Moving home can be cost saver

By KRISTY EPPLEY RUPON 

of "The State" Newspaper (South Carolina) - October 15, 2006

Picture courtesy of TIM DOMINICK/TDOMINICK@THESTATE.COM

When some people move, they take the house with them. Billy Ward, who, along with his brother-in-law Haney Hancock, owns AABC House Moving in Camden, moved a house in Boykin about three miles on Wednesday.

Donnette Taylor and her husband, Jerry Cupstid, planned to build a new home on South Beltline Boulevard when they bought a lot there six months ago.

Instead, they have a 1,200-square-foot house sitting on wood piers 14 feet in the air.

The house used to sit three or four miles away on South Holly Street. But the owner just wanted the lot, and that gave Taylor an opportunity — to save $100,000.

She bought the house and had it moved and elevated and plans to build a first floor underneath it — doubling its size and adding a two-car garage by the end of the year.

A house that size would have cost about $250,000 to build, she says. Between buying and moving the existing house and adding the first floor, Taylor and Cupstid are only going to spend about $150,000.

“I’ll do it again if I have the opportunity,” she says. “This is the way to go.”

People move houses for a variety of reasons: as an investment, to protect historical or family structures or to make way for progress.

“There are so many different reasons,” says Billy Ward, who owns AABC House Moving in Camden, a 60-year-old family business. “We’ve moved brand-new homes over 100 feet because they’ve put it on the wrong property line.”

The typical one-story house can be moved for $10,000 to $20,000 — far less than buying or building a new one, Ward says.

Ward moved a small, paid-for house in Boykin last week for $5,500. The homeowner will probably spend about $15,000 in renovations.

The same house, Ward says, would probably cost $80,000 to $100,000 to have built.

But house-hauling prices can go up depending on the size of the house and the difficulty of the route.

“Every house is different,” Ward says.

John Gibson has learned that lesson well. The Columbia real estate agent has moved nine historic homes to his neighborhood of Elmwood Park over the past 36 years — including one recently on Rembert Street.

“I got interested in architecture, and especially the Victorian architecture, when I was a child,” he says, “and just loved the intricate workmanship.”

His banker, he says with a smirk, wishes he would get another hobby.

But homes finally are selling for enough in Elmwood Park that Gibson can make a “very small” profit, he says, holding his thumb and forefinger half an inch apart.

But moving houses isn’t always just an expensive hobby. For example, when developers or government agencies want a house off a piece of property they plan to develop, they often sell it at a reduced price or sometimes even give it away.

Reach Rupon at (803) 771-8308.

PULLING UP STAKES

Moving a house takes a coordinated effort. Here’s how the process works:

• Once the house moving company gives the homeowner an estimated price, the house mover rides the route between the house’s current and future locations to make sure there aren’t any obstacles that can’t be overcome.

• The house mover must obtain state and county permits, and permit officers ride the route to check on it. They approve the move for certain times of the day and for a limited time frame. For example, in the city, moves are usually approved for late night or early morning to avoid traffic. Houses cannot be transported on interstate highways.

• The movers slide steel beams under the house and lift it, put wheels under it and hook it up to a truck.

• Then, it’s time to move it down the road to its new location.

• Once there, they lift it off the wheels and place it on wood piers until the foundation can be set.

• The whole process usually takes a couple of weeks, although it can be done in less time. The process of actually jacking up the house and getting it off the property takes a couple of days with a typical one-story house, double that for a bigger house.

• Houses can be cut in half and moved, but the price goes up. Lifting power lines and cables for a move and even going over railroad tracks also cost extra.

Source: Billy Ward, AABC House Moving