[Moorf]

Ok, I've just been trawling through pages of houses that are for sale to be removed and relocated.

The cost, for example, of moving a rather gorgeous "gentlemens residence" - two storey villa with gorgeous interior, new kitchen etc with Smeg fittings etc etc etc is quoted as $125,000 - I assume there are costs for foundations etc (seen some quotes for c. $20,000 excl. piling) but that still works out bloomin' cheap. I did read that right, didn't I, that includes cost of physically moving it up to 30km?

Even if the land was $250,000 with services to it, that's a great land/house package price isn't it?

Am I missing something?

http://laing.co.nz/site/page_buildings/frame_relocators/category_9/view_155/index.html

[Sam B]

Well, if the land's got any building covenants on it, you can't usually move a house onto it, as we have discovered. Plus they usually saw them into 6 pieces, then stick them together again, which can't do much for the structure. But otherwise no catch I think.

[Caroline and Dave]

Hi,
This may help you.
http://www.consumerbuild.org.nz/publish/reno-movingahouse.php

[Moorf]

Cheers :nice1

[Jo Jo]

I love all the pictures on that Laing website of the houses on the backs of lorries!

I live in a house that has been relocated. It used to be in the centre of town, but was moved to the top of a hill - about 2 miles (I don't think in kilometres yet)

It had already been moved when we bought it, so I don't know too much about the moving process, but as far as I know, it was moved in one piece, and the structure seems pretty sound (by NZ standards!)

You do have to budget for remedial work - this covers things like repairing any damage caused by the move. For our house these were minor - a few cracks here and there - one ceiling was reskimmed - and a couple of windows needed to be replaced as they cracked.

[Smiler]

This is probably one of those how long is a bit of string questions, but any idea how much it costs to get services (power and phone) from the roadside or gate?

For instance; how much would it be to get power and phone lines across 2 rural acres? Can you do it yourself, apart from the line rigging and connection, or do the utility companies do it all for a 'charge what they like' cost? :confused:

[katandbob]

This is probably one of those how long is a bit of string questions, but any idea how much it costs to get services (power and phone) from the roadside or gate?

For instance; how much would it be to get power and phone lines across 2 rural acres? Can you do it yourself, apart from the line rigging and connection, or do the utility companies do it all for a 'charge what they like' cost? :confused:

I would asume it is probably expensive - hence lots of houses near the road, when they have lots of land.
But who knows - it may be relative, when you consider the benefit of not being next to the road, ie noise of traffic, dust off metal roads etc. property value for later.

I think if you ring a couple of electrical contractors from the yellow pages and ask, as I know that electrical companies/roading companies do this - for example heres one that does it around here http://www.bondcontracts.co.nz/about.htm

oh hum off to work - and the suns out:( hope it lasts till saturday

Kat

[ourquest]

Hmmm, poetic license I think. Gentlemen's residence? Gorgeous interior? Might be worth enquiring why it is no longer on its original section...
Seriously, though, I will pm an architect friend of mine in AKL, who says he's been involved in a few relocations and see what he thinks. Might take a few days to get a response.
Saw a yard full of relocations just north of New Plymouth during a NZ visit and I do remember that they promise to put the sawn-in-half ones back together properly (included in price). I suspect the biggest hurdle would be planning permission and legislation which varies between regions (and I believe also between rural and urban zoning?).
If you go rural then ecosolutions to your power, water and waste requirements might be viable (and useful for cancelling out the carbon footprint of half an airplane for half a kilometer per year of living green!).

[Moorf]

Well, the pictures looked very nice! And the reason that many are moved from town areas, such as Fendalton, is that they're on huge sections. They remove the old, big houses and divide the land and pop on a couple of modern houses in their place and make a small fortune.

I notice they also put down the number of parts your house will come in - 2/3/6(!) - which I assume adds to the cost!

I'll be interested to see what your friend says.

[BkyMonster]

Not sure if it is the same thing at all, but in the US there is sometimes the option to buy a house and have it moved to your plot of choice. Usually so the owners of the land can build something better/newer/rezone etc on the lot.
Perhaps having a house moved (someone to pay for it) is more financially interesting than having one demolished? :p
I know that around here lovely lots with horrible houses on them are quite cheap. :D

It is rather cheap as the actual moving of the house can cause some not so nice structural damage which will throw your resale value down the drain or cost you more money than you'd like to fix again.

Most of the site-built houses I've seen successfully moved are historical houses being moved out of the way of expanding roadways.
We were looking at having a house moved once and some of the risks included
insurance problems with a moved house.

These things may not apply in NZ though.

[ourquest]

Hi Moorf,
I've sent a mail to my friend so we'll see what he has to say. In the meantime have a look at "www.movinghouse.co.nz", it is the site for the place in Taranaki I mentioned. Their homepage is quite comprehensive and lists all the requirements, costs, what's included etc, and confirms sam B's comment regarding certain covenants on sections. Note that the price is an installed price, which includes piles (the foundations) and obviously rejoining the various jigsaw puzzle bits together. Different company (and you wouldn't want to pay to move a house across the cook straits!) but I would guess they all operate along similar business principles. And the claimed twenty days or so to get planning permission has got to be pretty quick in international terms.
A great way of getting a cheap decent house in the place where you want it...we have and will consider the option also when we settle.

[bob_the_engineer]

:laugh I’ve seen them doing it, its so so funny, they pick houses up and stick them on a truck.

The lady who cuts my hair told me that when she was a kid she was terrified of thunder, this all started when the neighbours house was relocated.

She told me that she went to sleep; there was a storm outside, the next day the neighbouring house was gone!

For a few years she was convinced that when the thunder was rumbling, well that’s when people turned up and stole houses full of families.

The poor woman said from the age of about 4 to 7 she was terrified whenever there was a thunderstorm, she thought someone was coming to take her house and family away.:wah

Bob

[NoelMC]

Look out there's one round each corner....

[Smiler]

:eek:

Ok dumb question of the day; what do they do when they get to low slumg power cables and telephone lines, apart from stop? :laugh

[ourquest]

I'm not an Architect, but I did get a return email from my friend in AKL, who is. And he didn't add a lot to what we already knew, but it is a vote of confidence for the concept:

This was his reply:

"Have done it a couple of times on some developments.

Theres not any real catch other than you have to provide all the
necessary power,water,sewer connections and foundations etc on the site
the house ends up on. Sometimes the house movers include for foundations
in their price - however this is all dependent on the type of soil it
sits on and an engineer may need to get involved.

Generally all the interior walls all need to get re-skimmed and painted
as the plaster cracks in most rooms through transportation.

Each individual council charges levies and development contributions for
relocation and a building permit or resource consent."

So NO CATCH :clap seems to be the answer, Moorf, but like many purchases I bet it's buyer beware with the legal stuff.
Happy browsing the used-homes-in-6-pieces websites!

[Moorf]

Thank you sooo much for taking the time to find out that info for us, really appreciated.

Trouble is, it's now got my OH's head buried in ads for sections :laugh - I KNEW there was a catch :D

[Lupin]

This is probably one of those how long is a bit of string questions, but any idea how much it costs to get services (power and phone) from the roadside or gate?

For instance; how much would it be to get power and phone lines across 2 rural acres? Can you do it yourself, apart from the line rigging and connection, or do the utility companies do it all for a 'charge what they like' cost? :confused:

We moved 100m from the roadside and the electricity company had to put in a new pole with transformer (approx $4K because they pay aprt of it) and then the 3 phase power cabling in a trench to the house site cost (approx $6K). the phone was only about $500 because the electric guy had agreement from telecom to lay cable in the same trench.

HTH :)

Tracks are dear too... our *very* basic track cost $2K.

[Smiler]

Thanks Lupin that was just the kind of info I needed. :cheers

By 'basic' track do you mean metalled,:confused: or just a straight line of dirt?

Thanks D x

[Lupin]

um, it's got big grade gravel or something put on top. Not just dirt. HTH

[Smiler]

um, it's got big grade gravel or something put on top. Not just dirt. HTH

It does help. :D Thank you. :nice1