Have you tried a complete house relocation?

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

Has any tried this before?
I'm looking at moving a cottage onto a 700sqm piece of land on a hill.
The house would have to be craned over the top of other houses.
Would anyone know the price I'm looking at for the house Chase and crane hire?
Cheers

Comments (5)

PRO
co-design
6 years ago
Craning a house is very limited because the crane can't reach for under such a large load. First thing to do is have a crane company inspect the site and confirm that it can be done. Usually entire homes are moved by jacking them up, slipping a low loader under them, dropping (carefully and slowly) the home back down onto the low loader and driven away to their new site where they are relocated onto a new stump system that has already be prepared ready for the old home. Best advice is "do your homework" its not going to be as cheap as you think.

Best of luck.
PRO
Dr Retro House Calls
6 years ago
I think a lot would depend on the size and shape of the house, and the willingness of the neighbours to co-operate. If you asked me for permission to lift your new house over my home I would probably say no, as the risks would be too great. In your photos both houses look like they have a fairly, compact, rectlinear footprint, and may even be pre-fabricated houses designed for being moved. It sounds like an expensive and challenging engineering process made more difficult with no room for error, the hill, and a crane tall enough to reach over another property. Best of luck,

Dr Retro
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Mark, to answer your original question. We are now in our fourth home. We purchased our first home and had a vision. We gutted the kitchens and bathrooms ourselves and got the professionals in to do electrical, plumbing, and tiling. We received three quotes from builders and employed one to knock down walls internally and external walls. We then arranged for ceiling company plasterers to make it nice again, kitchen company to install kitchen. This was before our children were born so had more time and didn’t matter how we lived with in the home with tradesman coming and going. Our second home was more cosmetic, our third home was again gutting and modernising home. Our children were old enough to help, and was a great family experience of knocking brick walls down and painting their own rooms and helping their father lift floor tiles. Our fourth home was a home designed by ourselves and built by a reputable builder. It was nice to move into a brand new home and relax. In summary, depending on what changes you are making, that will dictate the type of professional needed to employ. Builder and structural engineer advice, high on the priority to get things right first. You know your own limitations, so this will also become part of the decision in our much you do yourself and how much you leave to the professionals. Your home looks like there is maybe asbestos amongst the build, so this is important to get a remediation company employed to check out the home. If you go down the route of employing a builder to do the work, they should take care of organising those inspections. A builder can organise everything for you and you just pay the bills. Have fun and enjoy the process, which ever way you choose to get to the final wonderful vision.
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PRO
Daniel Lindahl Architecture
6 years ago
First find out how much the public liability insurance would cost to do such a thing. There are plenty of accidents with cranes lifting big cumbersome things. You would soon discover it would be much cheaper to build new on your 700m² block.
PRO
co-design
6 years ago
I would have thought that public liability cover would be included in any quote just as professional indemnity insurance is part of professional fees, however I acknowledge that it would be a huge portion of the overall fee and would not be surprised that insurance may be declined under the circumstances, therefore ending all hope of the move. I do agree that it may be cheaper to build from scratch than to buy an existing home and relocate it which has been our experience in the past. Relocation involves council fees, a structural engineer to determine lifting points, services terminated etc. An experienced home relocation company will know where and how to lift the home without breaking its back.

Building from scratch will give you what you want and doesn't require any retro fit to be compliant with todays requirements such as insulation to walls etc, which is why I strongly suggested that you do your homework by starting with a site inspection and quote from an experienced home relocation company not just a crane company. Your dreams may end right there and then.

'mI sorry to be so blunt. I don't like to put a negative spin on your dreams but I don't want to see you end up with a broken home that can't be repaired or worse still a huge law suit if damage to a neighbours home was to eventuate. It's a great idea and may save you some money and will save you time, just do your homework.

All the very best.
gwyn5
6 years ago
Consider a kit home. Don't go craning anything. Run away

Have you tried a complete house relocation?

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