The kind of pieces that need a different kind of crew.
An upright piano on a flight of stairs. A great-grandmother's armoire. A six-foot canvas in a custom frame. A safe that took four people to install. These aren't moved the same way as the rest of your boxes — and they shouldn't be priced that way either.
What counts as specialty
- Pianos — upright, console, baby grand, full grand. Piano boards, heavy-duty straps, padded transport.
- Antiques and heirloom furniture — armoires, secretaries, breakfronts, anything pre-war or hand-built.
- Fine art — framed paintings, canvases, sculpture, mirrors. Custom crating, climate-controlled transport for sensitive works.
- Safes — floor safes, gun safes, jewelry safes. Up to several hundred pounds with stair-climbing equipment.
- Pool tables — disassembled, transported, and reassembled with re-leveling.
- Chandeliers — padded, crated, dimensions documented for re-hanging.
- Anything over five hundred pounds — sculptures, marble pieces, restaurant-grade appliances.
How specialty work differs
A specialty piece needs three things a regular move doesn't: the right equipment to lift it, the right materials to protect it, and a crew that has carried one before. We bring all three.
Most jobs we crate in advance — a custom-built wood crate lined with foam, dimensioned to the piece, padded on every face. Pieces that don't need crating get blanket-wrapped and shrink-secured to immobilize moving parts. Climbing stairs we use stair-rollers and four people. Loading into the truck we strap to a wall, not stacked with the rest of the load.
What it costs
- Upright piano
- From $250. Add for stairs, narrow doorways, distance.
- Baby grand / grand
- From $450. Disassembly and reassembly included.
- Single artwork
- From $250 with crating. Multiple pieces quoted together.
- Safes
- From $300 depending on weight and access.
- Pool table
- From $450 with re-leveling at the new location.
- Insurance upgrade
- Available for pieces valued $10,000 – $1,000,000+. Quoted separately.
If it's part of a larger move
A specialty piece can come along on a regular residential move — you don't have to book it separately. We'll quote the hourly move plus a specialty-item line on the same job. Most people prefer that.