Should the movers move my TV and other AV gear?

Moving?  Did you have a nice integrator that installed nice displays and music throughout your house?  Are you worried about the regular movers taking down and removing technology out of your home? What technology and devices can you take from your home?

Let us tackle the question of should you take or can you take equipment attached to the home.  For most of my clients and in my experience, they find it easier to just sell the technology like TV and speakers with the home.  Technically if it is attached to a home, like a surface mount speaker on a deck, it must stay. Speakers in the ceiling would always stay, they match the whole in the ceiling and are best to remain.  Equipment in a closet or cabinet is not attached so those details would be left for the negotiations and be in the contract.  Products like Sonos can easily move to a new home and be reset and set up, but more robust system you are best served to sell with the home. TV’s are a gray area, the mount would definitely stay but TV can be removed.  Most of the time a new home means new displays, chance to upgrade.  Or they get moved and put in secondary rooms in the home.  The mount is worth leaving, making sure that the rack on the back of the TV stays with the wall mount so the next person can use it.  Like most contracts’ changes can be made in the contract to include exceptions to these few normal rules.

So, you are moving and some of those nice big TV’s and amplifiers you invested in and enjoy are coming with you.  How they come down can be important, cables need to be removed without breaking the TV or the cable.  This can save you thousands of dollars if a mover is not familiar with the cables, the mount and how it releases and more.  Clarity moves several customers a year and there are some real advantages to this.

When an AV company moves your equipment, they know the value of it because they have installed it or something similar.  They know how to handle that fragile OLED TV so it doesn’t crack.  They know that and HDMI cable head can break if pulled when removing TV.  They know that the TV needs to be transport on its bottom, not flat.  Most AV companies like ours have storage for customers moving.  We often hold TVs for days or months while moving, remodeling, painting and design takes place.

Your integrator also knows your plans on the next house and will have a good sense of what to take, what accessories you will need at your next home.  Keep companies like us in mind when as you upgrade, downside or even pack for those cross country moves.

How much does it cost? For Clarity Sight Sound Design we just approach it with an hourly rate for the move, our rate is $150 for two technicians per hour. If there is a large scope with installing in new home a flat fee would be applied in most cases instead of hourly.

Happy moving!