The upright in my mother’s front room is the piano I learned on. It has a cigarette burn on the lid from before I was born and a middle C that sticks in August. When she started clearing the house for her move this summer, it was the one thing she wouldn’t sell, give away or put on the “decide later” pile. “It goes to you,” she said, like it was already settled.
I started calling around, and the first mover I talked to said no. That was the moment I learned piano moving cost is its own little industry, with its own pricing and its own reasons for turning jobs down. I got four answers for one piano going 38 miles, from $0 (a refusal) to $540. Here’s how each one was built, what I paid, and the part I got wrong after it was sitting in my living room.
Why regular movers say no to pianos
My mother already had a quote from the company handling the rest of her move, the one I wrote about in my senior move services post. Their sheet had a line near the bottom: “Pianos: ground level only, subject to crew lead approval.” Her house has five brick steps up to the front door. The office said they’d send someone to look, and then called back to say they’d pass.
I asked why, and the answer was short. An upright is heavy for its size, and nearly all the weight sits in a cast-iron plate inside the case, so it’s top-heavy and it can tip. A general crew doesn’t carry a piano board (a padded plank the piano gets strapped to on its side), and their insurance didn’t want them trying it on steps. The guy on the phone said most of the piano damage he’s seen came from crews who said yes anyway.
I was annoyed for about a day. Then I was glad they said it on the phone and not on the porch.
My piano moving cost: four quotes for one upright
All of these came in late July 2026 for the same move: one upright, five outside steps at her house, a flat walk and one step at ours, 38 miles, both in the same state. Your piano moving cost will depend on your region and your stairs, so read these for how the price gets put together.
- The general mover declined, as above. No price, and no piano.
- A piano specialist quoted $495 flat, all in. Two movers, board and straps, the steps included. They asked for the brand, the height of the case, the number of steps and a photo of the front door.
- A second specialist itemized it: $325 base for a local upright, plus $15 a step (five steps, $75), plus $1.50 a mile past 25 miles ($19.50). That’s $419.50 before insurance, and $540 once I asked for full-value coverage.
- A guy from a marketplace app offered $200 cash, “me and my cousin.” No board mentioned, no insurance, and he wanted half up front.
I didn’t take the $200 one. The FTC’s advice on hiring a moving company says not to hire anyone who demands cash or a big deposit before the move, and “half up front, cash” was both of those.
What pushes piano moving cost up or down
By the third phone call, I could guess which questions were coming, because they’re the same things that set the price. Stairs came first. Both specialists asked how many, inside and outside, and whether there was a turn. The itemized mover charged per step, and the flat-rate one had built my mother’s five steps into its number.
After stairs, the type of piano. A spinet or console is the smallest and cheapest. A full upright like my mother’s costs more. A grand is a different job: the legs and the lyre come off, the body goes on its side on the board, and both specialists said a grand usually starts well above an upright and they’d want to see it first. I didn’t get grand prices, because I don’t have one, and I’m not going to guess at them here.
Distance is the smallest factor on a local move. Our 38 miles added $19.50 on one quote and nothing on the other. It adds up on a long-distance move, where the piano may ride with other people’s furniture and take days.
The last one is access at each end. Can the truck park near the door? Is there a narrow hallway, a tight turn or a doorway with a storm door that has to come off? I measured our front door (36 inches) and the path to the living room wall before I called anyone, and both specialists said that saved them a site visit.
The insurance line in your piano moving cost quote
The itemized mover’s quote jumped from $419.50 to $540 when I asked about insurance, and that $120 is worth understanding before you sign anything.
For interstate moves, federal rules let the mover offer two levels of liability. The default is full value protection, where the mover’s liability is the replacement value of what gets lost or damaged, up to the declared value of the shipment (49 CFR 375.201). You can waive that in writing, and then the mover is only liable at the released rate, and the same set of rules refers to that rate as 60 cents per pound per article. On a piano, 60 cents a pound doesn’t come close to fixing a cracked case.
Our move didn’t cross a state line, so those federal rules didn’t cover it. My state’s rules and the mover’s own paperwork did. The flat-rate company included coverage “up to $3,000 per item” in its $495. The itemized one charged extra for anything above its basic rate. I asked both to put the coverage in writing, with the dollar amount, and I’d do that again.
| What the mover asked | My answer | What it did to the price | Why they ask |
|---|---|---|---|
| What kind of piano? | Full upright | Set the base price ($325 on the itemized quote) | Size and weight decide the crew and the gear |
| How many steps, inside and out? | 5 outside at pickup, 1 at delivery | +$75 at $15 a step | Every step is a lift with the piano on the board |
| How far? | 38 miles, same state | +$19.50 past 25 free miles; $0 on the flat quote | Truck time, and whether it’s a dedicated trip |
| Doorways and turns? | 36-inch front door, no turns | No site visit needed | A tight turn can mean removing a door or a railing |
| What coverage do you want? | Full value | +$120.50 on the itemized quote; included in the flat one | The basic rate pays by weight, not by what the piano is worth |
Common mistakes when getting piano moving quotes
- Counting only the stairs you walk up. I nearly forgot the single step down into our living room. Count every step on both ends, and mention any turns.
- Comparing a flat price with a base price. $325 looked cheaper than $495 until the steps, the miles and the coverage went on top of it. Add everything up before you compare.
- Assuming basic coverage means you’re covered. Ask what the mover pays if the case cracks, in dollars, and get the answer on paper.
What I paid, and what moving day looked like
I booked the $495 flat rate. It was cheaper than the itemized quote with matching coverage, and they’d done steps like my mother’s before (the scheduler described the brick ones from our photo before I mentioned them).
Two men showed up at 8:40 on a Thursday in early August. They wrapped the piano in thick moving blankets, tipped it onto the board, strapped it and took it down the five steps one at a time, calling out each one. That part took maybe ten minutes. My mother watched from the kitchen doorway and didn’t say a word.
At our house they set it against the inside wall of the living room, away from the heating vent and out of the afternoon sun, which one of them suggested before I could ask. The whole job was about two hours door to door. I tipped them $25 each, so the piano cost me $545 to move, and nothing to buy.
If you’re moving the rest of a household too, packing and moving are usually two separate bills, and I broke those down in my packing services post and my low cost moving companies post. Get the piano quoted on its own, even if the rest goes with one company.
Grab the free printable: my one-page Piano Move Quote Sheet, with the six questions every mover asked me, a line for each extra, and a box for the coverage amount in writing. Get the free sheet →
What didn’t work: tuning it the first week
The piano sounded rough when it arrived. I’d expected that. I called a tuner the next day and booked him for that Saturday, because I wanted it right before my daughter got her hands on it. He tuned it for $140 and told me, while he packed up, that I’d probably have him back.
He was right. In about a month it had slid flat again, especially in the middle, and I paid another $140 last week. A piano that has changed houses is adjusting to new humidity and a new temperature, and the tuning won’t hold until the wood settles. The tuner told me as much on his second visit: next time, wait three or four weeks after a move before calling him. I paid double because I was in a hurry.
One more thing. My neighbor, the one who kept a piano in a storage container over a summer (I mentioned it in my portable storage container post), had a much worse time than I did. If the piano has to wait somewhere between houses, don’t put it in a metal box on hot asphalt.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to move an upright piano locally?
My two specialist quotes for a full upright going 38 miles, with five outside steps, were $495 flat and $419.50 itemized ($540 with full-value coverage), in July 2026. Piano moving cost goes up most with stairs, the size of the piano and the coverage you choose.
Will regular movers move a piano?
Some will, often only on flat ground and for an extra fee. The general mover I asked turned down our piano because of the front steps. Ask whether they have a piano board and whether their insurance covers pianos.
How soon should you tune a piano after moving it?
Give it a few weeks to adjust to the new room. I tuned mine the first week, and it drifted flat within a month, so I paid for a second tuning.
If you’re pricing a piano move this week, count your steps on both ends, measure the doorways, take a photo of each entrance and send the same information to at least two piano specialists. Ask for the total with coverage, in writing. Then book the tuner for three or four weeks later, not the next day.
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