Specialty & Heavy Items

Pianos, safes, pool tables, and hoisting when the stairwell says no

Moving specialty items costs $300 to $600 for an upright piano, $500 to $1,200 for a grand, $350 to $700 for a pool table, and $400 to $900 for hoisting through a window or balcony. Safes are priced by weight. Every job includes a trained crew, dedicated equipment, and insurance, with a flat price locked in writing.

Furniture hoist lifting a wrapped sofa toward an apartment balcony

What you get

What's included in every specialty job

A crew trained for the item: piano crews move pianos, safe crews move safes. Nobody's "figuring it out" on your stairs.
The right equipment: piano boards and skids, heavy-duty dollies rated for the weight, rigging straps, and lift gear for hoisting.
A route survey before the quote: we check the stairwells, doorways, turns, and floors from your photos and measurements, so the plan exists before the truck arrives.
Disassembly & reassembly where it belongs: grand piano legs, pool table slate, safe door removal when weight demands it.
Floor and wall protection: heavy items never touch hardwood floors without padding in between.
Insurance: liability coverage on every job, with full-value protection available. On items like these, coverage is the point.

Moving just one ordinary item, like a fridge, a couch, or a dresser? Our single-item service is cheaper and faster. Whole home plus a piano? Book a local move and we'll fold the piano into the same flat quote.

Full transparency

2026 specialty & heavy item prices

Flat ranges for the items most movers hesitate to quote. Stairs and tricky access decide where you land in the range.

Item	Flat price range	What that covers
Upright piano	$300–$600	Piano board, straps, trained crew
Grand piano	$500–$1,200	Partial disassembly, skid, reassembly
Safe — up to 500 lbs	$300–$500	Rated dolly, floor protection
Safe — 500–1,000 lbs	$500–$800	Heavy rigging, larger crew
Safe — 1,000+ lbs	Custom quote	Site survey first, always
Pool table	$350–$700	Disassembly, slate handling, re-leveling
Hoisting (window / balcony)	$400–$900	Rigging or lift, spotter crew
Oversized sofa / armoire / gym gear	$250–$600	The "how did they get this in here?" items

Updated August 2026, based on U.S. market rates for specialty moving. See the full price guide

Why a piano is not "just heavy furniture"

An upright piano weighs 300 to 800 pounds, with a high center of gravity and a cast-iron plate under tension from about 20 tons of string pull. It doesn't get carried; it gets strapped to a piano board, tilted at controlled angles, and rolled on a skid by people who know which angles are safe for the instrument and which crack soundboards. Grands add a disassembly step. The lid, pedal lyre, and legs come off, the body travels on its side on a padded skid, and everything is rebuilt at the destination. Done right, the piano barely notices the trip. Done wrong, well, piano technicians can tell you stories at $150 an hour.

How a hoist works

First, geometry. You send photos of the item, the window or balcony, and the street below. We confirm the item truly can't take the stairs (you'd be surprised what a removed door and a good angle can do, and we always try the cheap way first). If hoisting it is, we rig straps or set a furniture lift, one crew works the height while another works the ground, the street side gets cordoned off, and the item takes the scenic route. Twenty minutes of lift and hours of planning, which is exactly how you want it.

What moves the price on specialty jobs

Stairs, again. Every flight matters far more at 600 pounds than at 60. Ground-floor to ground-floor sits at the bottom of every range.
Turns and clearances. A straight shot is fast; a spiral staircase with a low chandelier takes real planning.
Exact weight and dimensions. Send us the model number of the safe or piano if you have it. Precise specs mean a precise, and often lower, quote.
Distance. Most specialty jobs are local; add real mileage and we'll quote it flat like any long-distance run.

Heavy questions

Specialty & Heavy Items FAQ

How much does it cost to move a piano in 2026?

An upright piano runs $300 to $600 and a grand piano $500 to $1,200, depending on stairs, distance, and how tight the turns are. That includes a trained piano crew, a piano board and skid, straps, padding, and insurance. Grands are partially disassembled (lid, legs, and pedals off) and rebuilt at the destination.

What is hoisting and when do I need it?

Hoisting is lifting an item through a window or over a balcony, using rigging straps or a lift, when stairwells or doorways are simply too small. It typically costs $400 to $900. You need it for oversized sofas into narrow walkups, big furniture past spiral staircases, and pieces that came in through a window that's since been renovated smaller. We assess it from photos and measurements before quoting.

How much does it cost to move a safe?

Safes are priced by weight: roughly $300 to $500 up to 500 lbs, $500 to $800 for 500 to 1,000 lbs, and custom-quoted above that, plus stair charges. Weight is the whole game. A 700-pound safe needs a heavy-duty dolly, floor protection, and a crew that has done this before, because a safe getting away from an amateur crew on a staircase is how floors and feet get ruined.

Can you move a pool table without wrecking it?

Yes, by never moving it in one piece. A proper pool table move ($350 to $700) means disassembly: felt-safe removal of the rails and pockets, the slate lifted out in sections (each piece weighs 150 to 250 lbs), everything padded and transported flat, then reassembled and leveled at the new home. Anyone who offers to roll it out the door whole is offering to buy you a new table the hard way.

Why hire pros for heavy items instead of extra friends?

Because with a 400-pound item, the margin for error is zero and the failure modes are expensive: crushed fingers, cracked stairs, a piano with a broken soundboard. Pros bring the equipment (boards, skids, straps, dollies rated for the weight), the technique, and the insurance. If something goes wrong on our watch, it's covered. If it goes wrong on your friend's watch, you're paying for it out of pocket.

Got something heavy?

Tell us what it is and where it's going (photos help) and we'll send back a flat written price with the plan to match.

✓ Trained crews & real equipment
✓ Insured, on paper, every job
✓ Route survey before you pay a cent