Furniture Disassembly/Reassembly in Chicago

February 20, 2018 8:00 AM

Does anyone have experience with movers who do furniture disassembly/reassembly? Is this something you hire someone else to do? What sort of person? I'm located in Chicago.

I'm in charge of pricing out movers for our offices at work. We have a very large table with legs screwed in. It can't be moved out of the room it's in until the legs are unscrewed, and it will need to be reassembled at the destination.

By screwed in, I mean screwed in with screws, not just something you can untwist by hand. It's not Ikea furniture, it's handmade and very very heavy.

posted by Juliet Banana to Shopping (3 answers total)

In my experience, this is something that a good moving crew will take care of, and that a bad moving crew will SAY they'll take care of. Finding a good moving crew is...hard. Maybe ask for local recommendations? If you can think of another local business that's moved, maybe ask them?
posted by nosila at 8:42 AM on February 20, 2018

Seconding that legs that need to be taken off, for instance on a table or a piano, is something a typical moving crew should be able to handle, and in my case HAS been able to handle in each of the seven moves I've had. Some handled them better than others, unfortunately. You should make sure that the movers know in advance that there will be some disassembly and reassembly required, especially if they will need tools beyond an ordinary screwdriver. Talk it over with the moving company before the date of the move. Typically the screws get put in an envelope which gets taped to the disassembled piece of furniture so they won't get lost. Whoever is watching over the move at the start should make sure this happens.

Asking for more difficult disassembly/assembly services may be problematic. For instance, your ordinary mover does not expect to completely disassemble and reassemble your 300-piece IKEA trundle bed. But leg removal and reattachment is definitely standard.
posted by ubiquity at 9:12 AM on February 20, 2018

Furniture disassembly/assembly (enough to move the stuff efficiently and safely) has always been the default assumption with any full-service mover I've ever used. Confirm it when getting a quote, but I'd be surprised if it isn't built into every quote you get. Even the local 2 guys and truck type of company I hired last year did all of that.
posted by COD at 9:31 AM on February 20, 2018