{"id":1296,"date":"2016-03-30T04:00:31","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T04:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ssdcmoving.local\/?p=1296"},"modified":"2025-06-12T21:35:47","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T21:35:47","slug":"moving-an-entire-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/moving-an-entire-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving an entire house sounds impossible, here is how it’s done"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watching a house being transported down the road on a massive truck is quite a sight.<\/p>\n

Questions might pop into your head: Why would somebody plop down a home somewhere else? How much does it cost? Would it ever be an option for me?<\/p>\n

And it might be more common than you think.<\/p>\n

Structural-moving company Emmert International<\/a>, based in Clackamas, OR, has been moving houses since 1968. It has moved between 5,000 and 6,000 structures in its residential and commercial divisions combined.<\/p>\n

Northwest Structural Moving<\/a>, which works throughout the western United States and Canada, has moved some 2,000 homes in the last two decades.<\/p>\n

\"One
One of 2,000 homes moved by Northwest Structural Moving<\/b><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why move a home?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The primary reason is the house is in the way of development and someone wants to save it rather than scrap it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally, development has made the property that it sits on more valuable without the house than it is with it; that\u2019s 95 percent of the time,\u201d said Keith Settle, owner of Northwest Structural Moving. \u201cUsually, it\u2019s going to be torn down. If it\u2019s in good enough shape or has historic value, then people have us move it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other reasons are a highway widening project or the home is in danger of flooding or other risks. Or maybe you have land, but don\u2019t want to build and prefer moving an existing house to your lot. Or landowners might decide to build a new home on their property and give away the existing house, which saves them high demolition costs and keeps the wreckage out of the landfill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve moved homes where people want to develop their land or there\u2019s a house on a site where they\u2019re going to build a shopping center,\u201d said Terry Emmert, president of Emmert International. \u201cWhen they built the Clackamas Promenade [shopping mall], we moved off 60 homes in 60 days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saving older homes <\/strong><\/p>\n

Ed Ahrens of Estacada, OR, is a retired remodeling contractor and has moved five homes using Emmert. His most recent was an Estacada home built in the 1930s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe library bought [an adjacent] lot and it had this really neat, old home and they were going to have the fire department burn it down,\u201d Ahrens said. \u201cI thought, \u2018Well, I have a lot better thing to do with it,\u2019 \u2026 so I hunted around town and found a piece of property just four blocks away.\u201d<\/p>\n

The house was recently moved and Ahrens plans to rent it out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m actually saving the library money, because tearing it down costs at least $10,000 to get rid of all of the materials and everything,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd this is the ultimate in recycling because you\u2019re taking an entire house and instead of just destroying all that work and materials somebody put into it, you\u2019re able to reuse it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"This
This house was donated to a cemetery as a caretaker’s residence, but first it had to be relocated.<\/b><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finding a new lot<\/strong><\/p>\n

Portland architect Brett Schulz<\/a> has worked with house movers for several clients \u2013 including helping facilitate a move of a three-story home in Portland as well as the move of a home that was donated to the Oswego\u00a0Pioneer Cemetery in Lake Oswego, OR, to be used as a caretaker\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s currently working on a move for himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI design apartment buildings and often there are houses on the sites that are in pretty good shape \u2013 just in the wrong place at the wrong time,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve got a really nice 1,500-square-foot foot house that this developer was planning on deconstructing. I said, \u2018I\u2019ll take it off your hands if I can find a site nearby,\u2019 so I\u2019m out there hunting \u2026 The question is how much will you have to pay for a lot? … But it will work for me if I can get the land at the right price.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Another
Another home transported by Northwest Structural Moving.<\/b><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How much does a move cost?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every job is different, Settle said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people think the distance is what makes it expensive, but it isn\u2019t really,\u201d Settle said.<\/p>\n

Settle said it is circumventing actual obstacles between points A and B that add up, namely overhead power lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cUtility costs kill more housing-moving projects than anything,\u201d Settle said.<\/p>\n

Utility companies will raise the wires for houses higher than one story, but it\u2019s expensive. Larger homes can actually be cut, but that also increases the price.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to know where you\u2019re going to go to run the route to make sure we have the clearance to get there,\u201d Emmert said.<\/p>\n

In some cases, Emmert said they have even cut homes in half to make transport possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve also taken a two-story home — and where the wire bills would be too expensive — actually loaded the house, lifted the second story off the first story, moved it, and put the second story on top of the first story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emmert said the average move is between $20,000 and $40,000, adding that things like brick veneer and fireplaces add to the cost. \u201cIt will also be more if you\u2019re going to build a basement or if you have difficult sites or terrains. But the majority of the time, it\u2019s certainly economically feasible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Schulz
Schulz helped prepare for the move of this house in Portland.<\/b><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What steps are involved?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Step one:<\/strong> Find a new lot and obtain necessary city permits.<\/p>\n

Step two: <\/strong>Hire a structural expert to make sure the house is safe to move. <\/strong>You may also need to hire contractors to remove wiring and plumbing before the move and also set it back up at the new lot.<\/p>\n

Step three: <\/strong>The mover plans the route and lines up escorts. <\/strong>While a mover’s equipment can lift any size house, if the drive to the new site has obstacles like\u00a0railroad\u00a0crossings, big trees, overpasses or utility lines, it can cause difficulties. The mover must work with each municipality that the house will pass through to obtain necessary moving permits and work with utility companies.<\/p>\n

Step four: <\/strong>Prepare the home for the move. While the mover has a lot to do, believe it or not, the homeowner has very little.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Portland house is carefully transported to a new lot.<\/b><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cJust clear everything out of the basement. Upstairs you don\u2019t have to do anything,\u201d Emmert said. \u201cYou can leave everything in your home. I would tell you to take things off your fireplace mantel and off the wall. But we\u2019ve jacked up many homes with all of the furniture in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Step five<\/strong>: The mover detaches the home from the foundation. They put in steel beams to replace the support that\u2019s there.<\/p>\n

Step six: <\/strong>They jack up the house using hydraulic jacks, load it onto the transport equipment and transport it to the new lot.<\/p>\n

Step seven: <\/strong>They excavate the lot. (They\u2019ll also dig a basement if you want).<\/p>\n

\"The
The three-story house in Portland was successfully moved to its new lot.<\/b><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Step eight: <\/strong>They pour the new foundation and lower the house into place using jacks, allowing it to settle in its new site.<\/p>\n

Step nine: <\/strong>They remove the steel beams inserted during step five.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Watching a house being transported down the road on a massive truck is quite a sight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":1297,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-moving"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMoving an entire house sounds impossible, here is how it's done<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/moving-an-entire-house\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Moving an entire house sounds impossible, here is how it's done\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Watching a house being transported down the road on a massive truck is quite a sight.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/moving-an-entire-house\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SelfStorage.com Moving Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-30T04:00:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-12T21:35:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/10-25-08-087.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"690\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"518\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Liz Wolf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Liz Wolf\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Moving an entire house sounds impossible, here is how it's done","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/moving-an-entire-house\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Moving an entire house sounds impossible, here is how it's done","og_description":"Watching a house being transported down the road on a massive truck is quite a sight.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/moving-an-entire-house\/","og_site_name":"SelfStorage.com Moving Blog","article_published_time":"2016-03-30T04:00:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-12T21:35:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":690,"height":518,"url":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/10-25-08-087.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Liz Wolf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Liz Wolf","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/moving-an-entire-house\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/moving-an-entire-house\/"},"author":{"name":"Liz Wolf","@id":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4d19cf8849623884067bd4549100a0b8"},"headline":"Moving an entire house sounds impossible, here is how it’s done","datePublished":"2016-03-30T04:00:31+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-12T21:35:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/moving-an-entire-house\/"},"wordCount":1259,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/moving-an-entire-house\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/10-25-08-087.jpg","articleSection":["Moving"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/moving-an-entire-house\/","url":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/moving-an-entire-house\/","name":"Moving an entire house sounds impossible, here is how it's done","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/moving-an-entire-house\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/moving-an-entire-house\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/10-25-08-087.jpg","datePublished":"2016-03-30T04:00:31+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-12T21:35:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4d19cf8849623884067bd4549100a0b8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/moving-an-entire-house\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/moving-an-entire-house\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/moving-an-entire-house\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/10-25-08-087.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/10-25-08-087.jpg","width":690,"height":518},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/moving-an-entire-house\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Moving an entire house sounds impossible, here is how it’s done"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/","name":"SelfStorage.com Moving Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4d19cf8849623884067bd4549100a0b8","name":"Liz Wolf","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b076b7c5a54bcf26bb2ec48a84f17650068ed0ef90072954fc2bdf9d923e016?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b076b7c5a54bcf26bb2ec48a84f17650068ed0ef90072954fc2bdf9d923e016?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b076b7c5a54bcf26bb2ec48a84f17650068ed0ef90072954fc2bdf9d923e016?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Liz Wolf"},"url":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/author\/liz-wolf\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfstorage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}