How much $ is reasonable to move lathe bed into basement?

The prices do sound reasonable. Over 20 years ago it cost me $300.00 to have the bare column (1000 lbs.) for my Bridgeport moved from the garage through the kitchen and down the stairs to the shop. Six years ago It cost $600.00 to have the headstock column of my Sheldon 13" lathe (900 lbs.) from the garage to the shop. Again this was the column only with the motor and Vari drive, no headstock or bed.

I hired the same company for both jobs. They put plywood on the floor through the kitchen and family room and covered the adjoining carpeting in the family room with a pad. Then they used a 1,700 lb. capable battery powered stair climber dolly to move each piece through the house and down the stairs. Both times the job took 4 guys less than 1/2 an hour from the time they arrived to the time they left.

Considering there were no rental hand trucks available with the capacity to move either piece, and purchasing one would have cost close to $5,000.00 I thought I got away cheap.
 
Really appreciate all the feedback guys. We are scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. They are coming with 3 guys and an oversized appliance dolly.

I spent the evening going a little overkill and reinforcing the stairs. The floating side of the landing was shored up to the basement floor with a pair of 2x4's and some bracing at the bottom. I also hit the center of the tread for all the lower set of steps with a 2x4 on edge down to the basement floor. I have to adjust 2 of the risers which were a little tight but overall I don't have doubts about the structure of the stairs.

There are (3) 2x10 paralleled joists running directly between the front door and the basement door so the floor is nice and beefy anywhere the lathe, dolly, and movers need to go.

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woodchucker said:
hell no, that's cheap. Make sure they have insurance, imagine if they drop it down the stairs.
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so i had a tree guy come in to take some high limbs down with bucket truck. his business card says insured, the lettering on the truck says insured. as i'm talking to the owner while his monkey is working i asked what his workman's comp rate was. he said nothing - i don't have any insurance. it's all too expensive.
 
deakin said:
so i had a tree guy come in to take some high limbs down with bucket truck. his business card says insured, the lettering on the truck says insured. as i'm talking to the owner while his monkey is working i asked what his workman's comp rate was. he said nothing - i don't have any insurance. it's all too expensive.
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So....self insured? All fine until there us accident. We make it a point to hire only insured businesses when the work has the potential for personal injury or damage to property. Hiring someone on the cheap who isn't insured can be very expensive. On most cases those individuals haven't got the net worth to settle a serious claim and bankruptcy won't make you whole.
 
RJSakowski said:
So....self insured? All fine until there us accident. We make it a point to hire only insured businesses when the work has the potential for personal injury or damage to property. Hiring someone on the cheap who isn't insured can be very expensive. On most cases those individuals haven't got the net worth to settle a serious claim and bankruptcy won't make you whole.
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point was they claim they were insured.
 
deakin said:
point was they claim they were insured.
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Exactly. Depending on who we hire, we will ask for proof of insurance. We have had a lot work done by a neighbor and friend who is a contractor (although he did furnish proof when we first hired him fifteen years ago) and we don't ask him nor do we ask for proof from well established businesses but in all other cases we do.
 
Well gents, no pictures, but the lathe is down safe and sound. Super good crew, no damage to the walls or wood floors either. They basically strapped it down to a furniture dolly and rolled it right down. I think I probably made the job a LOT easier by stripping it all the way down to a bare casting but still, they did great. They also carried all the extra pieces and parts down that I took off yesterday, brought the cherry picker down the stairs, and cleaned up the floors before they left. All in all, took 45 minutes.
 
make sure you keep their name/address/phone handy. You may need them again, or someone in you area may need them, and your experience is a great way to help them stay in business.

edit: I love hearing about companies that do a good job, so many today cut corners..
 
Got a few minutes over the weekend to work on assembling the lathe. Planned in enough room between equipment and workbenches, as well as clearance under workbenches for my 1 ton cherry picker. This makes everything SO much easier. No more will I be lifting my 175lb surface plate and hauling it around the shop.

Took an opportunity to do a deep clean and service on the lathe as I am putting it back together. Some WD-40 did a lot to cut through the last 4 years of grease and junk accumulation. It also worked great to remove the waxy residue from the LPS rust preventative I sprayed on everything.

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I'm also very impressed that 2 buckets of drywall mud can hold probably 800 lbs of lathe without any sign of budging.

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Next step is to get this puppy on the stand and rewired. I have no 240V circuits in the basement so my lathe, mill, and robot will need to wait for me to finish some remodeling and honey-do items around the house before getting an electrician to upgrade my main breaker panel. All circuits are currently full.
 
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