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Thread: The costs of moving a workshop

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
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    Kensington, Maryland
    Posts
    274

    The costs of moving a workshop

    Hello all,

    As a person who has dabbled in woodworking for a long time, but am only now (in my fifties) getting a little more serious about it, I am slowly acquiring larger and heavier power tools. My wife and I think it is quite likely that we will be relocating when we retire in the not too distant future. I worry a bit about the cost of relocating all of these tools. I have never had a lot of "stuff" before in our previous moves, but looking around my shop it is clear that this is no longer true. So for example, right now I am considering an upgrade from a benchtop lathe to a heavy freestanding lathe. This tool alone weighs about 500 lbs.

    The simple question behind all of this: for anyone who is (or is considering) moving a shop full of heavy tools to a new location, is it cost prohibitive? Are there some things to keep in mind before digging the hole deeper?

    Any thoughts appreciated.

    --dan
    Last edited by Dan Gaylin; 04-20-2020 at 10:47 PM.

  2. #2
    When I was younger, would not have thought much about it, but in my late 60's, don't want to have to move. Took me quite a while to get my machine layout just right, and my DC setup the best way. Let alone, getting the shop fixed up to suit me. When I was young, would load a heavy table saw in my truck by myself, just tilt it in and slide it on the rear bar, no way I could do that now.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Fairbanks, Alaska
    Posts
    158
    Dan I wouldn’t sweat it. If you don’t want to move it yourself, hire some movers. I’ve moved my shop twice, and helped the neighbor move his. Skid steer with forks makes the move trivial, but an engine hoist will do as well albeit much slower.
    Cheers
    Sean

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Location
    Hoschton, Georgia
    Posts
    116
    I suppose it depends on how far you are moving and can you move most of the stuff yourself. At least the smaller stuff. If you have to hire movers, it's going to be expensive. I haven't moved in 22 years and I don't think it's going to happen again. The wife is pretty entrenched here.

  5. #5
    How far you're moving will affect the answer. Interstate moves are based on weight, and the farther you're going the more it will cost. Local moves may be priced by the hour, so the heavy machines won't add tremendously to the cost. I went through a similar thought process beginning about 15 years ago. I had another limiting factor though - my "workshop" was half a 2 car garage, and I had to put a car in that space during the winter. Our plan was to move across the country when I retired, so the cost of moving machines would have been quite high, and there was no practical way to move them myself. Because I had limited space and time for woodworking while I was still working, I decided to hold off on buying most of the heavy machines I wanted. I retired about two years ago, and the total household moving cost worked out to be about a dollar a pound in round numbers - the machines I've bought since then would have added a couple thousand dollars to the total cost.

  6. #6
    Yeah, about 500k pounds of stuff, took 3 months, still not set back up after a year.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Modesto, CA, USA
    Posts
    9,879
    Consider buying a one trip container and loading it at your pace. Then hire someone to haul it to you new place. It becomes a shed at the new house or it gets sold to the next sucker.
    My plan is to load a lot of stuff on pallets and Gaylord boxes on pallets. Buy a pallet jack and rent a truck with a lift gate. My lathe weighs 1750 pounds so it will go by itself in the back of a pickup just the way I brought it home.
    Bill d
    Last edited by Bill Dufour; 04-21-2020 at 1:42 AM.

  8. #8
    U-Haul has a feature online were you can rent the truck and also hire a crew in city (A) to load it and a different crew in city (B) to unload it. All you do it drive the truck between homes. I moved my shop this way five years ago. If you have some super heavy monster tools, I'd advise using pallets and a pallet jack.

  9. Dan since you don't say how far you are likely to move or whether you are willing to do any of the moving yourself it is hard to answer. My last move I moved 1000 miles myself with only a little assistance with the shop portion. I made a few trips over a month or so to move the household and shop. We had 38 years of accumulated stuff to deal with. I didn't have too much of a shop at that point, mostly bench top tools and a 14" delta bandsaw, but I did have to move it all from a basement shop with a narrow awkward stairwell. I have since moved a full complement of stuff into my two car garage sized shop and would say that loading and unloading a truck or container would be pretty easy with a pallet jack if there is good ground level access via a concrete driveway or walkway. When/if I do it again I am not sure if I will move everything myself or not, but I think I am still inclined to move the shop myself even If i decide to use movers to move the household.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,685
    There are quite a few threads here at SMC from over the years about moving shop. Some folks have used it as an opportunity for upgrades, unloading some tools before moving and buying new ones after arriving at their destination. Some folks do the move themselves; some hire a mover or rigger, depending on the nature of their shop and equipment, the distance of the move, etc.

    There's a good chance I'll be looking at the same here in a couple year or so once Professor Dr. SWMBO decides to retire. This property is large and requires a lot of work to maintain. Moving my shop is a given...and I do have big stuff. For that reason, I'll need professionals involved.
    Last edited by Jim Becker; 04-21-2020 at 12:39 PM.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Location
    Kensington, Maryland
    Posts
    274
    Everyone: thanks for all of the helpful replies. This really helped me get my head around it -- like anything else, there are always options and you can make it work.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Location
    Piercefield, NY
    Posts
    1,659
    I am looking at moving my shop 125 miles in a year or two, but I don't have anything super heavy and I should be able to do the move with a 5x8 trailer with a ramp that rides pretty low to the ground. My biggest awkward load will be an 18" Jet bandsaw, but I moved it in by myself with a hand truck so I expect I can move it out the same way. I put wooden taller legs on my Shopsmith so I'll have to either find a helper to lift that with me or take the head off, but either way should be pretty easy. I have a SuperMax 19-38 on a plywood cabinet but it's on casters so I should be able to roll it into the trailer.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    Lebanon, TN
    Posts
    1,719
    It can seems a bit daunting, the thought of moving heavy stuff, but it's nots so difficult.

    You can rent vans/truck and help when needed.

    We had moved 5 times, as corporate moves to different States, so no cost to us other than the inconvenience.

    In 2015, we retired and decided to move from Dallas TX to just outside Nashville TN, 700 miles.

    I had a decent number of woodworking tools, plus a 8 motorcycles and a lot of stuff that goes along with them.

    I bought an enclosed trailer and moved everything myself, the whole 5000sq/ft house of furniture and all my garage stuff.

    It took me 14 round trips. I could drive from TN to Dallas in 11 hours, spend the night, load up my trailer, about 3-4 hours, and drive back. Each trip was 2 days.

    For the heavy items, I enlisted a couple of friends on each end to help, but I found most of the stuff I could do myself.

    Being retired, I had time on my hands, but not an income. Yes I put 20K miles on my truck, but I don't drive much and still only have 64K miles on it after 5 years and I just put new tires on at 63.5K.

    So don't let it scare you.

  14. #14
    Last year with a moving company I moved a basement shop full of heavy tools, no problem. I'm very glad that I didn't have to lug everything up my narrow exterior stairs!

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,685
    One very important thing relative to using movers, etc...do NOT rely on the default insurance coverage. It's by the pound. You need to declare value for everything that's important and that includes your tools. Also, when you box the smaller items up, don't write directly on the box what's inside. Setup a code system that you can cross reference from a list that stays in your possession. That can help reduce theft issues with movers, especially if it's long distance and involves time and/or storage.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

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