Piano work is scoped differently from ordinary furniture work because it genuinely is different work — a different crew, different equipment, and a route that has to be confirmed rather than assumed. That is why the honest answer to "what does it cost" is a written quote against your specific job, and why quotes for what sounds like the same piano can differ so much.
What follows is not a price. It is the list of things that decide one, so you can describe your job accurately and get an answer that survives the day.
The instrument itself
"Piano" covers an enormous range, and the range inside a single category is wider than most people expect.
Uprights vary more than any other group. A small mid-century spinet is a manageable, straightforward item on a dolly. An older European upright with a full iron frame is a substantially heavier object with different balance, and it needs another pair of hands and a more careful approach through any turn. Both are "an upright." They are not the same job.
Grands are a different operation, not a bigger one. The lyre comes off, the legs come off, and the instrument travels on its side on a piano board rather than on its own legs — which are decorative supports, not transport structure. That is a sequence of steps at each end, and each of them is time.
Concert instruments are the top of that scale and need to be treated as their own job rather than as an item within a household move.
Digital pianos are not in this conversation at all. They are electronics with a keyboard and they move under ordinary furniture protocol.
This is the single biggest reason make and model matter when you ask. Two lines of text let a coordinator look up the actual weight and footprint instead of estimating from a photograph.
The route at both ends
Access decides more of the work than the instrument does, and it is the part most enquiries under-describe.
- How far the truck can get to the door. A driveway is one job; a hundred metres of carry from the only legal stopping place is another.
- Stairs, and their shape. Not just how many flights but how wide, whether there is a landing, and whether the landing turns ninety degrees or doubles back. A wide straight run is a different proposition from a narrow one with a turn. See piano movers and stairs.
- Elevators. Whether there is one, whether it can be booked, whether the car is deep enough, and what the building's window is.
- Doorways and the pinch points. The narrowest point on the route governs the whole route. Frequently it is not a doorway at all — it is a turn in a hallway or a low soffit at the top of the stairs.
- The surfaces. Hardwood, tile and finished stairs all need protection, and that protection is part of the plan rather than an afterthought.
- Both ends, independently. People describe the end they are standing in. The other one counts equally, and it is usually the one that produces surprises.
The crew and equipment the job requires
Crew size is not a preference. It is set by the hardest section of the route, not the average of it — if one turn on a stair needs four people, the job needs four people, even if the rest of it would be comfortable with three.
The kit is similarly not optional. A proper piano dolly with rotational casters lets the instrument pivot without being lifted or dragged, which is what protects the floor as much as the piano. Four-point ratchet straps keep it on that dolly through a turn. A piano board is what a grand travels on. Multi-layer blanket wrap covers the case, legs, lyre and pedals, and stretch wrap keeps the blankets where they were put. A stair-climbing dolly is what makes some stair routes possible at all.
A quote that has not named a crew size or the equipment has not assessed the route.
Distance, and what the second leg adds
Local work and long-haul work are scoped differently. A longer route means more hours under vibration, potentially a different vehicle, and a schedule that has to hold at both ends rather than just one. Anything crossing a border adds documentation that has nothing to do with moving and everything to do with paperwork.
If the instrument is going into storage in between, that is not one job with a pause in it — it is two handling operations and a storage period, each with its own requirements. See storage and pack and store.
For routes outside the local area, start at long-distance moving.
What sits inside a properly written piano scope
When the written quote comes back, these should be in it explicitly rather than assumed:
- The crew size planned for the job.
- The equipment the route requires — dolly, straps, board for a grand, stair equipment where relevant.
- Full padding of case, legs, lyre and pedals, with wrap to hold it.
- Floor and doorway protection along the whole route at both ends.
- The route as assessed, including the pinch points and how they are handled.
- Placement and a level check at the destination, so the instrument ends up where it is meant to be and sitting properly.
- Whatever documentation either building requires, and when it goes.
What sits outside it
Tuning. No instrument holds its tune through a move, and that is not damage. Budget for a tuning once the piano has settled into the new room. The timing is worth getting right — see does moving a piano affect its tuning.
Regulation and voicing, if the instrument needs them. That is a technician's work, not a mover's.
Storage, if there is a gap.
Cross-border documentation, which is its own process.
Any structural work the route needs — a banister that has to come off and go back on is usually straightforward, but a door that has to be removed and rehung, or a hoist through a window, is a specialist operation and belongs in its own line rather than buried in an estimate.
How to get a number that holds
Send these five things and the answer that comes back will be a real one:
- Photographs of the instrument — front and side, with the legs visible.
- Make and model.
- Stairs at each end, with a photograph of each staircase from the bottom looking up.
- Access at each end: where a truck can stop, elevator or no elevator, and the narrowest point on the route.
- Your date, and whether it can move.
The thing to be wary of is a firm number produced without any of that. It is not a quote — it is an opening position, and the version that arrives on the day will be different.
Send us the instrument and both routes and we will come back in writing with the crew, the equipment, the plan and the price against your actual job. Start your move brief, or call 778-994-2303. For the full service, see piano moving.