Do you move grand pianos in Claremont?
Yes, and a grand always gets four movers. Tell us if the piano is upstairs or the entry has steps so we plan the route.
Claremont Berkeley Movers for Large Older Homes
Claremont movers for large Berkeley homes below the canyon: four-mover crews, packing for china and art, Berkeley parking permits. Call 1-877-417-6060.
Big rooms, big furniture, careful hands
Claremont homes are generous: brown-shingle, Tudor, Mediterranean and Arts and Crafts houses from the early twentieth century on wide, planted lots. That means dining sets that seat twelve, glass-front cabinets, rugs that need rolling, upright and grand pianos, and walls of books. The move is less about one tricky stair and more about volume and care. We lay floor protection from the front door through every room we work in and wrap each piece in blankets before it leaves the room.
Claremont on the map
The Claremont district fills the southeast corner of Berkeley where the flats meet the hills along the Oakland border, mostly ZIP 94705. Claremont Avenue climbs from College Avenue into Claremont Canyon, Ashby Avenue and Tunnel Road head east to Highway 24, and the white tower of the Claremont hotel stands at the top of Ashby. Elmwood's shops are a few blocks west, Rockridge is just south across the city line, and the canyon's open space rises behind the highest streets.
Curving streets and the Berkeley permit
Streets here bend with the hill instead of following a grid, and higher up the homes sit above the road on stepped paths. Driveways are often too narrow or steep for a box truck, so most moves load from the street. Berkeley's Permit Service Center issues Temporary No Parking permits for moving vehicles; the signs must be up 72 hours in advance, the printed permit stays on site, and moving-vehicle permits are limited to two weeks. Send us your permit times and we schedule the crew inside them.
Crew size and cost for a Claremont house
Most Claremont homes are three bedrooms over 1,800 square feet or larger, so plan on four movers at $235 an hour. A smaller cottage or a flat in one of the district's few apartment buildings usually goes with three at $175. The price is the same any day of the week, starts with a 3-hour minimum and then runs by the quarter hour. A grand piano is always a four-mover piece. If you want help with the fragile rooms, crew packing and materials are billed by time and by what is used.
What a Claremont move has cost, by home size
For a realistic sense of the total, we used the clock from jobs our own crews finished and closed this year and priced each range at the rate for the crew that size gets. Read the numbers as a typical spread; the hourly rate times your actual time is what you pay.
| Home size | Crew | Typical hours | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | 3 movers, $175/hr | 3.5 to 4 hours | $613 to $700 |
| 1 bedroom | 3 movers, $175/hr | 3 to 4.5 hours | $525 to $788 |
| 2 bedrooms | 3 movers, $175/hr | 4.5 to 7.75 hours | $788 to $1,356 |
| 3 bedrooms, under about 1,800 sq ft | 3 movers, $175/hr | 7 to 12.5 hours | $1,225 to $2,188 |
| 3 bedrooms over about 1,800 sq ft, or 4+ bedrooms | 4 movers, $235/hr | 7 to 12.5 hours | $1,645 to $2,938 |
Based on billed hours from local moves for direct customers that we closed July to October 2026 (middle 50%), drive between addresses included; account or partner-billed jobs and full-packing jobs excluded. Add packing materials used. The 3-hour minimum applies to every move.
Driveways here are often too narrow or steep for a box truck, so most moves load from the street, and the volume of a large older house matters more than any one stair.
How we plan a full-house move here
- In-person walkthrough. We come to the house rather than doing a video call, room by room, including the basement, attic and garage.
- Packing decision. Decide whether we pack everything, only china, glass and art, or nothing.
- Permit and curb. You order the Berkeley permit; we confirm truck length and position.
- Building paperwork. If you are moving into a condo or managed building, we send the COI at no charge.
- Move day. Crew arrives 9 to 11 AM, calls 30 minutes ahead, protects the floors, then wraps and loads.
Berkeley figures
94705 alone had too few requests this season to report, so these are citywide Berkeley numbers:
- 7 quote requests from Berkeley between mid-July and late October 2026, all local, 2 of them booked or completed.
- One- and two-bedroom homes were the sizes listed most often.
Distance from San Jose
Claremont is about 41 miles northwest of downtown San Jose, and our drive to you is free. If your new home is more than 10 minutes away, for example in San Francisco or the South Bay, the time between the two houses is billed at double under California rules.
Nearby neighborhoods
- Rockridge: across the Oakland line, smaller bungalows and the OakDOT permit.
- Berkeley: the citywide page, campus to the hills.
- North Berkeley: shingle houses on the flats and stair-lined hill streets.
- Temescal: duplexes and Telegraph apartments.
- Piedmont: another city of large older homes, a few miles south.
- Fragile collections: read about packing services and piano moving.
Questions and answers
Can you pack only the china and artwork?
Yes. We can pack just the fragile rooms and leave the rest to you. We bill crew time for packing and the materials as they are used.
How long is the Berkeley parking permit good for?
Berkeley limits temporary moving-vehicle permits to two weeks. The signs must be posted 72 hours before the restriction starts.
Do you mount TVs in the new house?
We dismount them and can connect them on a stand or console, but we never mount a TV on a wall.
Is there a discount if our real-estate agent referred us?
Yes, 7% with the agent's name or phone number. Repeat customers also get 7%, and friend referrals 5%.