Moving Suggestions

[mcglynnonmaking]

I’m considering a long distance relocation from Northern California to the Midwest.

I have about 1,600 sq feet of shop space that needs to be moved. Some of is it no big deal, things in roller cabinets or tools that can be boxed.

But there are a few challenging bits. Two non-running vehicles. Several gig, heavy tools. Shear, brake, giant wwii do all saw, south bend lathe, Cincinnati toolmaster mill with both horizontal and vertical heads, all the standard woodworking tools, pullmax, and more.

I don’t have a forklift or the capacity to move all this myself. It’s possible a moving company can handle most of it.

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Snip]

I was in the same place as you, mill, lathe, welders etc. I bought a used semi trailer to move our stuff. We picked up a retired but very useable Mayflower moving trailer, Loaded everything in the shop ( I was guessing 20k pounds ) and all of the household stuff and hired a "Power only" trucking company to hook and reload it to our new place. 1300 miles from Denver to here. Some of the bennies of this method is you get to load and unload at your own pace no deadline to return equipment, sell it when done for about what you paid for it.
As far as heavy shop equipment went I built pallets strong enough for each piece and hired a rigging company to put them in the trailer. I had a pallet jack on hand to place them where I wanted them in the trailer.
One benefit of the used moving van trailer was it had vertical E-Track thru-out so were able to build upper levels for use hold stuff freeing up the bottom for equipment. A regular 50 or 53" dry van would work also and can be picked up reasonable. You do have to be careful of what and where you locate items as the truck and trailer will have to meet weights. We got lucky and scaled at 78,800 (apparently I had more in the shop than I guessed) 80,000 is max on interstates.
This method might not be for everybody but it was the best option for us as you can only have about 10,500 payload in a Penski or U-Haul truck and would have taken us 4 trips to do what we did in one and a ton less expense.

 

[Snip]

I think we were about 2.25 a mile to move the trailer and the contents were insured by the carriers company.

 

[bri_man57]

I moved my garage stuff with abf/ u pack but I didn't quite a heavy equipment. If you're planning on hiring someone to load, and might not be best.

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

[kd3pc]

Unlike Snip, we just moved from Crossville, TN 700 miles to the Northern Neck of VA. Movers in Crossville moved it all, we packed - they loaded and unloaded. Just over $1 a pound with shop being a large part of the weight. More than I liked, but it was done and over in a long weekend. 1400 sqft house and 25x25 shop.

 

[930dreamer]

What about buying a container? I'm on the tail end of moving my 1600 sq ft shop to a larger shop. The ultimate solution is to be able to secure all the machinery so a forklift can load/unload. Also you want to secure the heavy items inside the container for a secure ride.

The non running vehicles will be a problem unless your planning on trailering them?

No moving company will move items that can't be picked up or dollied.

 

[Jackfre]

A mover will charge you based upon weight. Multiple quotes will show vast discrepancies in the weight estimates. Be careful in choosing here. When I moved from MA-CA the movers claimed a 40% weight overage based upon their own estimates. We settled for less but I more than made up for the difference with the attorney. So, have the discussion and understanding about the overweight side of things.

 

[38Chevy454]

ABF U-pack is a good way for heavy garage stuff. You rent the amount of trailer space, load it yourself and they haul it to your new place. You unload it. Won't work for the heavy equipment unless you can forklift up into trailer. U-pack is just distance, no weight fees, so you can load it with heavy stuff without any additional cost.
Do you have a car trailer? You will need that for the non-running cars. You might also use that for moving some of the big equipment. If you need to buy a trailer, get an enclosed, and you can likely sell it for close to what you paid. An enclosed car trailer has a low load height and a ramp you could use to help getting the equipment up into the trailer. Even an open trailer, you can get things ready on pallets and then rent or contract a forklift to load it. Tarp well for rain and make the trip.
You can haul a lot of the stuff in the truck pulling the trailer when you make the trips taking the cars and equipment. Doing the heavy stuff yourself will save a lot, as moving companies go by weight and distance. Tools, parts and equipment are all heavy items that will cost to ship if you do not do it yourself.

 

[matt_i]

An easy choice for machine tools is LTL shipping which is point-to-point without being transferred off the truck that it was originally loaded on.

You rent a forklift, load machines, trucker straps down & tarps, you drive or fly to destination, rent a forklift and unload it all into new building.

This requires some precision planning but it can be done. Typically construction rental can deliver rented forklifts to you so they have to be close but not right around the corner.

Other options are to buy your own mini version of above, gooseneck flatbed trailer and a towing vehicle can move quite a bit of stuff, but then you get to sweat all the miles between destinations, potentially a couple of times.

I moved my shop from GA to MI and it was a combination of a full-load semi truck, a couple of gooseneck trailer loads and a 24' box truck to get it all done. I had 2 forklifts already in inventory to assist the move.

 

[nadogail]

IMHO, purchasing a roadworthy used trailer makes a lot of sense.

 

[Stuart in MN]

The first thing is to be ruthless about getting rid of stuff that you really don't need to move. Is this a hobby shop or a business? I'm only guessing on this, but if it's a business it may be possible to take shipping costs into account when doing your taxes at the end of the year.

 

[pcmeiners]

In the same boat, only I have abo ut 45,000 bs to move …..

ABS u-pack 28 foot truck capacity is 22,500 lbs, you would need to rent a hi-lo both ends , bed height is stated as 48". You would need to pre weigh all items if you want to approach 22.5k lbs, (got a UPS scale off Ebay for under $40). They weigh the filled trailer at the ABS depot, they give you a chance to remove items , not sure if you can add items add items at the depot, sounds like you can if it is only a few items. You can lag bolt heavy stuff to the wooden floor bed, you can attach strapping to the walls, but this will not keep heavy stuff from moving without damaging the trailer walls. You need to supply your own insurance as the common carrier has very limited coverage. Unlikely your homeowners covers moving, storage or your move location. Trailer comes with a 2' wide , 14' aluminum ramp. I plan to us ABS, place 2x10s against the walls incase something shifts. Doors opening option are ro11-up or swing doors ( like a shipping container, very secure). You would need to check the trailer roof are leak proof before the trailer is delivered. You get a few days to fill, same to empty, you can pay extra days. It is a shame you can not get a trailer with a built in lift or a longer trailer. Monthly storage is prohibitively high, in NYC metro about $900/month. ABS costs seem reasonable considering the amount of weight, as it would require 2-3 U-haul truck (biggest truck) loads to move the same amount . Definitely a logistics challenge.

"An enclosed car trailer has a low load height and a ramp you could use to help getting the equipment up into the trailer"

Max weight around 4500 lbs for a single car trailer, unless you want to spend your life moving heavy equipment this will not do it.

 

[matt_i]

You can lag bolt heavy stuff to the wooden floor bed.

They allow you to drill the hardwood floor? Or you have to do it surreptitiously by drilling-out and plugging the holes later and dirty-ing them to match?

This is my full-load before it was tarped. I have some crates there for a ton of stuff, all independent plywood shelves inside supported from the edges and a center post. Biggest thing was inventorying all of it in case I got desperate somewhere and had to break out tools so I wasn't going willy-nilly.

A trick was how to get the last forklift moved. Its 11,500 lbs and past the 10k payload on my gooseneck trailer...so I wasn't going to drive in that condition for that for ~650 miles. I asked for a few favors and got access to a plant's loading dock and put the forklift as the last item on the tail end. Then in MI, after making arrangements, I got a favor from a Tractor Supply who let me offload using their loading dock and then GN trailered it the ~10 miles back home.

A person can also use Uship, I met one decent person and one complete and utter yahoo who I regretted dealing with, so I can't comment with a solid recommendation.

Another good tool is to makeup a spreadsheet and assign weights to everything, some are known, published, and others you have to guess at, but you'll reach a total., which can help guide your strategy in splitting it up into separate trips. Length and width can also help but its a little more complex but in general I used two 48" wide rows on the semi truck's bed.

It was around $3k as I recall, which works out to around 7.5 cents per lb.

 

[engineer2]

You're going to be popular with some of your technically-minded neighbors!

 

[Bigblockyeti]

We did an elective (not corporate funded) move from northern OH to SC and I had to divest myself of a 12" jointer, boat, boat motor, van, 25" planer, edge sander, multiple storage cabinets, 2 tablesaws, 2 bandsaws, drill press, shaper, lathe, overarm router, vacuums, clothes, motorcycle, furniture (trashed, donated & sold), grill, push mower, riding mower and that's just what I can remember. I made my first trip to my parents who graciously offered their garage as medium term storage with my van and the smallest enclosed uhaul trailer packed with yard and garden equipment in April. My second trip in June was my truck and trailer packed solid then headed back to OH with them (no trailer), packed it solid again and they took it down without me. I rented a storage unit in OH for my shop equipment that I couldn't yet take down and I was only pretty sure would be a single trip with my truck and trailer once I had a defined destination. Late July a severely overloaded 26' Budget rental truck with my wifes G6 on a trailer behind (packed beyond solid) were on the way to SC. It was quite an endeavor getting on the road as the truck would only go 56mph on flat ground so the WV turnpike was a nightmare. Staying on the road proved difficult too as the accelerator pedal assembly was on the fritz putting an underpowered truck into limp mode where it literally wouldn't move up a 5% grade. It managed to "fix" itself after 10-15 minutes on the side of the road each of the ~17 times it failed but required an unplanned night in a hotel before we even made it to VA. My nerves were totally frayed just getting the truck packed and having a scrapper haul off a bunch of stuff I really didn't want to part with. The truck failing only made things much worse but it was better the day after the pedal assembly was fixed only to be followed by rain during the unload into a nasty sight unseen storage rental (that we later found out had a leaking roof). Then refueling the truck, returning it and heading 1.5 hours to my parents. It was a brutal experience I wouldn't wish on anyone, to top it off, I didn't know if I needed to stop at the weigh stations so I did at ever one and the 0-50mph on that truck took a calendar to measure.

If you need any additional information on what not to do, let me know.

 

[pcmeiners]

"They allow you to drill the hardwood floor? "


Matt_I you really have heavy stuff, all my heavy items are under 1500 lbs, most under 800 lbs.

Went down to ABS and asked, I told them it would be used to keep heavy equipment from shifting, they seem to have no issue with lagging loads down. Guess it beats getting a material shift, taking out 28' of aluminum wall. Besides, pre drilling for a lag is a small hole, once the lags are removed, it would leave a small hole. Sanded and a little plastic wood would make it almost disappear. Most of what I have will only require 2x4 chocks nailed to the truck bed.


"Another good tool is to makeup a spreadsheet and assign weights to everything,"

Spreadsheet help a lot. I have a few hundred boxes, numbered and weighed and contents described in a spreadsheet.
Issue I have, many large/heavy tems I have I could not get an accurate weight, many manufacturers give wild questimates or do not designate weights as NET weight or shipping weight.

Another positive of a spreadsheet. If you hire a moving company and pack boxes yourself, with a number and weight the moving guys do not knw what is in the boxes. In NYC, they steal what they want, this makes it more difficult.

 

[kbs2244]

the most creative idea I saw at a rest stop.
I talked to the guy.
he bought a school bus and packed it himself
it was his second trip and he had the bus sold already to someone who saw him on the first trip

 

[mcglynnonmaking]

Just to come back to this question….fast forward almost two years and the move is all well behind me. Ultimately getting all my stuff from NorCal to Missouri was a combination of different approaches.

Since we had to get a fair amount of household and shop goods out before we could list our house for sale we filled up three PODS, packed literally to the maximum weight limit. The first picture shows the pod truck so loaded that the tire is bulging and the suspension is nearly bottomed out. The PODS got most of the shop supplies, the hand held power tools and smaller stationary tools.



After filling two PODS I was looking for how to ship my long term custom Studebaker pickup project. Enclosed transport and storage until we actually arrived in Missouri and bought another house (completely unknown timeline) was a tough one to crack, so I got the third POD and put the studebaker in it, along with more junk.



Dealing with the heavy stuff was more problematic. Our house in California was up a steep, twisty road in the Santa Cruz mountains. I hired a rigger to move the stuff and store it in their warehouse until we had a new place. They had to make three trips with a smaller truck/trailer to extricate my machinery, shuttling it to a larger semi that was parked in town 2 miles away. It sat in their warehouse for about 8 months until we found a house and got enough of the shop finished to get it delivered. Everything was shipped on one conestoga, and I hired a local rigger to unload it here. All of that was exactly as relaxing and cheap as you would expect.


We also hired “Best Moving” — THE ABSOLUTE WORST, SHADY, RIP-OFF MOVING COMPANY — to move the rest of our junk That didn’t fit in the PODS. They raised the price the day of the move by a lot, and we had no options left as we had to be out that day. They also broke and lost a bunch of stuff. Long, horrible tale that I won’t bore you with.

finally, we loaded the road trip essentials into our minivan and a rented Ford Transit and headed out.


In the end it all worked out, but there were plenty of bumps along the way. it wouldn’t have been possible without all of the support and collaboration from my wife. The new house is amazing, and the new shop is *almost* operational…but that’s a different story.

 

[loganb]

Congrats on getting it done! Don't think anyone is ever smooth sailing but glad it's over and the new shop looks great! What part of the Show Me state did you end up in?

 

[mcglynnonmaking]

Congrats on getting it done! Don't think anyone is ever smooth sailing but glad it's over and the new shop looks great! What part of the Show Me state did you end up in?

Thanks, I’m sure this isn’t easy for anyone.

we are in St. Francois County, near Farmington, about an hour south of St. Louis. I grew up in St. Louis and have family there…being closer to family was one of the objective.

 

[nadogail]

Ben Franklin has been quoted "Three moves are as bad as a Fire.

 

[pcmeiners]

With my move I ended up not using ABF, I wanted them to store my stuff for a couple months but $1000 a month is too much for storage in a yard, non heated.
I went with a Penske 28 ft truck with a lift gate, made it so much easier than renting a HiLo on both ends; for temporary storage I rented a 20ft container for $89.00/month . At the time the truck rental through Home Depot was reasonable, Approx $380/day, with insurance, plus mileage about $.50 and gas. Ended up making 3 trips. Truck weight limit believe was 18000 lbs.

"Ben Franklin has been quoted "Three moves are as bad as a Fire."

If I were to move again, first I would volunteraly commit myself for observation, then have a big fire if released.

 

[matt_i]

Congrats on surviving it....I think you did a lot better than that (!!)

I was impressed by the squashed tire on the Pod truck...I don't think they typically have that kind of load

 

[Snapped-off]

Can't imagine the cost for all that. I was looking at 7-10k just to rent a truck to leave California...

3k to ship 2 of my cars.

 

[Masaden]

Hey Guys!

I am going to move to another country for the first time soon. Share your tips on how to make this process easier.

 

[cvairwerks]

Hey Guys!

I am going to move to another country for the first time soon. Share your tips on how to make this process easier.

With there being 194 countries other than the US, it's sort of a overly broad question. How about from where in the US to where else in the world?

 

[nadogail]

Ben Franklin has been quoted "Three moves are as bad as a Fire.

I can say that he was correct.

 

[Metal-Marc]

Hey Guys!

I am going to move to another country for the first time soon. Share your tips on how to make this process easier.

Tip #1 - Start your own thread with an aproperiate tittle. You'll have more replies than reviving an old thread.

 

[scfoxman]

I had a pretty big task moving my workshop to the Midwest, heavy machines and all. Definitely not a one-person job. Before calling in the cavalry, I hopped onto https://threemovers.com/info-guide/ to get a ballpark figure on what it might cost me.

The guide that threw out some approximate numbers, which is great for budgeting. Decided to bring them on board for the move and, honestly, it was a solid decision. They’re experts in dealing with the big, heavy stuff and tailored their services for moving workshops. The crew was professional, and the gear got to the new place without a hitch.

 

[nadogail]

Having Professional Riggers load your gear can be very helpful.