If you are on a tightest budget and even building your own house is too much for your pocket, there is another way. You can buy a block of land and relocate someone else’s house – how’s that for an idea?
The advantages are obvious – it’s cheaper than building a new house (you can save up to 50%), it’s faster – removal can be finished within a couple of weeks, and often the quality is better because many of the older houses were built using higher quality materials than those used today.
Apparently there are many people who sell the houses they own for removals - to avoid paying demolishing costs. I saw several houses for sale in the Trading post (http://www.tradingpost.com.au) for $1000 – $2000, plus the removal of a house costs, about $30000 - $35000. The way it is done, you hire a removal company and they handle everything – remove the roof, cut the house in sections of transportable size and then move the house to your site where they install and re-join it, as well as put a new roof over it.
Here is a couple of links to house removal/relocation companies I found:
http://www.khr.com.au/relocating
http://www.drakehomes.com.au
http://www.davidwright.com.au
Isn’t it amazing how much creative thinking can save you?
Update: this post has made it to the Home Improvement Carnival.
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Home Improvement Carnival - December 30, 2008…
Welcome to the December 30, 2008 edition of home improvement carnival.
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This is a great way to save money. I have even heard of some cases where they pay you to take the house. They still pay less than the cost of demolition and hauling.
I think this is a fantastic idea. I am guessing however that the type of homes that can be moved are wooden ones? I live in the UK and the vast majority of homes are made from brick. Is it possible to move brick houses in this way?
No actually moving a brick home can be done. The main problem with brick homes is that they can crack in transit and then you need to worry about repairing / replacing the damaged bricks. I know that in the US there are companies that specialize in moving brick homes, not too sure about the UK - if you find them, I’d love to know too.
Thanks for sharing such a useful information.
I was just wondering… What if the house contains some asbestos material in roofing, can it be moved also?
There are companies that specialize in handling asbestos, and it probably will be more expensive to move such a home, not impossible though.