We'll be looking to move house around mid-August, and included in the move is an upright piano.......which has to come down 14 steep steps from house to street level. I (conveniently) bought it from my neighbour, so we just had to negotiate a couple of steps from the front door to the gennel. Can anybody recommend anybody? We were planning to move ourselves, rather than using a removal firm, and the piano is the only thing that'll throw a spanner in the works. How much should I expect this to cost? Any advice appreciated - thanks!

Laurel and Hardy have a useful instructional video you might want to look at. But I'm sure several people have already suggested that.

lol - I'm sure I can do what they do - getting it there in one piece is the trick :)

I used to be a removal man in my less-than-glittering career days and the firm I worked for had a contract to deliver the pianos which a music shop in the city had sold. As it was in Cambridge it also involved shifting a lot of pianos aroung the colleges.

It's a tricky one: you could go it alone and risk damaging the piano and yourselves. Some of them really are very heavy as I'm sure you're aware.

I did the job with a bloke who was a bit of a guru at it - strong and poweful but also very delicate. A key bit of kit is piano wheels to move the thing - carrying it any distance and you could be knackered. Also there is of course an art to getting it up steps and through doors. Do you have the confidence to put it "on end" etc?!?!?

Overall, if it's worth anything, I'd ring up a removals firm and see if they do small individual piano jobs (ask if they have piano covers as a test as to whether they do pianos regularly). Of course though, with removals you could get a rght old bunch of herberts!!

We used a removal firm, they had something called "piano wheels" which were some sort of device they shoved under it and made it easy to move. I know what its like when youre trying to economise, but it may be possible to find a cheap quote if you ring around.

If your in sheffield and want only the piano moving we usally charge £60 but with 14 stairs you would need 3 men 2 at the bottom 1 at the top so we would charge £85 but that includes insurance to 10k.

or try the thompson local

dont trust company who says 2 mens ok
or says you can help.
If you help then there insurance is invalid. !!!
Ask if they move piano's reglarly?
Make sure they will use piano wheels as mentioned before.
make sure they quote a fixed price.
be honest about ALL details

good luck
steve

Thanks for all the advice - in the end, it took four burly friends, but the piano made it fine :)