Moving a House?

[Farmer Joe]

We will be moving a house onto our farm this fall, I would be interested in any thoughts/suggestions or warnings any on would like to provide? I don't post on here often - a full time job and 30 acres of critters keeps me pretty busy, but when I do get the chance to post I usually get some helpful advice. The movers come highly recommended by several people, and we have received several bids for the basement and block work. The septic tank will need to be moved, but our guy doesn't think it should be much of a problem. Just in case the tank doesn't want to be moved, we budgeted for a new tank. We are slowly getting all of the estimates for the wiring, and several other odds and ends.

[james dilley]

PLZ PLZ make Sure the mover has REAL good Insurance.

[Hoop]

they just moved a 42' x 82' house (a freebie) a few miles away from me. Person "A" was supposed to get the house and could have got it if he could have secured financing. He couldn't get financing or homeowners insurance (too much junk on his premises, along with his 2 vicious breed dogs).
So Person "B" got the house....and it was moved to a vacant 3 acre lot he owns.
They moved the house approx 3 miles. Person "A" told me it was going to cost him $20000 for the house move. I suspect Person "B" paid that amount or more. About a 3 mile move. Now is where is gets expensive. The foundation or basement will cost anywhere from $10000 to $30000. Electrical service to the house will be relatively inexpensive, maybe $500. Actual electrical costs will be much higher when your electrician hands you their bill. Hooking up to Natural Gas will be perhaps another $500. Then one will need to drill a well. This will run $5000 - $10000 for the well system (drilling, casing, well pump, running it into the house and pressure tank). A septic system will run $5000 - $10000.
Building permits will run $500 - $1000. Inspections another $500 - $1000.

Person "A" figured it would cost him $60000 - $70000 to get the house to where he could move in.

Person "B" is somewhat of a drug addict and the locals are saying its even money on whether anything gets completed. I'm guessing the house gets vandalized & falls into disrepair before this guy "gets around" to takin care of business. This is not by any means a high crime area.....but teenage kids are sometimes prone to mischief.

Incidentally, the house 42' x 82' could easily be converted over to a side by side duplex. In fact, it sort of already is set up that way. Each side has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The interior underwent a massive remodeling 4 years ago. New T-111 interior siding in most of the rooms, new doors, new carpeting, new ceilings, new kitchen countertops & cabinets. Fairly new central boiler type heating system. Nothing fancy, but very very presentable.
If completed and fully functioning (heat, water, electrical, sewer, etc) it would easily bring $160,000 - $200,000 in this area on the 3 acre lot.

[Farmer Joe]

Hoop,
So far it seems costs in our area are alot lower than where you are. the best bid we got for moving the 2.5 story (1300 sq ft footprint) was $10,500, and the basement was bit at $18,000 We already have a well that was put in in the early 90's. So far we are loooking at a budget of around $65,000 which includes new metal roofing and remodeling the kitchen.

[Ross]

We moved house here 12 or so years ago it was largely painless but had an excellent mover. Be sure you know what the mover needs for clearances to remove the steel beams he uses to support the house. Be ready with a supply of 2x6's, nails and screws to support things that come loose, and tools plus a chainsaw to do some fast modifications wouldn't hurt either. We had side door that needed to come off befroe it could sit on the foundation as it was lower. Missed that initially but it worked out. We video taped it, and that wouldn't hurt if things go wrong. A first aid kit never hurts. I also wanted an outside basement entrance, and that came in handy as inside stairs down needed to wait on some other renos. Plastic to cover broken windows and some tarps can't hurt either. Sorry this rambles it's been a while since we did this.