Case from our practice 03 · Vienna 4th district to Forchtenstein, Burgenland
Yamaha U1 from Vienna to Forchtenstein
A Yamaha U1, 121 centimetres high, around 228 kilos. In Vienna 4th district it stood on the ground floor, not a single step. In Forchtenstein in Burgenland it was to stand on the ground floor again, only between the van and the flat door there were a lawn and a roofed outdoor staircase. Two men, no crane, around three hours including the drive. 396 euros including VAT, on 15 October 2025.
▶Video: MK Klavier Art, Forchtenstein, Burgenland, October 2025
01
The enquiry
The enquiry came through the cost calculator on our website, with photos. A family is moving from Vienna 4th district out to Burgenland, to Forchtenstein. In a move like that the piano is almost never the first topic. It becomes the topic when somebody stands in front of the new house and sees the staircase.
A good three weeks later the date was set: Wednesday, 15 October 2025, eight to ten in the morning. In a move this day is fixed before anything else is fixed. Half an hour before arrival my team calls. That sounds like a small thing and it is not: on a morning like that everything happens at once, and half an hour of warning decides whether somebody has the door open.
02
In Vienna it was the easier half
In the 4th district the piano stood on the ground floor. No step, no lift, no detour. Even so the work does not begin with lifting but with packing: stretch film all around, edges and lid protected, and only then do we touch the instrument with the straps.
A piano that is packed in the flat and not only in the van arrives without a scratch. That is the part you see on no video and which nevertheless decides the condition of the instrument.
Then the drive: out of Vienna, through Lower Austria, into Burgenland. On the road only calm counts. The instrument stands secured in the van, but it does not like sudden braking, and we are in no hurry.
From the van to the house: the packed piano on the piano dolly, 15 October 2025.
03
The staircase with the roof
Forchtenstein lies in the district of Mattersburg, below the castle, and the streets there are narrow. The destination house stands on a slope. The flat is on the ground floor, but in front of it there are a lawn, a gravel path and a roofed outdoor staircase with a wooden railing.
The roof over the staircase is the real obstacle, not the steps. It takes away exactly the height a person needs who is carrying a piano and wants to straighten his back. One below with the strap, one above to hold and guide, step by step, with pauses that look like hesitation from the outside and are in truth the work itself.
Still from the video: the roofed outdoor staircase in Forchtenstein, wide enough and still low.
04
Arrived
Behind the front door in Forchtenstein it became easy: tiles, a hallway, then parquet. The piano went onto the piano dolly and rolled into the room where it was to stand from now on, against the wall next to the window.
From the van to there it was less than a hundred metres, and still that was the part people call us for. 396 euros including VAT, in total around three hours with the drive and Vienna traffic. You do not carry 228 kilos with strength but with technique: experience replaces strength.
Conclusion
What I want you to take away about a roofed outdoor staircase
01
A roofed outdoor staircase is the most underestimated obstacle in this trade. On a photo it looks harmless, because you see the width and not the height. What matters, though, is how much space remains between the step and the roof.
02
Ground floor does not mean easy. The flat in Forchtenstein was on the ground floor on both sides, and still the way from the van to the door was the hardest part of the whole day.
03
That is why we ask for photos of the staircase and of the approach, not only of the instrument. A piano looks the same on every photo. The way to it never does.
How insurance and liability work exactly, I explain on a page of its own. Link: insurance and liability, page to follow
What the family asked about the piano transport from Vienna to Forchtenstein
What does a piano transport from Vienna to Burgenland cost?
This transport cost 396 euros including VAT: a piano, ground floor in Vienna 4th district, ground floor in Forchtenstein, a roofed outdoor staircase in between. We only name the fixed price once we have seen photos, because staircases exactly like that make the difference. You get the quote within 60 minutes.
Do you need a crane for a piano?
For a piano of this size almost never. In Forchtenstein two men carried it with straps, without a crane. A crane becomes a topic with grand pianos on upper floors or when both the stairwell and the lift are out of the question.
Does a piano have to be dismantled for the transport?
A piano is not dismantled. It is packed, secured and carried as one piece. Grand pianos are dismantled, there the legs, the lyre and the lid come off.
How many people come for the transport?
For this transport to Forchtenstein there were two. How many there are is not decided by the weight alone but by the way: steps, bends, door widths, the approach. Half an hour before arrival we call.
Does a piano go out of tune from the transport?
Usually less from the drive than from the new room climate. We recommend giving the instrument around two weeks to acclimatise to the temperature and the humidity in the new room, and only then having it tuned. We tune in Vienna and Lower Austria for 228 euros including VAT.
And what if the street is too narrow for the van?
Then we stop where we can, and the rest is carried. In Forchtenstein that was exactly the case. The only important thing is that we know it beforehand, hence the photo of the approach.
Send us photos of the instrument, of the staircase and of the approach
You get a fixed price within 60 minutes.
These photos help usThe piano from the front and from the side, the flat door, the staircase from above and from below, and the approach in front of the house.
Piano transport in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland
We collect pianos and grand pianos in all 23 Vienna districts and take them anywhere in Austria, including across the state border into Burgenland, as here to Forchtenstein. Whether the instrument is being sold, inherited or moved: we plan the way out of the flat and the way into the new house in advance, from your photos.
How a transport right across Austria works and what it costs is on the page Piano transport Austria. For grand pianos that do not fit down the staircase we work with a crane, but with a piano of this size that is the exception.
In the inner districts we apply for the no-parking zone with the City of Vienna, so that the van can stand directly in front of the entrance. A piano that has just been carried across a lawn and up a staircase should not also have to go a hundred metres along the pavement.
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