I have a block of land at Ravenshoe, and have been considering a "buy-and-relocate" house for it. There are occasionally nice old Queenslanders advertised for removal pretty cheaply (the obvious caveats such as termites would apply), although they would usually need a fair bit of reno. Looking at house relocator web sites one gets the idea that relocating the right house to the right location would not be too traumatic. Has anyone had first-hand experience of doing this, and can you offer some advice?
Buy-and-relocate house
- Thread starter Tikor
- Start date
Tikor,
First and foremost ring up the local council and ask what
requirements are in place for removals in your area, most require
new elecs,plumbing,the same as normal building codes,
imho even if you find a house for free by the time you add up all the
costs to complete to lock up it will cost up to 60 to 80k and thats if
you own the property..
good luck
willair..
First and foremost ring up the local council and ask what
requirements are in place for removals in your area, most require
new elecs,plumbing,the same as normal building codes,
imho even if you find a house for free by the time you add up all the
costs to complete to lock up it will cost up to 60 to 80k and thats if
you own the property..
good luck
willair..
Hi Tikor,
I have not done this, however, I have been doing some research only recently into this. As willair mentioned I first called the local council and asked some questions. At that stage I was only really interested in finding out if I could do it with regards to the land that I had so I didnt really get that many details. I spoke to the town planner.
I then spoke with a builder who came out to the site and we had a chat. I also contacted two home removal companies and spoke with them. I inspected two houses ready for removal. I also spoke with another builder who had actually done his own place, only he went up so that he gained legal head height to build under the house. I also had a discussion about it to a real-estate agent who new a bit about it. So that was my source of information. Here’s what I found out.
- Pretty well all the amounts came in around the same mark around the 30 - 40K to get the house on the block (3 bed low set) and stumped. However, these were "a round about that much"
- If you want the house high set it will cost considerably more
- After moving the house you need to consider, plumbing, wiring (often they need to be re-wired), reconnection of power and mains. Stairs front and back painting and renovations etc
- You need to engage an engineer to draw up the designs etc and get council permission
- In the area where I was thinking of doing this there was also a requirement for a wind rating
- Once the house has been moved it is then considered a new house. This means that aspects of the house will need to adhere to the building code of the day. This can be far reaching so you may want to check this out. The builder who raised his house was telling me that he had quite a time with this aspect of things. For example he had numerous building inspections. Some of the things that were picked up and had to be changed were things like, he had hot and cold water taps around the wrong way. These had to be swapped, the hand rail running down the steps was not the correct width so he had to correct that. He said there were many things.
However, when I spoke with the house removal guy he said that he had never had those sorts of issues.
- if the house is over 8m wide they need to cut it in half
- When they cut the house they literally grab a saw and cut their way through anything in the way (or so I have been told)
I have bits and pieces of other information if you want me to go into more detail then let me know.
I have not fully researched it myself. But from what I did the costs can go up quite a bit. In saying all of this however, I still think it can work, however, I believe it would be quite a job.
Another useful point is that I started to see that the houses that removal companies have are a little more expensive than locating your own and then getting that moved.
Cheers,
Panda
I have not done this, however, I have been doing some research only recently into this. As willair mentioned I first called the local council and asked some questions. At that stage I was only really interested in finding out if I could do it with regards to the land that I had so I didnt really get that many details. I spoke to the town planner.
I then spoke with a builder who came out to the site and we had a chat. I also contacted two home removal companies and spoke with them. I inspected two houses ready for removal. I also spoke with another builder who had actually done his own place, only he went up so that he gained legal head height to build under the house. I also had a discussion about it to a real-estate agent who new a bit about it. So that was my source of information. Here’s what I found out.
- Pretty well all the amounts came in around the same mark around the 30 - 40K to get the house on the block (3 bed low set) and stumped. However, these were "a round about that much"
- If you want the house high set it will cost considerably more
- After moving the house you need to consider, plumbing, wiring (often they need to be re-wired), reconnection of power and mains. Stairs front and back painting and renovations etc
- You need to engage an engineer to draw up the designs etc and get council permission
- In the area where I was thinking of doing this there was also a requirement for a wind rating
- Once the house has been moved it is then considered a new house. This means that aspects of the house will need to adhere to the building code of the day. This can be far reaching so you may want to check this out. The builder who raised his house was telling me that he had quite a time with this aspect of things. For example he had numerous building inspections. Some of the things that were picked up and had to be changed were things like, he had hot and cold water taps around the wrong way. These had to be swapped, the hand rail running down the steps was not the correct width so he had to correct that. He said there were many things.
However, when I spoke with the house removal guy he said that he had never had those sorts of issues.
- if the house is over 8m wide they need to cut it in half
- When they cut the house they literally grab a saw and cut their way through anything in the way (or so I have been told)
I have bits and pieces of other information if you want me to go into more detail then let me know.
I have not fully researched it myself. But from what I did the costs can go up quite a bit. In saying all of this however, I still think it can work, however, I believe it would be quite a job.
Another useful point is that I started to see that the houses that removal companies have are a little more expensive than locating your own and then getting that moved.
Cheers,
Panda
Last edited:
Removal
Hi Tikor
Just to add to the thread, I totally agree the Council will be a big factor, as will your own skills. If you need to pay full tote to do reno's I sincerely doubt its any better than building new. But depends on what the property is for, if you can live in while you do reno's etc. If its for a rental maybe you want new to get the better depreciation allowance ?
I bought a what looked like a decent queenslander in early 90's for $3K, plus $17K for a double shift to Bribie Island.
The completed project cost $70K total (not including $30K bond that the Council held till I got final approval) - from memory the extras were :
- rewired
- replumbed
- full repaint in and out
- re-tile bathroom
- new vanity
- replacement front stairs and rails
- re-polish floors (council requirement)
- replace kitchen
- fix dodgy roof section
- battens around perimeter (council)
- refloor front deck
- replace lounge window (dodgy)
- septic system ($6k back in those days)
- paving at rear
it just all adds up
)
After swearing never to do another removal, I have done the sums again a couple of times. I believe a single shift, solid, with original VJ's and the nice features, with salvageable kit and bath, and good floors ready for polishing, could be a cheap move, if you don't need a big house. Less pitfalls in a single shift, even tho' the good removers can put the others back together seamlessly (still prob need the replumb / rewire etc by Council). Alternatively the massive 4-5 shift original Queenslanders "probably" work out cheaper than new replacement, so long as they're in good nick.
However I was told there are prob 2-3 house removers in the whole of Brisbane area worth using, who know what they are doing (from a list of maybe 30 ?) I used one who wasn't on the list of 2-3 and it was pretty disastrous. Less QBSA protection, more grey areas etc. Choice of remover and references are super important in my experience
Good luck in your investigations
Cheers
tryHard
Hi Tikor
Just to add to the thread, I totally agree the Council will be a big factor, as will your own skills. If you need to pay full tote to do reno's I sincerely doubt its any better than building new. But depends on what the property is for, if you can live in while you do reno's etc. If its for a rental maybe you want new to get the better depreciation allowance ?
I bought a what looked like a decent queenslander in early 90's for $3K, plus $17K for a double shift to Bribie Island.
The completed project cost $70K total (not including $30K bond that the Council held till I got final approval) - from memory the extras were :
- rewired
- replumbed
- full repaint in and out
- re-tile bathroom
- new vanity
- replacement front stairs and rails
- re-polish floors (council requirement)
- replace kitchen
- fix dodgy roof section
- battens around perimeter (council)
- refloor front deck
- replace lounge window (dodgy)
- septic system ($6k back in those days)
- paving at rear
it just all adds up
) After swearing never to do another removal, I have done the sums again a couple of times. I believe a single shift, solid, with original VJ's and the nice features, with salvageable kit and bath, and good floors ready for polishing, could be a cheap move, if you don't need a big house. Less pitfalls in a single shift, even tho' the good removers can put the others back together seamlessly (still prob need the replumb / rewire etc by Council). Alternatively the massive 4-5 shift original Queenslanders "probably" work out cheaper than new replacement, so long as they're in good nick.
However I was told there are prob 2-3 house removers in the whole of Brisbane area worth using, who know what they are doing (from a list of maybe 30 ?) I used one who wasn't on the list of 2-3 and it was pretty disastrous. Less QBSA protection, more grey areas etc. Choice of remover and references are super important in my experience
Good luck in your investigations
Cheers
tryHard
Last edited:
No idea
Hi Bill_L
I have never used the 2 or 3 who were mentioned to me so I can't prove or disprove that they are in fact better. I guess my point is the quality is very variable and caveat emptor.
I do however know the one I used was rubbish, but I won't risk mentioning them as it was over 10 years ago and I dare say they might have improved. I would hope so anyway.
My caution is to get valid references that check out if someone gets into one of these projects. As Tikor's project is at Ravenshoe I guess he won't be using any Brisbane based firms
Cheers
TryHard
Hi Bill_L
I have never used the 2 or 3 who were mentioned to me so I can't prove or disprove that they are in fact better. I guess my point is the quality is very variable and caveat emptor.
I do however know the one I used was rubbish, but I won't risk mentioning them as it was over 10 years ago and I dare say they might have improved. I would hope so anyway.
My caution is to get valid references that check out if someone gets into one of these projects. As Tikor's project is at Ravenshoe I guess he won't be using any Brisbane based firms
Cheers
TryHard
