Moving house, or moving your house?

You might need storage if you’re moving house, but what about if you’re moving your house!?

Greg Close and his wife Becky Anderson bought their Portland home for a dollar. So what’s the catch? “We had to move it,” Close says. “And we like a good challenge, so we decided to do it!”

Relocating a house isn’t a new concept — from our earliest nomadic days; humans have built and dismantled shelters as necessary. However, today’s version of moving a house is vastly different. “It was surreal, to say the least,” Close says. Keith Settle, the owner of highly-rated Northwest Structural Moving in Scappoose, Ore., moved the couple’s one-story house 15 blocks. “We have to coordinate all public agencies and utility companies,” Settle says. “Some moves have as many as 40 additional people involved.”

Settle says he can move any type of structure and averages 60 jobs a year. “We get asked to look at some pretty off-the-wall ideas, like lowering a house 40 feet over the side of a cliff,” he says. “We have to decide if the project is financially feasible for the client.” Cost depends on a number of things: the size and weight of the home, the length of the journey, and a new foundation are some of the biggest factors. Industry experts estimate costs for just the move itself on a 1,800-square-foot home runs roughly $12 to $16 per square foot.
Jody Barrett, the owner of McDowell House and Structure Movers in Amarillo, Texas, charges between $6 and $15 a square foot and says his customers see it as a low-cost housing option. “It’s less expensive to have an existing house moved than to purchase a new one,” he says.

There are a number of reasons for moving an existing structure. If a home is subject to dangers such as flooding or is in the way of encroaching development — which is often the case with historic homes — it can be relocated. Don Toothman Jr., owner of Toothman Structure Movers in Springfield, Tenn., agrees the green factor is the No. 1 reason he enjoys moving homes. “You’ve saved a house and you’ve saved someone the cost of demolition — which is more than monetary,” Toothman says. The structural moving industry is comprised of mostly family-owned operations with a long tradition of apprenticeship. “You can’t get this type of training in school,” says June Cook, co-owner of Baxter Cook House & Building Mover in Searsport, Maine. Historical homes are often relocated to accommodate encroaching development. Structural movers can relocate a variety of buildings, including old barns.

Companies first assess the home’s weight and then cut openings in the foundation in order to insert steel support beams. A unified hydraulic jacking system is placed under the beams, which keeps the house level while being raised. Sliding dollies with tires are placed under the house and attached to a truck.

Thus the journey begins. As the truck crawls along a designated route, a small army of professionals accompanies the parade. Workers from the utility companies shimmy up poles to move wires. Movers push tree branches out of the way and neighbours stare from their porches. While the novelty may never get old, it’s a job that makes businesses in the industry proud. “It’s a wonderful way to recycle and preserving the historic integrity is so important,” says Brett Schulz, owner of highly rated Brett Schulz Architect, who often works with house movers in Portland, Ore. “It’s a challenge, but I like suiting up for the challenge.”