How to hire
Start with access, not just addresses. A careful piano mover asks what type of piano you have, its measurements, which floors it travels between at both ends, and how stairs, doorways, lifts and parking look on the day. Expect a survey in person or by video before any firm price: the British Association of Removers advises exactly this survey-based approach [1]. Get two or three such quotes on the same access detail so the figures compare. A price given blind over the phone, with no questions about the instrument or the stairs, is a number the mover can revise on the day.
Then check the protections. Piano removals has no mandatory register, so voluntary schemes are what there is to check. Look for British Association of Removers membership: members are inspected, follow a code of practice and back advance payments with a guarantee [1]. You can confirm a member through the association's own check-a-mover tool, and check TrustMark membership on that scheme's own register [5]. Treat site-stated claims, such as the National Guild of Removers certification or Approved Movers membership some Telford firms show, as a starting point and ask for the membership detail you can check.
Telford's layout shapes those access answers. Terraced streets in Wellington, Dawley and Madeley often mean on-street parking and a longer carry, while Lawley estates can limit where a large lorry waits. Moves in the Gorge villages sit inside the Severn Gorge conservation area, one of eight across the borough [9], where steep lanes and tight parking repay an early look. Where the van must sit on the road, the council runs a road space booking process with an administration fee, applied for online, and asks applicants to allow ten working days for a reply [8]. Raise parking with the mover at first contact, not in the week of the move.
Get the quote itself nailed down. It should state whether the price is fixed or an estimate, whether VAT is included, and the exact inventory and addresses it covers, including stairs, lifts and parking at both ends. For the piano itself, confirm dismantling and reassembly, the equipment and crew on the day, and who does the work, employed crew or subcontractors. Confirm the arrival window and what happens if your completion date slips, including storage charges and free date-change notice. Get every answer written into the quote, not left in a phone call.
Read the quote as a document, not just a figure. It should carry the mover's full trading name and address, the inventory line by line with the piano named by type, the declared value of the instrument with the cost of any extended cover, and a VAT line rather than silence. Look for crew size, equipment, employed staff or subcontractors, the arrival window, cancellation and date-change terms, and storage costs if completion slips [5]. Anything agreed by phone belongs on the page too.
Pin down the insurance before moving day. Standard liability per item is often lower than a piano is worth, so declare the instrument's value at survey stage and ask the cost of extended cover in writing, since some movers offer it as a charged option tied to declared values [3]. Photograph the piano and each room before loading, and read the claim time limit in your terms so a late discovery does not go unpaid. Once delivered, let the piano settle in its new room first and then arrange the tuning visit, since tuning sits among the standard add-ons around a relocation [2].
If there is a gap between completions, compare the mover's own storage against self-storage units on access hours, insurance for stored goods and notice terms. Most moves happen on Fridays, which strains every diary in the chain, and the association notes the Friday bunching [1], so build in a buffer day if you can and get the delay terms written into the quote alongside the arrival window.
A typical job runs in five stages. First contact is your enquiry with the piano type, measurements, photographs of the stairs and both postcodes. Then comes the survey, in person or by video, ending in a fixed written quote each time [1]. Then the booking, where the date, the arrival window and the delay terms are fixed together. Then moving day itself, ending with the signed inventory and receipt in your hand rather than on the lorry. Then the week after: check rooms against the inventory inside the claim time limit, then book the tuner [2].
On the day, walk the crew through every room before loading, photograph the piano from all sides, and read the inventory before you sign it. Keep one signed copy with you rather than on the lorry. When the last item is off, close the paperwork: the signed inventory, the receipt showing what you paid and how, and the terms with the claim deadline marked. Check nothing is missing before the crew leaves, since a shortfall found later is harder to evidence. If a detail on this page is out of date, the corrections box at the foot of the page tells you how to send a fix.
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, national guides put a local upright piano move at roughly £180 to £320, with a grand piano travelling across the country at about £500 to £650 [3]. A 2026 cost guide averaging the market puts the typical UK piano move at £400, with city spans clustering around three to five hundred pounds and complex moves running far higher [2]. None of the ten Telford firms publishes rates: every quote here is bespoke after a survey or an online estimate, so use those national spans as context, not as Telford prices. A late-2025 UK guide lands in the same territory, putting local upright moves at roughly £150 to £350, baby grands at about £300 to £600 and full grands higher, with mileage beyond the local area charged per mile [7].
What moves the price is the instrument first: grands cost more than uprights because they travel dismantled with a bigger crew. Then come stairs at either end, distance from piano room to van, long carries and awkward parking, plus dismantling and reassembly, hoist or crane work, and add-ons such as storage or disposal [2] [3]. Short-notice and Friday bookings cost more across the industry, since most moves bunch on Fridays [1]. Distance matters less than you might think inside Telford itself: most local quotes turn on the instrument and the access, with mileage biting on long-distance work.
Solo-instrument jobs break down by piano type. A ground-floor upright across town with clear parking sits at the bottom of those spans, and a full internal flight of stairs can add roughly £50 to £100 for the time and handling [7]. Baby grands cost more because the legs and lyre come off and go back on, and full grands more again for the bigger crew and longer time on site [7]. A piano moving inside a full Telford house removal is quoted differently: none of the ten firms publishes rates, so the piano's share sits inside a bespoke surveyed figure. Where dates do not line up, short-term storage typically adds a modest weekly charge for an upright-sized space, rising for grands [7].
Get in writing whether the price is fixed or an estimate, exactly what the insurance covers per item, whether VAT is included, the arrival window, and the cancellation and delay terms [5]. A deposit by card or transfer leaves a trail; a large cash deposit does not. With a British Association of Removers member, advance payments carry the association's guarantee if the firm fails before moving day [1], which is worth confirming on your quote rather than assuming.
Red flags
Quotes a piano move without asking the piano type, its measurements, the stairs or the access at either end [3].
Cannot name the insurer or the per-item cover limit behind a fully insured claim.
Demands a large cash deposit before giving you written terms.
Has no verifiable address and trades under a mobile number alone [4].
Will not say whether the price is fixed or an estimate, or whether VAT is included.
Dodges questions about crew size, equipment or who does the work on the day.
Offers no written inventory or claim time limit for damage found after delivery.
Offers a fixed price without any survey, photograph or measurement of the piano and the stairs.
Leaves the arrival window, the delay terms and any storage charges out of the written quote.
Asks you to sign the inventory before the piano is off the lorry.