Service
Piano Removals across Dorset, Somerset & Wiltshire
Marley Moves moves pianos across Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire, on their own or as part of a house move. Most domestic firms either will not take a piano or price it high enough to put you off, so it ends up being the one thing nobody wants to handle. We do it week in and week out, with the slings, skids and piano dollies the job actually needs and a crew sized to the gradient and the stair run rather than to the invoice. Every piano move starts with a free survey, because the instrument, the access and the room it is going into all change the price, and none of them can be judged over the phone.
Get a written quote within the hour
5.0 ★★★★★ Google rating · Family-run · Insured £2.5m · Or call 01747 637070
What's included
What a piano move includes
Uprights and console pianos
Slings, a piano dolly and the crew size the access needs. The commonest job we do, and usually a couple of hours rather than a day.
Baby grands and full grands
Legs and lyre off, body wrapped and strapped to a piano board, moved on its side. Concert grands by arrangement after a survey.
The kit the job actually needs
Piano board, skids, slings, dollies and proper padding. Bringing the wrong equipment to a piano is how instruments and floors get damaged.
Stairs, gradients and tight access
Turns at the top of a staircase, original timber floors, cobbles, and streets a van cannot reach. We survey the tightest point before quoting.
Cover on the instrument's own value
Goods in transit is covered up to £50,000 per load as standard. Above that, cover is arranged through your insurer or a marine cargo specialist and their certificate travels with ours.
The piano alone, or the whole house
A piano on its own is a normal booking, not an add-on. If the rest of the house is moving too, it is quoted as one job with the piano handling built in.
By town
Piano movers across our patch, town by town
The instrument is only half of it. What really decides a piano move is the building it is coming out of, and that changes noticeably from one town to the next. These are the five where we do the most piano work, and what each one tends to throw at a crew.
Piano removals Shaftesbury
Gold Hill is the headline piano job, no vehicle access on the cobbles means a walk-up or walk-down from the Bell Street car park with slings on the steepest gradient on our patch. Done it for everything from upright to baby grand.
Piano removals Sherborne
The boarding-school surroundings (Sherborne Boys, Sherborne Girls, Foster's) generate term-boundary piano moves into and out of the music departments, usually paired with a wider domestic relocation.
Piano removals Salisbury
Cathedral Close listed properties and the SP1 Georgian terraces both come with restricted access; we've moved uprights through the St Ann's Gate archway and grands through the Bishop Wordsworth's School music block routinely.
Piano removals Bath
Listed Georgian terraces on Bath's crescents are the trickiest piano moves we do, narrow Georgian stairs, original timber floors, and parking suspensions through B&NES Council booked two weeks ahead. Routine work for our crew.
Piano removals Bournemouth
Mid-century seafront flats and the larger Talbot Woods family homes generate steady piano work, often a downsizer thinning a baby grand into a smaller flat or a buyer collecting from auction.
Every piano move is quoted bespoke after the survey, because the instrument, the access and the destination room all pull the price in different directions. Where the value warrants it, extra cover is arranged in addition to our standard goods in transit cover, through your own insurer or a marine cargo specialist, so the instrument is covered on its own value rather than the load average.
Who it's for
Who books a piano move
- Owners moving a piano along with the rest of the house
- Owners moving a piano on its own, with nothing else to shift
- Buyers collecting from an auction or a private sale
- Downsizers fitting a grand into a smaller room
- Schools and music departments moving instruments at term boundaries
- Dealers and restorers needing a careful collection or delivery
Free fixed quote
Like the sound of us?
We send every quote back within the hour. It is usually fixed straight away; if a survey is needed, we confirm the fixed price afterwards. Pick whichever bit fits your pace.
How it works
How a piano move runs
- 01
Free survey
We see the instrument, the access at both ends and the room it is going into. A piano cannot be priced properly over the phone.
- 02
Fixed written quote
One price, in writing, within the hour of the survey. If extended cover looks sensible for the instrument we raise it then rather than later.
- 03
Prepared and protected
Legs and lyre off where needed, body wrapped, floors and door frames protected, parking sorted at both ends before the day.
- 04
Moved and positioned
Carried on the right kit, reassembled and put exactly where you want it. Leave it two or three weeks to settle before you book a tuner.
Frequent questions
What people ask before booking a piano move
Both. Uprights and console pianos go on slings and a piano dolly with the crew size the access needs. On a grand or a baby grand the legs and lyre come off, the body is wrapped and strapped to a piano board, and it travels on its side. Concert grands are by arrangement after a survey.
Yes. A piano on its own is a normal booking for us, not an add-on to a house move. It is priced on the instrument, the access at both ends and the distance, so a straightforward ground-floor collection and delivery costs a good deal less than a walk-down on a gradient.
That is the normal case rather than the exception on our patch, and it is what the survey is for. We look at the turn at the top of the stairs, the width at the tightest point, the floor surface and where the van can actually stop. Gold Hill in Shaftesbury is the extreme version, cobbles and no vehicle access, so it is a walk-down with slings from the Bell Street car park.
Standard cover is goods in transit up to £50,000 per load, which is enough for most instruments. Above that, cover on the instrument's own value is arranged through your own insurer or a marine cargo specialist, and their certificate travels with ours. Any single item worth more than £5,000 needs declaring before the move so cover can be confirmed.
Almost certainly, and that is true of any piano move rather than a sign something went wrong. A move changes the temperature and humidity the instrument sits in, and the frame takes a little while to settle. Most tuners suggest leaving it two to three weeks in the new room before they come out. We do not tune pianos ourselves.
Further reading
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a written quote within the hour
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Learn more →Areas we cover
Local to your move?
Free fixed quote
Like the sound of us?
We send every quote back within the hour. It is usually fixed straight away; if a survey is needed, we confirm the fixed price afterwards. Pick whichever bit fits your pace.