Professorville Palo Alto movers
Professorville Movers for Palo Alto's Historic Houses
Professorville movers for historic Palo Alto homes: wood shingle houses, steep stairs, antiques and old floors. 3 movers $175/hr. 1-877-417-6060.
Cal-T #0190543 · Licensed & insuredUS DOT 1783494
4.8★ · Over 1,000 reviews on Google, Yelp (San Jose, San Francisco) and Thumbtack
- Google4.8 / 79 reviews
- Cal-T#0190543
- US DOT1783494
- Hours7 days, 7 AM - 8 PM
How booking works
- Send the form or callGive us your date, zip codes and home size.
- We confirm date and ETAMorning ETA windows are 8-10 AM in the South Bay and Peninsula, 9-11 AM in San Francisco and the East Bay.
- The crew calls aheadYour team calls you 30 minutes before they arrive.
Houses built for the first Stanford faculty
Professorville is a historic district a few blocks south of University Avenue in downtown Palo Alto. It took its name from the Stanford professors who built homes here in the early years of the university, and many of those houses still stand along Bryant, Waverley, Kingsley and Addison. The streets are flat, shaded and walkable, with downtown shops, the Caltrain station and Stanford all close by.
Shingles, porches and narrow stairs
The houses are mostly two and three stories: brown-shingle and Craftsman designs, Colonial Revival, and a few Victorians, many with deep front porches, steep main staircases and smaller back stairs. Rooms connect through original doorways that were never sized for a modern sectional. Floors are often old-growth wood, and many owners have antiques, built-in bookcases and pianos.
The crew lays runners from the porch to every room, pads stair rails and newel posts with blankets, and plans the path for big pieces before lifting. If an item looks like it will not make a turn, we say so at the estimate, not on the landing.
Some owners are moving within the neighborhood or downsizing into a smaller downtown place, which often means deciding what goes, what stays and what heads to storage. Making those calls before move day keeps the crew carrying instead of waiting.
Every piece of furniture is fully wrapped and protected with moving blankets and tape, at no extra charge.
How the hours add up
For a two-story house with full rooms upstairs, plan on at least 3 movers at $175 an hour, and 4 movers at $235 for a three-bedroom over 1,800 square feet or a four-bedroom. Two movers at $145 is only for very small jobs, such as a few rooms to a cottage. We have a 3-hour minimum, then charge in 15-minute increments, at the same rate seven days a week. A grand or baby grand piano always needs 4 movers, and a piano-only grand move has a 4-hour minimum.
Professorville: typical hours and totals by home size
The table below comes from the billed time on our recent local jobs for direct customers where the home size was recorded. Easy access and boxes packed ahead pull a move toward the low end. Local moves are billed by the hour, never as a flat price.
| Home size | Crew | Typical hours | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | 3 movers, $175/hr | 3 to 4 hours | $525 to $700 |
| 1 bedroom | 3 movers, $175/hr | 3 to 5 hours | $525 to $875 |
| 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 |
Hours are the middle half of billed hours on our recent local moves for direct customers, July to October 2026, including the drive between homes; account and partner-billed jobs and jobs with our full packing service are left out. Packing materials are extra, and every job has a 3-hour minimum ($525 with 3 movers).
Two- and three-story houses with steep main staircases, antiques and pianos tend to land in the upper rows.
Palo Alto requests this season
ZIP 94301 sent only 2 requests between mid-July and late October 2026, both of which booked or completed. Citywide, Palo Alto sent 5 quote requests in that window, all local moves, and 3 have booked or completed. Most of the listed sizes were one-bedroom homes, which says more about the apartments and cottages in town than about the big houses in this district.
The drive and the curb
Professorville is about 16 miles northwest of downtown San Jose, up US-101 or Central Expressway to Embarcadero Road. Our Peninsula arrival window is 8 to 10 AM, and the foreman phones half an hour ahead. Travel to your address is free. Downtown Palo Alto streets carry a lot of parked cars, and some blocks are in a residential permit parking program, so we check the block in advance and tell you whether to save curb space. A 26-foot truck needs roughly 40 feet for the truck and its ramp. Check with the city whether a temporary no-parking permit is needed if the curb cannot be held any other way; we help you plan it.
Preparing a historic house
- Photograph fragile antiques and list them for the crew lead.
- Tell us about pianos, safes or anything over 300 pounds; send a photo and David confirms the plan.
- Remove art and mirrors from stairwell walls.
- Clear porch furniture and potted plants from the entry path.
- Ask about full-value coverage through Baker International if basic $0.60 per pound coverage is not enough for your pieces.
Around downtown Palo Alto
- Palo Alto movers: the whole city.
- Crescent Park movers: larger estates by San Francisquito Creek.
- Old Palo Alto movers: period homes south of Embarcadero.
- Stanford movers: campus housing and faculty homes.
- Menlo Park movers: just across the creek.
Related: piano moving.
Questions and answers
Can you protect old wood floors and stair rails?
Yes. Runners and blankets are included with a full-service move, and rails and posts are padded before anything is carried.
We have a baby grand. How do you price it?
Grand and baby grand pianos always get 4 movers. If the piano is the only item, the job has a 4-hour minimum.
Is our furniture insured for its real value?
Basic coverage is $0.60 per pound per article. For full value, we can arrange coverage through Baker International.
Do you need to see the house first?
Yes, ideally. We offer a free on-site visit and give you a not-to-exceed price, and we do not quote from a video call. For a house with antiques and a piano, seeing the stairs in person matters.
Can we move part of the house into storage during a renovation?
Yes. Storage is a flat monthly price in 30-day periods and is never discounted.
Moving day, done right
They keep coming back.
4.8 on 79 Google reviews. Over 1,000 reviews on Google, Yelp (San Jose, San Francisco) and Thumbtack.
Ready to move?
Tell us your date and zip codes. A real person calls you back, or call us now.