Anyone comparing piano movers Burbank has to offer should first ask what else travels with the instrument. With SOS Moving it rides with your furniture: the piano is one part of an hourly household move staffed by four people, following the same method as our piano moving service for all of LA County. Crew and truck are booked through SOS Moving in Burbank, so beds, boxes and the piano share one arrival time and one invoice.
Included on every piano job in town:
SOS does not quote a piano by itself. What you pay for the instrument is a fixed $200 added to an hourly move with four movers and one truck, and the 3-hour minimum is measured on the entire job, never on the piano alone.
The clock follows written rules. Addresses 30+ miles from our base carry a 4-hour minimum instead of 3, driving time beyond 10 miles is billed double, and anything past the eighth hour counts as overtime. Tuning, appraisal, disposal and piano storage are outside the service, so line up a tuner for a later date.
On a hillside block the question is not only where the truck may stand but where it can stand level. Our driver takes the flattest legal stretch nearest your door, chocks the wheels and sets the ramp where the slope is gentlest.
If the curb in front of your home is posted or tight, tell us when you book, and we agree the truck position with you before the date rather than circling the block with a piano on board. A contractor’s bin changes the plan as well: on steep, narrow or curving streets, Burbank Public Works reviews where a bin may sit before it issues the permit, so flag any bin that already fills your frontage.
In a guard-gated community the gate decides when the truck gets in. Put the crew and the truck on the guest list a day ahead and give the guard the arrival window we confirm. When the association or a condo board wants proof of insurance, SOS prepares the Certificate of Insurance (COI) for $50 and sends it before the move.
Ask management about permitted moving hours and elevator bookings too, because each HOA writes its own rules and we plan the crew around them instead of guessing. For a condo with an elevator, send us the car and door measurements so the piano is checked against them in advance.
North of Glenoaks Boulevard the streets tilt up into the Verdugo foothills toward the Stough Canyon and Wildwood Canyon trails. Those blocks also fall inside the Mountain Fire Zone the city maps along the Verdugo Mountains, and the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone map recommended by CAL FIRE covers the same northeast slopes.
For our crew that means two habits. The piano is padded and boarded indoors, so the truck spends as little time at the curb as possible and the lane stays open. And every step between the door and the street is photographed before the day, so four movers know where the landings are before anyone lifts.
Our trucks set out from Jillson Street in Los Angeles, and I-5 is the obvious way up to Burbank. The city project that rebuilt the I-5/Empire interchange also grade-separated Buena Vista Street from the railroad: Metrolink tracks now pass over the street, so a loaded truck no longer waits at a crossing there.
That matters on a piano day, because drive time counts on the hourly bill and driving beyond 10 miles is billed double. Our crews work from 8AM until 6PM on all seven days, and the piano, the rest of the household and the drive all have to fit inside it. Same-day piano moves are possible when a four-person crew is free, so the earlier you call, the better the odds.
Burbank homes and the crew plan for each:
| Kind of home in Burbank | How the four movers get ready |
|---|---|
| Hill house north of Glenoaks Boulevard with steps down to the street | Photos of each flight before the day; two movers on the downhill end of the board; a pause at every landing to reset the grip. |
| Home on a steep, curving or cul-de-sac street | Truck on the flattest nearby curb with the wheels chocked; ramp set where the slope is gentlest; any bin out front flagged at booking. |
| Home behind a guard gate | Crew and truck on the gate list a day ahead; COI for $50 if the HOA asks; arrival window passed to the guard. |
| Foothill street in the city's Mountain Fire Zone | Piano padded and boarded indoors first; truck kept to one side with the lane passable; curb time kept short. |
Yes. Stairs change the pace of the job, not whether it happens: four movers carry the piano on a padded board and pause at each landing. Send photos of every flight when you book, and the office will build the steps into the time estimate.
Add the crew and the truck to the gate list the day before and pass along the arrival window we confirm. Should the HOA require a Certificate of Insurance, ours costs $50 and goes to the association before move day. Check with the association about allowed moving hours as well.
No. The piano adds a flat $200 to an hourly move with four movers, and the 3-hour minimum is counted across everything we move that day. Four movers with a truck cost $199 cash or $209 card per hour Monday to Thursday, and $215 or $225 from Friday to Sunday.
Often it can, provided a four-person crew has an opening. Ring 909-443-0004 early in the morning: crews start at 8AM and wrap up by 6PM, seven days a week, so the whole job has to fit between those times.
The crew reattaches the legs, pedal lyre and lid in the room you choose, since a grand travels on its straight side with those parts removed. Tuning is not something SOS offers, so arrange a tuner once the piano has had a while to settle in its new room.
A piano job starts days before anyone lifts. The first phone call is mostly questions from our side: which piano it is, how many steps separate it from the curb, whether a gate guard or an elevator stands in the way, and where the truck may legally park. Your answers shape the crew plan and the time estimate.
On the morning of the move, the lead mover traces the route from the instrument out to the truck, writing down each threshold, turn and step. You point out where the instrument should stand at the new address, and that spot stays clear until the piano comes in, because a piano set down twice costs time twice.
After that the crew shuts the lid and fallboard, wraps the case in pads, and all four movers raise it onto the board at once. An upright rides standing; a grand loses its legs, pedal lyre and lid and travels on its straight side. At the destination the same steps run in reverse.
Photos do much of the planning. A shot of the piano from the side, one of the doorway it leaves through, one of each flight of steps and one taken from the street toward the house tell the crew leader more than a long description. In the foothills the street-side photo matters most, since it shows where the truck can stand and how far the board has to travel.
All the while, the piano is only one item on the truck. The same crew loads the sofa, beds and boxes around it, and the instrument gets its own tie-down so nothing else leans on the case.
SOS sells piano moving as part of a household move, not as a courier run. The $200 add-on exists only on jobs booked with four movers, and the hourly rate for that crew and its truck applies to everything on board, the piano included.
Rates depend on the day and on how you pay. From Monday through Thursday, four movers with a truck are billed at $199 per hour for cash payers and $209 for card payers; from Friday through Sunday the figures are $215 and $225. A $30 gas charge is added once, and the $50 deposit paid at booking comes off the final bill.
The 3-hour minimum covers the entire job, not each item. If the piano leaves together with a full apartment, it simply takes its share of those hours, and the page on apartment moves in Burbank covers the other side of that day.
Even when the piano is the only large piece on the list, the booking works the same way: a four-person crew on the hourly clock, plus the $200 add-on and the 3-hour minimum. A short job inside town may finish well within that minimum, which is a good reason to add other heavy furniture or a room of boxes to the same visit.
Nothing you do saves more time than clearing the path. Move rugs, plant pots, shoe racks and side tables out of the way between the piano and the front door, and take down low pictures or hanging planters at stair landings. Prop open screen doors and side gates so nobody has to hold them mid-carry.
Measure the tightest point on the route, usually a hallway corner or a turn in the stairs, and send the numbers with a few photos. Behind a guard gate, arrange access the day before; in a condo, reserve the elevator and ask management which entrance movers must use.
Empty the piano bench and clear the top of the piano, including sheet music, metronomes and framed photos. Boxes, dishes and closets are a separate task, and if you would rather not pack them yourself, a packing crew in Burbank can take that part off your list.
Decide on the exact spot in the new home before move day and measure the wall or corner you have in mind. A grand is reassembled where it will stay, so changing your mind after the legs are back on means lifting it again, and that takes crew time you pay for.
On move day, keep children and pets away from the route and make sure someone who can answer questions stays at the house. The crew leader will call you if something differs from the photos, such as a gate code that fails or a car parked where the truck should stand.
Hill neighborhoods add steps, and steps add minutes. On an outdoor flight, four movers carry the boarded piano one step at a time, two of them on the downhill end, and stop on each landing to adjust their hold. A long flight is never a reason to turn a job down; it is a reason to plan it.
Driveways deserve the same respect. A steep drive can be harder than stairs because there is nowhere to rest, so the crew carries the piano down it on the board instead of letting it roll.
Sometimes the curb in front of the house is too steep or too tight for the truck. Then the driver takes the nearest workable spot and the crew carries the boarded piano farther, keeping the same four-person grip the whole way. The extra distance shows up as time on the clock, which is why parking is one of the first things we ask about.
Condo buildings bring a different constraint: the elevator car. A spinet usually turns easily inside one, while a grand on its board needs the full depth of the car. Send the inside dimensions of the elevator and its door opening, and we confirm the fit before the truck is loaded.
For more on the carry itself, our guide to taking a piano up stairs safely goes through the technique in greater detail than this page does.
The category of instrument matters more than the brand. Spinets and consoles are the shortest vertical pianos, full-size uprights are tall and top-heavy, and baby grands and grands are judged by their length and by the tightest corner on the route. Tell us which one you have and which floor it stands on; the SOS overview of moving each piano type explains how the four-person crew adapts its handling to each.
Not sure which one you own? Send one photo taken from the side and a rough tape measurement of its height or length, and the office will classify it and size the plan to match.
Since the bill runs by the hour, the final number follows the effort the route demands. These factors weigh the most:
Distance enters the bill through fixed rules rather than a per-mile fee. The minimum becomes 4 hours instead of 3 for any address 30+ miles from our base, time on the road beyond 10 miles is billed at double rate, and work beyond the eighth hour is overtime. Paying cash instead of card lowers the hourly rate at every crew size.
A move from one Burbank street to another keeps the road time short, so most of the bill is carrying time. A move to another part of the county adds driving, and the double-time rule for driving beyond 10 miles applies to that stretch. The crew, the add-on and the hourly rate stay the same either way.
If the piano is only part of your plans, the full range of moving services we run in Burbank shows what else the same crew can take on. Reach the office at 909-443-0004, any day from 8AM until 6PM, with your photos at hand, since an estimate is only as accurate as the route you describe.
