Moving a Piano--How Much?

I will soon have to move into a new apartment (not yet found one) and called the piano movers to ask how much it would cost to take the instrument (Kawai GS-70) up several flights, or in through the windows. Their response was:

Using the stairs: $150 a floor Using a crane: $1200

I was just wondering if this is about right. Anybody out there know?

Thanks.

Elena

Depends on your location, what city are you in?

I'm in Madrid. I know it differs from country to country, but I was just curious how much it is wherever you are. To compare.

Elena www.concertpianist.com

That would sound a bit high in the US. Most companies won't price the way you ask, they would have to give you an estimate after seeing what they were up against. The consideration is how many people and how much equipment is required for how long. In general, it would never run over $300. Some parts of Madrid have stairs that may well prove impossible for a piano mover. That is not normally the case in the US. Crane prices also are not normally an issue here because any place tall enough to need one would have a freight elevator. I know that this is not the case in Madrid.

Gerry

I've had an upright piano craned INTO my apartment in Boston (U.S.) and it did not cost extra. I think the whole move cost $300.

In Amsterdam almost every house has a beam with a pulley (kind of manual crane). It's the only way to get something into the house (through the

this price sounds about right

Judging from what I have heard about the Dutch I would guess they could also use those pulleys to sneak a young lady (of the evening) into and out of the house without detection. Naw. Come to think of it such goings on dont embarass them. TS

Yet, at every corner they have a church with a working carrillon. How do they sleep with those bells singing every quarter of hour ?

It was actually a weird sort of house where we were on the second and third floors, so they used one of those huge construction cranes to 'swing' the piano in through the balcony door (which was taken off).

I was terrified they'd drop the piano and wreck the cars parked underneath.

The Spanish are obviously not that smart, though most of their stairways in buidlings in Madrid are so narrow it is virtually impossible to get anything up them. Many of the buildings still don't even have an elevator, let alone a service one! Hence the reason the movers can charge whatever they want.

Elena www.concertpianist.com