Moving a Gun Safe Yourself

Are you looking to save a few bucks and not have your safe professionally delivered and installed? You’ve got the truck, trailer, and friends. You are ready to tackle the daunting task of loading, unloading, and getting your new safe into place.

We get it. And for folks who want to DIY their gun safe move, we often get asked, “Can I get help loading my safe if I pick it up?”

While we always recommend having safes professionally delivered and installed, the short answer is yes. Our team will help load up your safe if you pick it up from our warehouse.

Should You Move Your Gun Safe Yourself?

We’ve been helping folks buy, move, deliver, and install safes since 1988. When it comes to the DIY folks, we've seen just about everything. People show up with forklifts—others with flatbed trailers. And sometimes, we get folks who really should’ve just hired us.

Here’s the truth: picking up your safe can be done, but it’s not for everyone. It depends on a few key factors. In this post, we’ll walk you through what to expect when picking up your safe from our warehouse, plus share a few tips we’ve learned after decades in the business.

When DIY Might Make Sense

• You have experience with heavy equipment, like a forklift, skid steer, or tractor.

• The safe is going into a garage, instead of upstairs or inside a tight hallway.

• The safe is under 500 lbs. — That’s generally the threshold where DIY becomes more risk than reward.

• You have the right vehicle and crew — Don’t try this with a hatchback and a couple of buddies who’ve never moved a safe before.

That said, we’ve seen folks successfully transport safes over 1,000 lbs. But they had serious equipment and knew what they were doing.

What to Expect at Pickup

If you decide to pick up your safe, here’s how we’ll help:

• Inspect & Clean: Before leaving our shop, each safe is inspected and cleaned. Before you pick up your safe, it will receive this same treatment.

• Pre-Install Accessories & Lock Upgrades: If you purchased any accessories for your safe, such as a light kit, or made a lock upgrade, we’ll complete this before your safe is picked up.

• Full Review: Just as with a delivery, we’ll walk you through how to use your lock and answer any questions you have about your safe.

• Wrap Your Safe for Travel: Your safe will be wrapped in plastic and cardboard. If it’s raining, we’ll add stretch wrap for extra protection.

One Important Note: We Do the Loading

For safety and liability reasons, we do not allow customers to assist in loading their safe. Please stay clear and let our team handle it. We’ve got the training, gear, and experience to do it right.

What You’ll Need to Bring

Before you head our way, make sure you’re prepared:

• A vehicle that can handle the size and weight of your safe.
  A pickup truck is the bare minimum. A flatbed truck or open trailer is best. Enclosed trailers can work, but sometimes the ramp angle makes it tricky. Also, make sure your tailgate can handle the weight of the safe or please remove it prior to arrival.

• Quality tie-down straps.
  WE WILL NOT LOAD A SAFE UP IF WE FEEL THERE IS A RISK TO THE CUSTOMER OR IF WE FEEL THERE IS AN UNSAFE TRANSPORTATION METHOD. We’ve seen too many people lose their safes on the highway because they didn’t strap them down properly.

• Optional but helpful: Plastic pipe for rolling.
  Invest in some plastic pipe to help roll the safe out of the truck on the other end. We will block your safe up to get leverage and pry the safe up to get the rollers underneath.

• Plan for protection.
  Think about your floors, doorways, and any tight corners if your safe is going inside. You’ll want padding, ramps, and plenty of help.

• Understand the limitations of a hand truck.
  Planning to use a hand truck to move your safe? Hand trucks are great for lightweight safes. However, anything over 500 pounds is unsafe to haul on a hand truck.

What Costs Are Associated with Safely Installing a Gun Safe?

Delivering a safe, especially a heavy safe, is no small task. To do it safely, without risk of injury or damage to your home, requires expertise and the proper tools. When we calculate the delivery cost of a safe, we consider five major factors:

1. Size and Weight of the Safe: The bigger and heavier a safe is, the more difficult the job.

2. Delivery Path: The more difficult the installation, the more resources it requires. For example, going up a flight of stairs is exponentially more challenging than a ground-floor installation.

3. Expertise: Every member of our crew goes through extensive hands-on training to ensure your safe is moved without damaging door jambs, door frames, floors, or stairs.

4. Professional Tools: Our business invests in the best tools for the job. Over decades of experience, we’ve developed tools and techniques to get the job done safely and efficiently. This has often required us to custom-order tools from the manufacturer so they are built for our unique needs.

5. Transportation Expenses: We don’t have to tell you that costs have gone up. From fuel to insurance, operational costs have increased for everyone.

A Final Word of Caution

Before you commit to DIY, take a moment to do the math:

• Add up your time, travel, effort, and equipment.

• Factor in the cost of pizza and beer for your friends.

• And don’t forget the risks to your back, home, and brand-new safe.

We’re happy to help get you loaded up, but we always encourage our customers to weigh the risks and rewards. Sometimes, spending a little more on professional delivery is the best way to protect your investment (and yourself).

Still have questions about picking up your safe?

Give us a call—we’re here to help you figure out the best plan for your situation.