Moving a piano locally costs $250 to $500 for an upright and $500 to $1,000 or more for a grand, with stairs the single biggest price mover at either end. Interstate, a piano travels as a named specialty item within a household move or as its own consignment, quoted on the route. The price buys more than muscle: pianos weigh 180 to 350 kilograms as uprights and 300 to 500 plus as grands, carry that weight on delicate legs and castors never designed for travel, and hide their value in a cast iron frame and soundboard that punish every bump. This is the specialty job that built the specialty-moving trade.
This guide covers what the move involves, the equipment that makes it safe, and the honest answer on doing it yourself.
How professionals move a piano
Uprights are moved on a piano trolley or skate: the piano is tilted just enough to slide the trolley under, strapped, and rolled, with the lifting reserved for thresholds, steps and the truck. The keyboard lid is locked or secured so it cannot fall open mid-carry, and the body is blanket-wrapped against every doorframe on the route.
Grands come partially apart: the lid secured or removed, the legs and pedal lyre unbolted, and the body tipped onto its straight side on a padded piano board, then moved as a single wrapped unit. Reassembly at the destination reverses it, legs on, lyre on, lid checked, piano positioned.
On the truck, the piano loads against a wall, strapped to the vehicle, weight planned into the load rather than discovered during it. Stairs are where crew size grows: a straight flight is routine for a practised team, a tight turning staircase is a planning conversation, and both are exactly what you describe at quote stage so the right crew arrives.
Two aftercare notes worth knowing. Give the piano a week or two to settle in its new room before booking the tuner, because tuning immediately after a move is tuning twice; the instrument shifts as it acclimatises to the new temperature and humidity. And position it away from direct sun, vents and damp external walls, which do more slow damage than any careful move ever will.
On price movers beyond stairs: piano type and size (a full upright outweighs a console; a concert grand is its own project), carry distance from door to truck, tight access and turning landings, and timing, since pianos share the end-of-month and summer peaks with everything else in moving. A photo of the piano and the stairs sent with the quote request usually replaces a site visit and firms the number on the spot.
The equipment that does the real work
A piano trolley or skate rated for the weight, a padded piano board for grands, heavy ratchet straps, blankets in quantity, and gloves with grip. The equipment matters because it converts a dangerous dead lift into a controlled roll, but the crew matters more: piano moving is technique and communication, three or four people moving one object as one organism. The gear without the technique is how pianos meet staircases.
Can you move a piano yourself?
An upright across a flat room onto good castors, carefully, perhaps. Beyond that, the honest answer is no, and the reasons are stacked: the weight is beyond safe amateur lifting, the balance is deceptive because the cast iron frame carries the mass high, staircases multiply every risk, and the piano itself is fragile in exactly the places hands naturally grab. The injury risk runs both ways, to backs and to the instrument, and a dropped piano is rarely a repairable piano. Piano moves are standing specialty work for our crews across Brisbane and the Gold Coast, on their own or within a full house move, and declaring the piano at quote stage is what puts the trolley, the board and the practised hands on the truck.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to move a piano in Australia?
How do professionals move a piano?
Can you move a piano yourself?
When should a piano be tuned after moving?
Piano ready for a new address? Get a quote with the piano type, both addresses and any stairs, and the right crew turns up first time.