The first person to book us was a woman in Amsterdam who needed her piano moved to her new house. We’d helped friends move before, but this was the first time someone we didn’t know had called to ask what we charged.

She was clear that she didn’t want it hoisted out through the window. It needed to be carried out through the house, by hand. We hadn’t moved a piano before, and we told her that.

The booking was three months away, so we asked for the make and model and some photographs, and spent those months learning how it was built. Chris and I would send each other things we’d found, trying to understand what we could safely take apart and how we’d get it back together afterwards.

When we arrived, we could see why she’d wanted to discuss it beforehand. The piano was in the front room, with a tight turn into the hallway. We measured everything, then laid out blankets and started removing the wooden panels and the action—the mechanism that holds the hammers. Chris lifted the pieces out while I wrapped them, keeping the screws with each part. The frame and strings stayed inside.

Taking the hallway door off its hinges gave us the clearance we needed. Even then, we had to stop several times and adjust our grip before we got it outside.

At her new house, putting it back together took longer than taking it apart. One panel buzzed when she played the lower notes, so Chris loosened it and fitted it again while I held the lid. She stayed on the stool, playing the same notes whenever we asked her to try it.

We hadn’t thought to take a photograph or ask for a review. A friend of hers called the following week, though, and asked for the two who’d moved the piano.

We’ve moved four more pianos since, and our waiting list now runs into 2027. It’s still just Chris and me.

Let’s move through our process →