A piano almost never travels far on a local job, yet the short hop across Watertown or over to Cambridge is where most of the damage happens, because the path threads through doorways, down a stoop, and around the newel post of a staircase that was framed in 1890. Paul Marchetti grew up two streets off Mount Auburn Street and apprenticed under a tuner before he ever drove a truck, so the crew that arrives at your door has measured the case, the keyboard lid, and the leg span against your hallway before a strap goes on. We move the spinet from the dining room of a Belmont colonial to a daughter’s house in Newton. We carry a baby grand out of a Cambridge condo and into a studio off Massachusetts Avenue. We bring a console down from a third-floor Somerville triple-decker for a family trading the walk-up for a ranch in Lexington.
Local piano work is priced per piano, a flat figure stated before anyone touches the instrument, never by the hour and never by the size of the home. A standard upright or spinet runs $220 to $400; a console or studio upright runs $280 to $480; a baby grand runs $420 to $720, and a full grand $580 to $980. Those bands cover a ground-to-ground move with normal access, the piano board, the padding, and the rated straps. Stairs add about $40 to $75 a flight, a long or awkward carry adds $60 to $140, and the figure goes in writing before move day so the only thing left to settle is the date.
How a Greater Boston piano move runs from curb to room
We map the job backward from the spot the piano has to land. The crew lead walks both ends first, the doorway it leaves by and the corner it has to clear at the far house, then sets the truck where the tailgate sits closest to the path. An upright between 300 and 500 pounds rides upright on a piano board, padded and eased over each threshold by hands that know where the weight wants to pull at a doorsill. A grand is tipped onto a skid board on its long side, the legs, lyre, and pedals come off and travel wrapped beside it, and the whole case is cinched down so nothing shifts on the Mass Pike or Storrow Drive. Runners cover the floors at both addresses and quilting guards the finish from the first lift to the last.
Greater Boston towns our piano crew covers
- Watertown, Cambridge, Somerville, and the triple-decker walk-ups around Inman and Davis Squares
- Newton, Brookline, Belmont, Lexington, and Wellesley, with their big Victorians and family grands
- Beacon Hill, Back Bay, and the North End, where switchback stairs and tight streets are the job
- Out along Route 128 and MA-2 into the inner suburbs, instrument by instrument
Sending the piano out past the metro or down toward New York? That trip rides under our own authority on the long-distance piano transport page. Shipping it far or putting it in long-term care? Our piano crating and packing builds it a proper crate. Get a free quote and we will respond within one business hour.
What’s Included
- A flat per-piano figure stated before the lift: upright $220-$400, console $280-$480, baby grand $420-$720, grand $580-$980
- Heavy quilting over the case, the lid, and the keyboard to guard the finish on the way out
- A piano board under the upright and a skid board under the grand, on dollies rated well past the weight
- A grand prepped for travel: legs, lyre, and pedals off and wrapped, then bolted back on at the room
- A load cinched with rated straps so nothing shifts on the Mass Pike, I-93, or Storrow Drive
- Stairs and tight carries scouted at both ends, about $40-$75 a flight and $60-$140 for a long carry
- Floor runners and padded thresholds at the load and again at the unload
- Up to $1M in cargo coverage on the instrument, with the per-piano price set down in writing first
What Does It Cost?
Per-piano flat pricing — uprights from $220, grands by the room
Two trained piano movers, the truck, the piano boards, and all the pads and dollies are part of the price.
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