Movers for One Item in NYC
That is the part most movers will not tell you on the phone. A three-hour minimum is standard across this city: book one couch, pay for three hours. We do not work that way on any job, and on a single item we do not charge you travel time to drive the truck to your door either.
Big Apple Moving has been moving New Yorkers since 1979, and a large part of that work is one thing at a time: a couch two neighbourhoods over, a bed frame into a fourth-floor walk-up, a safe out of a basement. Licensed, insured, and the same crew at both ends.
What a Single-Item Move Costs
Single-item moves start at $150 — the same starting price as any local move, because a single item is a local move. What lifts it from there is not the item’s value, it is the labour the building demands: stairs at either end, a piece that has to come apart to leave the room, a long carry from where the truck can park, or a specialty item like a piano or a slate pool table that needs a bigger crew and its own equipment.
We quote before you book, and the quote is the price — no travel-time charge and no minimum stacked on top.
What is included
Wrapping (blankets, tape, shrink). TV boxes & picture bins included. Loading and unloading. Basic disassembly and reassembly. Fuel and tolls included. Basic Insurance.
No minimum number of hours
Most movers in this city will not take a job under three hours. We will. You pay for the time the job takes.
A COI at no charge
A certificate of insurance for your building, usually the same business day. Most New York buildings will not let a mover past the lobby without one, and a gig-labour app cannot issue one at all.
What Counts as a Single-Item Move
A single-item move is one piece, from one address to another, with a crew and a truck dedicated to it. Most of ours fall into one of three groups.
Ordinary but unmanageable alone. A sofa, a mattress, a dining table, a bookcase, a washer. Nothing exotic — it simply will not fit in a car and will not go down the stairs with one person on it. This is most of what we move, and it is the $150 job.
Heavy for its size. A safe, a slate pool table bed, a treadmill, a cast-iron tub. The problem is not volume, it is that four people cannot get their hands on it at once in a New York stairwell. These are quoted individually.
Valuable enough that the risk is the point. A piano, an antique chest, a sculpture, a framed painting. The cost of the move is small next to the cost of getting it wrong.
If you are moving a studio’s worth of furniture or a dozen boxes rather than one piece, that is a partial load and it is priced differently — hourly, from $150, for as long as the job takes. Our small moves in NYC page covers it.
The Heavy Things We Move Most
Pianos
Uprights, baby grands and full grands. A grand comes off its legs and onto a piano board before it moves an inch. See our piano movers in NYC.
Pool tables
A slate bed comes apart into sections, each heavy enough to need two people. It is reassembled and levelled at the other end. See our pool table movers.
Gym and fitness equipment
Treadmills, Pelotons, ellipticals and power racks. A home treadmill outweighs a washing machine and will not fit through a standard doorway upright. See our gym and fitness equipment movers.
Antiques
Older joinery moves differently from modern furniture. Every piece is condition-reported and photographed before it is wrapped. See our antique movers in NYC.
Fine art and sculpture
The risk with a painting is rarely a drop — it is vibration, humidity and a corner caught on a door frame. See our fine art movers in NYC.
Sofas, beds and large furniture
Sectionals, sleeper couches, armoires, dining tables and bed frames. Most come apart, and most of the difficulty is the doorway. See our furniture movers in NYC.
What Makes One Item Hard in New York
Most single items that go wrong do not go wrong in the truck. They go wrong at a doorway, a stair turn, or a loading dock window that closed twenty minutes ago.
We would rather find that out on the phone than on the landing. Tell us the piece, the floor at each end and whether either building has an elevator, and we will tell you before you book whether it has to come apart, whether it needs a third mover, and whether the building will want a certificate of insurance first.
Walk-ups
Five flights with a sleeper sofa is a different job from five flights with boxes. The piece cannot be rested on a landing, and the turn at each half-floor is usually tighter than the stairwell itself.
The doorway, not the truck
Most single items that fail, fail at a door frame or a turn. We check the piece against the narrowest point on the route before moving day, and we tell you if it has to come apart.
Certificates of insurance
Most New York buildings require a COI from the mover before anyone touches the item, naming the building and its management company. We issue them at no charge, usually the same business day.
Freight elevator windows
Many buildings only allow moves inside a booked window, often two hours on a weekday morning. A single item still has to fit that window and still has to be booked ahead.
How a Single-Item Move Runs
What it is, roughly how big, what floor it is on at each end, and whether either building has an elevator. That is enough for a firm price.
Doorways, stair turns, elevator dimensions and whether the building needs a COI or a booked window. Problems get found here, before the truck is loaded.
The piece is wrapped before it moves. Anything that has to come apart comes apart, and the hardware travels bagged and labelled with the piece it belongs to.
It goes back together in the room you want it in, not in the hallway. The wrapping and any packing debris leaves with the crew.
Have One Thing That Needs Moving?
Tell us what it is and where it has to go. We will give you a firm price before we book anything — single items start at $150, with no minimum number of hours and no travel charge.
Frequently Asked Questions
If the single item is a treadmill, a Peloton, an elliptical or a power rack, the weights and the disassembly rules are different enough to be worth reading first. Our gym and fitness equipment movers page covers what comes apart, what does not, and what each piece costs to move in New York.
