Piano and Gun-Safe Moving
Trust a piano or a gun safe to a couple of friends with a rented appliance cart and you’re inviting a wrecked instrument and a wrecked back, and day-labor won’t do any better. We put Sal Romano on these. Across fourteen years with instruments and safes, he’s become the one who can ease a baby grand down three Avondale flights and through the new front door spotless, with no gouged plaster and no scarred case. The wrapping, the boarding, the rolling are all his; the price is fixed on paper; and start to finish, every hand on the strap belongs to our own crew.
What Ends Up On His Schedule
If it’s large and valuable, it’s likely his. That spans uprights and consoles, baby grands and full concert grands, and the massive player pianos that got bolted into the three-flat generations back. Safes count here as well, the 500-pound-and-up sort that has to be worked down a tight stairwell and angled through a narrow Bridgeport doorway.
How a Piece Gets Down the Stairs
Improvisation has no place on a piano job. The wrapping and shrink go on first, and the lid, lyre, and legs are either shielded or removed outright, whichever the instrument calls for. The weight then rests on a piano board lashed down with straps, rolled along the flat runs and worked turn by turn down each flight. Because a narrow back staircase allows no mistakes, every landing is walked and planned before a single hand reaches the piece. The same care covers safes, which ride weight-rated rigging and are never muscled by hand. Once it reaches the far end, the piece is leveled and lowered onto whatever spot you indicate.
| Piece | Typical flat rate |
|---|---|
| Upright piano | $450 to $700 |
| Baby grand | $800 to $1,300 |
| Gun safe (by weight) | Quoted on weight and stairs |
Why the Staircase Is the Whole Job
The truth is, the stairs are what bring this call in. Rear flights in Avondale and Logan Square run tight and turn sharply at every landing, and getting a baby grand down them is work you hand only to someone who’s already done it a hundred times over. That someone is Sal, and the route gets drawn up before anyone so much as touches the instrument.
One Flat Rate, Written Down
You can have the piano billed on a written figure of its own or built into the quote for your full move. Either way the number reaches you before the truck does, and the very movers handling the rest of your home are the ones on the instrument.
