Expert: Richard Taylor, AIA - 11/19/2006

Question
Dear Richard,
I am a Realtor. I have a company who is in the process of purchasing one of my listing just for the land. I had a buyer who came to late to purchase the home. Should the company agree to let me move the house, is this worth it?
What are the costs associated with moving a house? What is a ball park estimate to have a foundation poured and all the plumbing and etc put in? Considering a lot may cost 90-100K and let's say they sell the home for 1K.  
What all do I need to calculate to see if this is worth the investment.
Thanks!
Ruby Nieuwendam

Answer
Good Morning Ruby - thanks for your question!

A very, very rounded figure for moving an average-sized house a short distance is about $20,000.  This doesn't include any work at the new site and the cost can easily double if there are utility lines, bridges, difficult grades, etc. between the old and new locations.

You can get a much better figure by contacting a house moving company in your area and having them give you a quote.

There are way too many variables to give any kind of estimate on foundation costs - size, type, soil, slope of lot, etc. - without seeing the site.  You need to find a local contractor to work with on this.

But I'll throw out some VERY round figures for you anyway!  Considering that in many locations the construction cost of the house is about 4X the cost of the lot, you're talking about a $380,000 house more or less.  Foundation costs run about 9% or so for a TYPICAL foundation on a TYPICAL lot in MY part of the country.  So you might have $35,000 in building a foundation.

Rough plumbing (no fixtures) might be about 5% so you should expect at least $20,000 to get that done.

Of course you already know that none of this might be worthwhile if the house you're moving doesn't fit the character and price level of the new neighborhood.

Bottom line is that in most cases you'll save significantly by moving a house - but that's just costs, not the value.  The value equation is your specialty!

Hope this helps!

Richard Taylor, AIA
Richard Taylor Architects, LLC
www.rtastudio.com
www.rtaplans.com