Some items are not simply heavy. They combine weight with fragility, an unbalanced centre of gravity, or a value that makes a mistake unrecoverable — and they need equipment and crew numbers that a general household move does not involve.

This is the work we send specific crews and specific equipment to.

What we move

Pianos — uprights, baby grands, grands and concert grands. Our detailed guide to what is involved is here: moving a piano.

Pool and billiard tables — disassembly, slate handling and reassembly. A slate bed must come apart; moving a table intact is how both the slate and the frame get damaged.

Arcade and gaming machines — heavy, top-weighted cabinets with fragile internals.

Safes and gun safes — weight concentrated in a small footprint, which is a floor-loading problem as much as a carrying one.

Antiques and high-value furniture — custom crated where appropriate.

Artwork, sculpture and chandeliers — crated to size.

Industrial and oversized equipment — see also shipping and freight.

The equipment, and why it matters

A general crew with standard equipment is not being careless when a specialty item goes wrong. They simply do not have what the job needs:

Piano boards (skid boards) — a grand is lowered onto its straight side, legs and lyre removed, and strapped to a padded board. It travels on its side, never on its legs.
Four-wheel piano dollies rated well beyond the instrument's weight.
Stair-climbing equipment and ramps for any change of level.
Moisture-barrier wrapping, because soundboards respond to humidity.
Crew numbers. Weight is the least of it. Control is the point.

A piano can carry a cast-iron plate under roughly 18 to 20 tons of aggregate string tension. That plate is strong in the direction it was designed for and brittle under shock — a drop down a single stair can crack it, and a cracked plate generally ends the instrument.

What we need to know before quoting

Specialty items are quoted from specifics, not categories. Tell us:

What it is — for a piano, the type and approximate size; for a pool table, slate or slate-bed construction; for a safe, the weight if you know it.
The access at both ends — stairs, turns, doorway widths, landing dimensions, lift availability and capacity.
Where it is going in the new property — upstairs, downstairs, which room.
Whether anything has been modified or repaired, particularly on antiques.

We survey specialty items in person. A measurement we take ourselves is the difference between a crew arriving with the right equipment and a crew arriving twice.

When access genuinely does not work

Sometimes the answer is that the item will not go where you want it to. A narrow turn at the foot of a staircase, open risers, or a tight landing can make a route impassable regardless of crew size.

Where that happens the options are a hoist through a window or balcony, or in some cases partial disassembly by a specialist technician. Both are separate jobs and we price them as such.

We would rather tell you at the survey than discover it with the instrument halfway up the stairs. A mover who says a route will not work is protecting both the item and your home.

Valuation on high-value items

Specialty items sit squarely inside the rule that costs people most.

On interstate moves, Released Value Protection limits liability to 60 cents per pound per article — a 700-pound grand piano is covered for $420. Full Value Protection covers replacement value and is the only sensible option for anything of real worth.

Separately, items worth more than $100 per pound may have liability limited unless they are listed on the shipping documents before the move. Many antique and restored pianos, and most fine art, cross that line. Declaring them in writing is what preserves the claim.

Photograph the piece from every angle before it is wrapped, including the finish, and make sure any existing damage is noted on the inventory before loading.

Afterwards

A piano should be tuned after a move, but not immediately. Pitch shifts partly from movement and mostly from the change in humidity and temperature between the old room and the new one. Tuning before the instrument has settled means paying for a tuning that drifts within weeks — allow two to four weeks.

Position it on an interior wall, out of direct sunlight, away from heating and cooling vents and exterior doors. Sacramento's dry summers and the swing between seasons make that worth getting right.

Call (916) 489-3322 and tell us what you have. We will arrange a survey.