Bed
Yes indeed! While beds are more lightweight than a mattress, they demand time and attention during disassembly and packing.
Specialty Items Movers
We understand that long distance moves can be overwhelming and stressful, we are here to help! With our wide range of services and expert movers, we are positive your move will go seamlessly and be hassle-free. We'll take care of everything from packing and loading to unpacking and any installation needed at your new home. Our commitment is to provide unmatched customer service, so you can have an easy move.
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HANDLED WITH CARE
Specialty Items Movers
Most of what you own travels fine in a box. A handful of things do not, and those are the items that decide whether your move goes smoothly or turns into a claim.
Specialty items behave differently for three reasons. They carry separate charges under the carrier’s tariff, so they change your price in ways a standard inventory does not. They often need crating, disassembly, or a third-party technician before anything moves. And when something goes wrong with them, the default coverage pays on weight rather than value, which is a poor outcome for a television and a worse one for artwork.
Hercules Moving Solutions is a licensed interstate moving broker, DOT 3497836 and MC 1153414. We do not own trucks. We match your shipment to an FMCSA-authorized motor carrier equipped for what you are actually moving, verify that carrier’s authority and insurance before assignment, and stay on your file through delivery. This page covers what qualifies, what it costs, what your coverage really pays, and what to do on the day.
What Counts as a Specialty Item
Anything that needs equipment, technique, or a technician beyond two people and a dolly. In practice that falls into three groups.
Heavy and awkward. Pianos, safes, gun safes, pool tables, hot tubs, treadmills and gym equipment, large appliances, and oversized furniture. These are handled by household goods carriers, but they attract bulky article charges and often need disassembly.
Fragile and valuable. Fine art, antiques, sculpture, chandeliers, mirrors, glass tabletops, wine collections, and large televisions. These usually need custom crating rather than padding, and they are where coverage decisions matter most.
Not really household goods at all. Boats, jet skis, golf carts, motorcycles, ATVs, and vehicles. These normally travel with specialist haulers on flatbeds or hydraulic trailers rather than inside a moving trailer. If you have been quoted a boat as a line item on a household inventory, that is worth questioning. We arrange these separately with carriers equipped for them, on their own timeline and their own paperwork.
Knowing which group your item sits in changes who moves it, what it costs, and how long it takes.
Who Moves It, and Who Arranges It
Two companies are involved in a brokered move.
The motor carrier holds operating authority, owns the equipment, employs the crew, issues your bill of lading, and is legally responsible for your goods once loaded. The broker arranges that relationship. Federal rules require brokers to identify themselves as brokers rather than let you assume you have hired a trucking company.
Our side: building the inventory, flagging every specialty item at quote stage, pricing against carrier tariffs, checking authority and insurance before a carrier is assigned, and holding the file to delivery. The carrier’s side: the crating, the load, the transport, the delivery. Their published tariff sets the charges, and you can inspect it from the carrier on reasonable request.
If a company gets vague when you ask which one it is, that vagueness is the answer.
Why Specialty Items Are the Clearest Case for a Broker
The doubt is fair. Why involve a middleman when you could call a moving company directly.
Because with specialty items, the question is not whether a carrier will take your job. It is whether they have the right crew, the right equipment, and the right third-party relationships for your particular item. Call one carrier and you get one answer to that, from a salesperson paid to say yes and figure it out later. That is exactly how a piano ends up on a truck with a crew that has never moved one.
Booking through a network changes the question from “will you take this” to “who is actually equipped for this.”
Equipment matching is the whole job. A grand piano needs a piano board, a skid, and a crew that has done it before. A safe over a certain weight needs stair rigging and a floor that will hold it. A hot tub needs a crane on some properties. Matching to a carrier that has the gear beats persuading one that does not.
Third-party services get coordinated, not improvised. Hot tub disconnection, appliance servicing, chandelier removal, and piano tuning at destination are frequently performed by outside technicians and billed through the carrier as accessorial charges. Someone has to arrange them against your dates.
Boats, golf carts, and vehicles need a different carrier entirely. Finding one, and sequencing it so it does not arrive three weeks after your furniture, is not a weekend research project.
The vetting is already done. Authority, insurance, and safety record checked before anything is assigned. Doing that yourself means pulling FMCSA records for every company you consider.
One point of contact. Same file, same people, from quote to delivery. When a crated item needs chasing you are not starting over with a dispatcher who has never heard of your move.
If you are moving one pool table across town and you already have a mover you trust, book them direct. We will say so rather than sell you something you do not need.
We Can Safely Transport
Your Valuable Items
BBQ
Indeed! Hercules Moving Solutions can handle the transportation of both gas and charcoal grills. Get your free quote now!
TV
Absolutely! Trust Hercules Moving to pack and transport your oversized TV using protective padding.
Piano
Without a doubt! Your piano’s safe relocation calls for substantial manpower, careful planning, and specific equipment.
Golf Cart
Absolutely! Certain golf carts require complete crating, while others need special padding when securely loading them onto our moving truck.
Boat
Indeed! The relocation of your boat often demands special equipment, varying on the size and weight of your vessel.
Where the Extra Charges Come From
This is the section most moving pages skip, and it is the one that explains your quote.
A tariff is the carrier’s published schedule of rates and rules. Every FMCSA-authorized household goods carrier maintains one. Alongside linehaul charges based on weight and distance, it sets out accessorial charges, and specialty items live almost entirely in that second category.
Charges you are likely to see: bulky article charges for items like pianos, safes, hot tubs, and pool tables, applied because the item takes up trailer space out of proportion to its weight. Crating and materials, billed by size and complexity. Third-party services for disconnection, servicing, disassembly, or reassembly. Stair carry, long carry, and shuttle charges where access requires them. Hoisting or rigging where an item cannot go through a door.
Your price is not a figure someone invented. It is the tariff applied to your specific shipment. That is why you are entitled to inspect it on reasonable request, and why any quote should trace back to one. If a company quotes you a piano without naming which charges apply, ask for the breakdown.
What we typically find is that specialty item disputes are not disputes about price. They are about a charge nobody mentioned at quote stage, on an item nobody looked at properly.
How Your Estimate Is Built
Three estimate types exist under federal rules and they behave differently at your door.
Non-binding. A projection. Final charges follow actual weight and services performed. You are protected at delivery, since the carrier cannot require more than 110 percent of a non-binding estimate before unloading.
Binding. A fixed price for the inventory and services listed. It holds unless you change something. With specialty items this depends entirely on those items being on the paperwork in the first place.
Binding not-to-exceed. A ceiling. You pay actual charges if they land lower, never more than the estimate.
Whichever you choose, the specialty items have to be surveyed properly. A photo of your piano, the make and model, and an honest description of the stairs at both ends is worth more than any assurance a salesperson gives you on the phone. Mention the hot tub. Mention the safe in the garage. Mention that the chandelier is hardwired. Every one of those is a charge, and a charge disclosed at quote stage is a budget item rather than an argument on the day.
The Coverage Problem With Specialty Items
Carriers provide valuation, not insurance, and specialty items are where the gap shows.
Released value protection comes free and pays 60 cents per pound per article. It settles on weight, not worth. That is the entire problem. A heavy item with modest value is roughly served by it. A light item with high value is not, and most of what you would call a valuable is light. A large television, a painting, a piece of sculpture, a case of wine.
Full value protection costs extra and makes the carrier liable for repair, replacement, or cash settlement based on the item’s value, subject to the terms and any deductible you select.
Separate third-party moving insurance is also available if you want cover beyond what the carrier offers.
Two things to do before load day. Choose your coverage in writing rather than by default. And declare anything of extraordinary value on a high-value inventory form, because coverage does not apply to items you did not declare. Antiques, collections, fine art, and jewelry normally require it.
Photograph every specialty item before it is packed, including existing scratches and marks. On an antique, proving what was already there is as useful as proving what was not.
Your Rights as an Interstate Shipper
Federal regulation gives you enforceable rights on any interstate household goods move. Your carrier must provide Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move and the Ready to Move brochure, both free from FMCSA and linked from our Consumer Information page.
You are entitled to a written estimate, to inspect the carrier’s tariff, to request a reweigh if you dispute the weight behind a non-binding estimate, to file a loss or damage claim with the carrier within nine months of delivery, to an acknowledgment within 30 days and a resolution within 120, and to a neutral arbitration program the carrier must make available.
You can verify anyone before you commit. Look up the DOT or MC number in the FMCSA licensing database and check the authority type matches the claim. Brokers must hold $75,000 in financial security. Check ours.
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Load Day and Delivery Day
Before load day. Confirm every specialty item appears on your order for service with its handling method noted, whether that is crating, padding, disassembly, or a third-party service. Book any technician visits that need to happen first.
Empty and drain what needs it. Hot tubs need draining. Grills need the propane tank removed, since carriers cannot transport it. Golf carts and anything else with a fuel tank or a battery has its own requirements, so raise them early. Fish tanks need emptying and rarely travel well at all.
Load day. Photograph each specialty item before it is wrapped. The crew inventories your shipment and records a condition code against every item. Walk it with them and check those codes on your valuables specifically, because they become the baseline for any claim. If a code says scratched and it is not, say so before you sign.
You sign the bill of lading. This is your contract with the carrier, not with Hercules. It should show estimate type, valuation selection, delivery spread, and both addresses. Never sign a blank or incomplete one.
Delivery day. Unwrap and inspect specialty items before the crew leaves, not after. Crated items in particular are easy to sign for and open later, which is the weakest position you can file a claim from. Record any damage on the inventory sheet in writing while the crew is still there. If reassembly or a technician visit is part of the service, confirm it is scheduled before the truck pulls away.
Items We Coordinate
Pianos, upright and grand. Beds and oversized furniture requiring disassembly. Oversized and wall-mounted televisions. Grills and outdoor kitchens. Golf carts and boats, arranged with specialist carriers.
If your item is not on that list, ask. The question is always what it weighs, what it is worth, and how it gets out of the building.
Where We Work
Our office is at 1799 W Oakland Park Blvd in Oakland Park, Florida, so South Florida is where we work face to face. That covers Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Hollywood, Miami, Coral Gables, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and West Palm Beach.
Specialty item work comes up more here than most places. Waterfront properties bring boats and jet skis. The high-rise market brings elevator restrictions, service elevator bookings, and building rules that decide when a piano can move at all. Gated communities and HOA access rules affect whether a tractor-trailer can reach you, which is what turns into a shuttle charge. Raise all of it at quote stage.
We arrange relocations nationwide, in both directions, including Alaska and Hawaii.
Start you Specialty Item Move
Send your origin and destination, your target dates, and details of the specialty items themselves. Make, model, and dimensions where you have them, plus photos and an honest description of the access at both ends. That is what produces a quote that holds.
You get a written estimate, a clear statement of which type it is, a breakdown of which specialty charges apply and why, and the delivery spread to expect. No obligation.
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Are you planning to move to a new home or office soon? Let Hercules Moving Service take care of all your moving needs! Our team of experienced movers is dedicated to making your move as stress-free and efficient as possible.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What makes something a specialty item?
Anything needing equipment, technique, or a technician beyond a standard two-person carry. Pianos, safes, pool tables, hot tubs, fine art, oversized televisions, and gym equipment all qualify. Boats, golf carts, and vehicles are a separate category handled by specialist haulers rather than household goods carriers.
Is Hercules Moving Solutions a broker or a carrier?
A licensed moving broker, DOT 3497836, MC 1153414. We do not transport goods ourselves. We arrange transportation with FMCSA-authorized motor carriers whose charges are set by their published tariff, available for your inspection from the carrier on reasonable request.
Why use a broker rather than booking a carrier directly?
Because with specialty items the question is not whether a carrier will take the job, it is whether they have the crew, the equipment, and the third-party relationships for your specific item. A network lets us match rather than persuade. Boats and vehicles usually need a different carrier entirely, which is harder to arrange alone.
How much does it cost to move a piano or a safe?
There is no flat answer, because the charge depends on weight, type, access at both addresses, and whether crating or rigging is needed. These items attract bulky article charges under the carrier’s tariff on top of the linehaul charge. Ask for the breakdown rather than a single number, and expect the survey to matter more than usual.
Does the mover’s coverage protect a valuable item?
Not by default. Released value protection is free and pays 60 cents per pound per article, settling on weight rather than value, which is a poor outcome for anything light and valuable. Full value protection costs extra and settles on value. Items of extraordinary value need declaring on a high-value inventory form, and coverage does not apply to what you did not declare.
Do I need to crate my artwork or can it be padded?
It depends on the piece, the distance, and how it travels. Fine art, mirrors, glass, and marble usually justify custom crating on an interstate move, and that is billed by size and complexity under the tariff. Padding suits sturdier oversized items. The survey decides it, so send photos and dimensions.
Can you move my boat, golf cart, or motorcycle?
Yes, arranged with carriers equipped for them, which typically means a flatbed or hydraulic trailer rather than a moving trailer. These run on their own paperwork and timeline, so tell us early if you need arrival sequenced with your household shipment.
What can carriers refuse to take?
Hazardous materials, which includes propane tanks on grills, fuel, paint, aerosols, and pool chemicals. Anything with a fuel tank or battery has its own requirements. Live plants and perishables rarely survive long hauls. Raise anything unusual at quote stage rather than on load day.
