversize loads
- Extras: crating, short-term storage, dismantling and reassembly, millwright installation
- Timing: evenings, weekends and lab or hospital shutdown windows
Estimates are free. For a quick range, try the Heavy Lifting and Moving Calculator; for a firm price, send the details listed further down this page.
or give a call +1-647-846-5179
Areas We Cover Around St. Catharines and Niagara
We take lab, hospital and production moves across the Niagara Region: St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Welland, Thorold, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Lincoln (including Vineland and Beamsville), Grimsby, Pelham, Port Colborne and Fort Erie. Beyond Niagara, see our pages for lab relocation in Hamilton, laboratory relocation in Toronto and lab and medical equipment movers in Brantford.
Key Cities Around St. Catharines and Niagara Falls
| City | Province | Country |
|---|---|---|
| St. Catharines | Ontario | Canada |
| Niagara Falls | Ontario | Canada |
| Grimsby | Ontario | Canada |
| Fort Erie | Ontario | Canada |
| Lincoln | Ontario | Canada |
| Niagara-on-the-Lake | Ontario | Canada |
| Port Colborne | Ontario | Canada |
| Pelham | Ontario | Canada |
| Thorold | Ontario | Canada |
| Welland | Ontario | Canada |
or give a call +1-647-846-5179
Why Niagara Labs and Hospitals Hire Our Riggers
- Heavy-equipment specialists: we rig and move the units general movers turn down.
- One crew from the old room to the new footprint: rigging, transport, set-in-place and levelling.
- Clear roles: we plan around your EHS team, certifier, OEM and electricians instead of guessing their part.
- Road permits arranged with the City, Niagara Region, MTO or Niagara Parks when a load needs one.
- Quotes within 2–4 business hours once we have your equipment list.
- Insured: liability and workers’ compensation insurance (WSIB in Ontario), with a certificate of insurance on request.
A good fit: a single heavy item or a whole floor of units for research groups and lab managers, hospital facilities teams, lab relocation companies and medical movers who need riggers for their heaviest units, contractors on lab and clinic fit-outs, and food or pharma plants moving process equipment.
Not a fit: gym and fitness equipment, medical supply stores and rentals, hospital beds and home rehab equipment, IT and computer moves, household and office moves, and specimen or sample couriers.
Before You Ask for a Quote: Six Things to Send
Attach these to your quote request and we can usually price the move without a second round of questions:
- Equipment list: make, model and approximate weight of each unit (a nameplate photo or manual page helps)
- Photos of each unit and of the route out: corridors, doors, elevator and dock
- Both addresses, with floor levels and a building or campus contact
- Dates and any shutdown, after-hours or infection-control windows
- Who does what: decontamination, disconnects, cabinet certification and OEM start-up
- Extras: crating, short-term storage, levelling or millwright work
or give a call +1-647-846-5179
Other Services in St. Catharines
More of our work in St. Catharines and Niagara is listed below; the full list is on all our services in St. Catharines.
- Heavy Equipment & Machinery Movers in St. Catharines, ON
- Heavy & Industrial Rigging Services in St. Catharines, ON
- Forklift Moving Service in St. Catharines, ON
- CNC Machine Movers in St. Catharines, ON
Location of our sales office:
264 Welland Ave, St. Catharines, ON L2R 2P8, Canada
Lab and Medical Equipment Moving in St. Catharines: FAQ
We move the heavy units: autoclaves and steam sterilizers, environmental and growth chambers, ultra-low freezers, fume hoods and biosafety cabinets after decontamination, bioreactors, process skids and hospital plant-room equipment such as generators and chillers. Benchtop instruments, glassware, samples and chemicals are packed by a specialist lab mover, and we can work alongside one on the same St. Catharines project.
We take the heavy part and coordinate with everyone else. Your lab or EHS team decommissions and decontaminates, a certifier handles the biosafety cabinets, a specialist lab mover packs the benchtop, and our riggers move, set and level the heavy units. At Brock University or a hospital lab, the plan also follows the institution’s sign-offs and freight-elevator bookings.
Each move is priced as a project. The main factors are the weight and size of every unit, access at both buildings, the rigging method, distance and any road permits, and timing such as evenings or shutdown windows. The Heavy Lifting and Moving Calculator gives a rough range, and estimates are free once we see your equipment list.
Only loads over Highway Traffic Act limits need them. City of St. Catharines streets need a City permit, Regional roads need a Niagara Region permit, and the QEW and Highway 406 need an MTO permit, applied for at least 5 business days ahead. Niagara Parks allows vehicles over 5,000 kg on the Parkway only with written permission, so we route around it.
As early as your decommissioning plan allows. Decontamination sign-offs and the certifier’s visit usually set the date, and oversize loads add permit time: the MTO asks for at least 5 business days, and City and Niagara Region permits have their own processing. Once your plan has dates, book the move and we will schedule the crew for that window.
Yes. Hospitals like the Marotta Family Hospital on Fourth Avenue and research buildings like Brock University’s Cairns complex set their own contractor rules: infection control, security, freight-elevator bookings and quiet hours. Send those rules with your request and we will plan the crew, floor protection and timing around them, including evening or weekend work.
Each unit is emptied and cleared by your team before we touch it. We check its weight, centre of gravity and tilt limit, cover finished floors, and move it on skates, a gantry or jack-and-roll instead of lifting by hand. On the trailer it is blocked and strapped, and the route, including any Niagara permits, is planned before the truck leaves.
We can hold skidded or crated units between move-out and move-in, for example while a Niagara lab is renovated. Tell us each unit’s storage limits up front: anything that needs conditioned space, power or monitoring should go straight from the old room to the new one, and we will set the move dates so that it does.
No. Hospital beds, patient lifts, home rehab equipment and medical supplies are better handled by hospital bed movers or the supplier that delivered them, and treadmills or other gym equipment by a fitness equipment mover. We also do not pack benchtop instruments or carry specimens. Our crew handles the heavy lab, hospital plant and production equipment described on this page.
All of St. Catharines and the Niagara Region, including Niagara Falls, Welland, Thorold, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Lincoln, Grimsby, Pelham, Port Colborne and Fort Erie. We also cover Hamilton, Brantford, Toronto and the rest of southern Ontario, and we can arrange cross-border transport to the United States. Send both addresses with your request and we will confirm the crew, route and permits.
