When One Piano Move is Not Like the Other

Moving is more than a job for Paul Wagner. For this Two Small Men employee, moving is a skilled craft. He describes his work as such and it's obvious that, for him, the job extends far beyond lifting boxes.

“I go up and beyond on my job,” says the Edmonton mover. “I take pride in my job, so I’m a very professional mover. I think of every piece as a million dollar piece.”

This is a great attitude to have in general but when it comes to moving special or difficult items, you've really got to make it count. And there's almost nothing as difficult to move as a piano. Paul has moved almost every kind of piano over the years in homes that have not made the task easy on account of brutal staircases or tricky corners.

“Oh, I’ve done lots of them,” he says casually.

The actual moves, however, were anything but casual.

Paul remembers one Edmonton piano move specifically that occurred early in his moving career. He and a few other movers were called on to move a grand piano that had become trapped inside of a home because of renovations that rendered the exits almost impossible to navigate for objects of that size and complexity.

“We actually had to go and move a grand piano and it took six of us to move it,” Paul says. “They built the stairs and everything after they got the piano… I didn’t think it was going to happen.”

The scenario sounds strange but movers see this kind of thing all the time. Homes aren't static. They change over time and the path that big clunky objects took to get into the house aren't there when they need to get out. Those are problems that can't just be fixed with raw power or strength.

“We padded it all up, secured everything,” Paul says. “It took us almost an hour and a half to be able to get this piano down the stairs out of the house.”

All that time was spent working out logistics. Angles were adjusted. Sraps and hands changed position for the sake of safety and communication was constant to make sure no person or object was at risk of damage. The results were worth the effort.

“Once we were done, our customer was so happy,” Paul says. “They tipped us each $500 just because of how professional we were. There’s actually a lot more work that you have to do with a grand piano than you do with a stand-up,” he explains. “With the stand-up it’s basically already standing for you — you just gotta pad that thing up, put it on a skid, strap it to the skid, and you’re moving it.”

With a grand piano, most of the effort is in the prep work. The whole thing needs to be taken apart and secured before any moving can happen.

“With a grand piano there’s just so much more because you have everything inside that can move,” Paul says. “They’re worth so much more, and the wood on them is so soft. If you don’t have it padded properly, you can do a lot of damage.”

Paul knows too well the process that needs to be followed.

“You gotta drop the legs in,” he says. “Then you tip it up. You always put a couple pads on the floor. Tip your piano up on the side, pad it all up, string wrap it, strap it in, put it on the piano skid, and then you just go from there and do whatever you gotta do to get it out.”

And even when the prep work is done right, you're ultimately reliant on the cooperation of others to make sure the job gets done.

“It’s usually two guys at the bottom, two guys at the top, and then you have the two guys on the side just to keep the balance,” Paul explains. “When I was working at another company, we had this one move where they sent me and one of my other guys,” he recalls. “They tried to move the piano without the other two of us around.”

Because there weren't enough people to safely handle the move, everything went wrong.

“The piano ended up sliding down and going through the wall,” Paul says. “The guy on the bottom got severely hurt. He ended up breaking his leg and his arm.”

It's scary stories like that show why Two Small Men values safety so much.

“That’s why safety is huge,” Paul says. “You’re protecting the piano, the walls, the home… but you also gotta be protecting yourselves.”

Paul has come up with some of his own rules.

“I always try to make sure that you got at least one experienced guy on the bottom that’s strong,” he says. “Because if he’s a smaller guy, the piano’s just gonna slide over him if something goes wrong. You have a nice big guy or two on the top to hold it while you’re going down the stairs,” Paul explains. “And then always have that balance guy with you.”

It's the extra hands that really make all the difference.

“As long as those guys on the side are there, if something bad goes on, at least they can jump in and grab that piano,” Paul says. “Try to stop it from running over the guy at the bottom.”

It's this kind of planning that separates professional movers from amateurs.

“All my customers are always happy,” he says. “I’ve never had a complaint yet.”

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