A piano deceives almost everyone. It outweighs its looks, carries its mass low and uneven, shelters delicate machinery under the lid, and is worth a sum that bears no relation to the scale reading, all of which is why a general crew turned loose on one usually leaves dents and heartbreak behind. Bulk and dead weight are what the Hagen family built its name on, clear back to granddad Earl lugging furniture in 1971, so the gear our specialists bring fits the task exactly: a padded plank strapped onto a skid, dense quilting, industrial strapping, and a stepper dolly that lowers the mass tread by tread, across the part of the job where a smart approach matters more than strong backs. Around Tacoma, people phone in asking for our crew chief by name the instant an upright, a grand, or a gun safe enters the conversation, and that touch carries over to canvases and heavy shop equipment.
An upright, a parlor grand, a concert grand, each one is ours to move. We dismantle a grand the right way, lifting the lyre and legs free and wrapping them, shelling the case and cinching it onto the plank, then bracing the lot for transit. An upright is strapped and balanced against its own weight so the heft cannot slip away mid-stair. One result is non-negotiable: it lands ready for the tuner, and not a banister, jamb, or floorboard picks up a scuff along the way. Safes, boxed artwork, and the rest of the won’t-move-easy category travel in the very same expert grip.
Stairs, blind corners, and Tacoma high-rises
Almost none of the risk sits at the tailgate. It lives at the threshold lip, the landing where a stair doubles back, and the choked corridor of some vintage North End Craftsman with a bay window penning the instrument in. Not an inch of lift happens until the crew has charted the path, each corner, each hand-off, each surface the case will lean on for protection. Up in a high-rise off I-705, we reserve the service lift and pad its panels before any work starts. This crew is on our own payroll and trained under our own roof, so the hands easing a 600-pound case down a staircase have genuinely done it before.
Where we draw the line on these
Two honest points. The instrument lands tuner-ready, though the tuning is not a service we provide; pianos slip a touch after the jostle of a move and the days they spend adjusting to a different room, and a local technician closes that out. Second, we never promise a price sight-unseen on a savage staircase, because the elbow room at both ends governs the method and the cost alike.
What a piano runs
That flat figure in writing depends on the instrument plus the elbow room at either end. To ballpark it, an upright tends to land near $330–$490 with a baby grand closer to $560–$850; full nine-foot instruments, and anything wedged against narrow stairs or a high-rise, are quoted once we have walked it. Handle it as a standalone or slot it into a whole-home move as the marquee item; whichever you choose, $1M of cargo coverage comes along.
Need a piano, a safe, or a canvas relocated? Phone (888) 711-4778 for a quote on the item together with the stairs.
What You Get
- Our own trained specialist crew, not some borrowed general team
- A padded plank strapped onto a skid, dense quilting, and industrial strapping
- A stepper dolly that lowers the mass tread by tread
- A grand dismantled the right way, lyre and legs lifted free
- The case shelled and braced before transit
- Banisters, jambs, and floorboards padded along the whole path
- A flat figure in writing riding on the item and the elbow room
What's the Price?
Local crews from $140/hr — or a flat written rate
Two-mover crew, the truck, blankets, and dollies all included.
Get Your Exact Price
