Premiere Suites

What it costs to empty a furnished suite without using a landfill

A guest checks out of a furnished suite in Mississauga. The lease on that unit is ending, so the bed, the dresser and the two night tables have to be out by a date somebody else set.

Premiere Suites is Canada's largest corporate housing provider, with more than 10,000 furnished suites, homes and townhomes in over 95 locations. Their promise is that every unit looks new, every time. That standard, working exactly as intended, produces a steady stream of furniture that is still genuinely good, in volumes a single van cannot handle.

The default answer is a hauler and a bin. Premiere Suites chose the other one, and it is worth being precise about what they chose: not a donation programme, but a removal service they book and pay for. They send the property address, the list, and the date it has to be gone. We come back with a fee and a truck window. Every item is inspected, counted and receipted at our Etobicoke warehouse.

What leaves a suite in Mississauga is then chosen off our showroom floor by a family referred to us by one of our agency partners. Because corporate housing furnishes in sets, it decommissions in sets, so a room set arrives in an empty apartment as a room set. The two night tables stay together. Items that fail inspection are broken down and recycled rather than landfilled, and the crew that moves all of it is part of Leg Up, our employment programme for people facing barriers to work.

Since then a Toronto account has become a national routing desk. When Premiere Suites needed furniture cleared in Ottawa, the job went to Matthew House Ottawa. Edmonton, Halifax and Vancouver followed, each one requested by the client rather than sold to them.