How to Move My Shop - Long Term Retirement Plans

[dgoddard]

I would like to retire in 2 years. I don't know where I am going yet, but GO I WILL! I figure that the nearest likely place is at least 500 miles. So How do I move a shop without ending up in the poor house ?

My shop is rather modest now; 2800 lb Lagun 10x54 mill , 1100 lb 12x30 lathe, etc. Probably 4 tons total or thereabouts.

One plan I have toyed with is possibly building my new shop before I move and then move just one piece. This idea would be to build a suitable movable utility building and install stuff in it. A variant would be to build the utility building on a "cut down" mobile home frame to move it. Both of these schemes solve the problem of where do I put everything when I get there (because I would like to build my own retirement home)

Another plan is to try to find a trailer big enough to do the job and haul it myself (maybe multiple trips), although I would have to also come up with a suitable tow vehicle.

I have never come across any indication that I can get this stuff shipped for any reasonable price by haulers (but I don't assume that to be utterly impossible).

Surely someone else has done this and can offer suggestions.

[ctardi]

Very carefully! Should be able to get a moving company to do it for a fair price. Remember, it costs less to send a full truckload than half of one! You might also look into a NAFTL? shipper. They ship items that arn't quite a full truck load by finding trucking companies that have to make the trip anyways, with a partially full truck.

[Harold_V]

We moved 800 miles when I retired. We purchased three used containers, one 40', two 20', in which we placed all our belongings. You can hire a carrier to haul containers, but it involves hiring a crane at each end to load and unload the truck(s). It's a lot of work, but an excellent way to move, because it provides the necessary storage while you're building. That may not work if you move to a city lot, however. They may very well have restrictions on the placement of such containers. Where we live there are no such restrictions, and it's perfectly legal to live in a travel trailer while building, which is what we did while we built the shop.

We now reside in the shop while we're building the house. It's equipped with a bathroom with a tiled shower and a room that serves quite well as a kitchen, including an exhaust fan over the hot plate (propane fired). We have the washer and dryer set up for use as well. We heat hydronically, and have a built in vacuum cleaner system, so it's quite comfortable and clean, in spite of the fact that the floor is concrete.

I had figured on selling the large container after it was unloaded, but realized that it is a cheap outbuilding. Considering we live out in the country, on wooded land, where it's completely out of sight, it now resides behind my shop, and the two 20' containers are on a common foundation and house my tractor and fork lift. We have built a permanent roof over the two containers and will eventually side them, so they'll look like a nice garage, nothing more. I use the 40' one for storage of all kinds and wouldn't be without it. Selling it is not a consideration now.

My wife and I have done all the building aside from concrete work. The shop is 32' x 80' with 12' ceilings, and the house, which is about half finished, is roughly 2,800 square feet with a full basement and a double garage.

It has taken us a long time to get this far, but we have done almost the entire project without help--------although one of the readers on the Chaski board, along with his wife, stopped by one day and gave us a very welcome hand in placing roof trusses.

Make sure you're up to the task of building. It's a long, hard grind, but very rewarding.

Harold

[icemaker]

Harold,

Are these shipping containers, like used on cargo ships? Can you give me an idea of what the range of cost is for these and where you find them for sale? Also, I assume that when you buy these you need to have a trucking company to haul them to your place (empty) and have a crane to unload them. How expensive is that? How much does an empty container weigh?

I have just changed jobs and don't relish the thought of moving my shop. For now, I will just commute on the weekends and keep my shop where it is, but in a few years I will have to relocate. But I may need to move again in another few years, and then one more time when I retire. The container idea might be a good approach. I suppose I could even consider building a few mini-shops into individual containers. Put the lathe and mill in one, the welding equipment in another, etc. I guess it all depends on the cost.

When you put your stuff in for the move, did you weld anchor bolts to the floor and bolt your machinery down, or use some other means to ensure that it didn't move around in transit?

Best Regards, Bill

[Thomas]

Hello Bill there are trailers made to load and unload these containers that don'tneed a crain or forkleft I dont know if thay can move them loaded or not but as long as thay can get the rig in with it thay work slick. A 20' runs abot $1200 in the Portland Oregon area. Thay have wood and stee floors. One thing thay sweat bad so protect your stuff. Who ever you buy one from should know who can move it for you. Hope this help. Tom T

[LesWard]

Here in Hawaii, we use containers for all sorts of stuff.
1. Moving from 1 Island to another
a. Call a trucker and they will " spot" a container at your site for a # of days and then pickit up. ( It will stay up on its trailer while you load. )
On one occasion I built a ramp.

2. Storing construction materials while doing a project. These things will hold one hell of a load. They also make a ramp you can run a fork lift up and down to load / unload , it has wheels and can be moved like a trailer.

3. I know of one guy who has a shop set up in a "fourty footer" and moves it from project to project. Its stays up on wheels. He's more of a mech./machinist in the marine/boat world.

4. Get a couple of them and set up 30' apart and with a truss roof over the space in between. Call a truss builder and see if he has any mistakes
for cheap. You might even get lucky an stick um inside the cont and have um deliverd for free.

5. You can buy one here in good shape for about 2500.00 ( 40' ) 1600.00
for a 20' ,
They also come insulated with alum/stainless liners and even refrigerated.

I have done some form of this at least 6/7 times.

Like Harold says its great way to move and offers a lot of flexibility.
I doubt you could build anything cheaper per sq. ft.
Aloha, Les

retired carpenter/construction of 40 years.

[Al_Messer]

Harold, How far are you located from Fort Lewis, Washington?

[Ries]

Well, I dont know exactly why, but for a long time I moved my shop about every 4 years. Last time was 10 years ago, and I dont plan on moving it again, but I did get a lot of experience.

My personal feeling is I would always rather drive a big truck than tow a big trailer. So I rent trucks, rather than trailers. Where I live, you can rent a 20 foot flatbed with a lift gate for a reasonable price, and probably do a 500 mile move with it.
Or you can rent a U-haul type truck, but a pretty big one- personally, I prefer Ryder, which often has newer fords, with lift gates and turbo diesels. Those are nice trucks.
For just a mill and a lathe, you could probably rig em with dollies, pipes, comealongs, and the lift gate. But an easy way to do it is just rent a forklift for the day at each end. Most places this is about $100 to $200 for the day, including them dropping off and picking up the forklift. This is money well spent, believe me.
No matter what you are loading- a flatbed truck, trailer, a box type uhaul truck, your own container, or a rented empty trailer, a forklift is the way to go.
For a month or so before you move, collect pallets. Load em up with all your small stuff. Buy some stretch wrap at Grainger, and plastic wrap the pallets up, so nothing falls off or gets wet.
Then, on moving day, rent a forklift. Its easy, its fun, its a lot safer and healthier than trying to schlepp all that stuff yourself. One back operation costs as much as renting a forklift for about 3 years.

One thing to check is having a trucking company drop off an empty trailer at your place- Schnieder National does this, with 53 footers. You fill it up, then call em to come and take it to your new home. Then they leave it, and you unload it, and call em again when its empty. This means you dont have to hire a crane to unload your own personal container.

there is a company called POD that does a similar thing, dropping off an empty for you to fill, then moving it for you.

I have also bought my own container- its handy, especially on the west coast, where there are lots of them. I found 40 footers to run around $2000 to $2500, so its only worth it if you need the long term storage after its moved. But they do need to be picked up by a crane when full. I was lucky enough to find a trucker who owned his own 35 ton crane, so he loaded mine in california, but when I got up here to Washington, the crane company wanted a 4 hour minimum, and even though the container was only about 45,000lbs, they insisted that they needed a 150 ton crane to unload it- cost about $800.
So I think a forklift for 2 days and an empty trailer would be cheaper, if you dont need to have the container.
I just had a dump truck load of pit run, for a few hundred bucks, laid out where I wanted the container, then used a bunch of old railroad ties to set it on. It sat that way for 8 years til I finally sold it and built a real building there. They do sweat, though, as mentioned, plus the ceilings are kind of low- so they are ok for dead storage of not too precious items, but not for long term storage of metal objects that you dont want all rusty.

[BillJ]

[quote] "They do sweat, though, as mentioned, plus the ceilings are kind of low- so they are ok for dead storage of not too precious items, but not for long term storage of metal objects that you dont want all rusty. "

The sweating must be because they're so tightly sealed. A dehumidifier would solve that, or else ventilation and heat. Anyway, depending on what you store in there, ventilation might be good for air quality.

[Harold_V]

Harold,

Are these shipping containers, like used on cargo ships?

Yep, that's the ones in question.

Can you give me an idea of what the range of cost is for these and where you find them for sale?

Price varies wildly from region to region, but you can expect anything from about $1,000 up to $2,000 per container. Look in your yellow pages-----which is how I found ours. We lived in Utah at the time, where there's not exactly a lot of container business-----yet they are still available. As I recall, the people that sell them go by the name GenStar, but they were stored in the yard of a large shipping company, and you deal directly with the shipping company. We even selected the containers we wanted by viewing them. It's been well over ten years now, so my memory has faded.

Also, I assume that when you buy these you need to have a trucking company to haul them to your place (empty) and have a crane to unload them. How expensive is that? How much does an empty container weigh?

The people that sell them typically have trailers on which they can be hauled for delivery, for a fee. I reall paying only $75 each have them delivered and unloaded where I dictated. The trailers are equipped with a winch that can pull the container on or off the trailer, so they can be loaded or unloaded without a crane. That is true only if the containers are empty. Tare weight on our 20' containers is 4,190 lbs (each). They are clad in aluminum, with steel superstructure and wooden floors. The 40' container tare weight is 8,750 pounds, and is steel, with a wooded floor. They were weather and critter tight, but I had to do a little work on the two aluminum clad containers later to prevent leaks at the roof joints. We have since built a permanent roof over the two, so that is not a problem now. Pics are available on request. If you're interested, let me know what you want.

I have just changed jobs and don't relish the thought of moving my shop. For now, I will just commute on the weekends and keep my shop where it is, but in a few years I will have to relocate. But I may need to move again in another few years, and then one more time when I retire. The container idea might be a good approach.

Considering your multiple moves, it would likely be the most economical way to go, and could be the safest way to handle the machines.

I suppose I could even consider building a few mini-shops into individual containers. Put the lathe and mill in one, the welding equipment in another, etc. I guess it all depends on the cost.

I agree, but with one caveat, which has already been addressed by Thomas. Containers sweat terribly. What happens is the interior gets chilled, but is slow to warm. When the outside temperature is higher than the contents, water condenses on all the cold surfaces. The dryer your climate, and the more moderate the temperatures, the less likely you will be to have problems. I live where the temperatures are fairly moderate, but we get a lot of rain, upwards of 60". I experienced some damage, but we also had our items stored for four years before unloading the containers. Proper ventilation and minimum heating could prevent the majority of the condensation problems. Selecting insulated containers would also be a good idea. Ours are not insulated.

When you put your stuff in for the move, did you weld anchor bolts to the floor and bolt your machinery down, or use some other means to ensure that it didn't move around in transit?

I welded in anchors only for our fork lift, which weighs just shy of 10,000 pounds. The machines were covered with cosmoline and placed in close proximity to one another, so they couldn't shift. Some blocking was employed so metal surfaces wouldn't contact metal surfaces. That worked very well, but the container has to be loaded end to end so nothing can tip. With only a few machines inside, it might be a good idea to bolt the machines to the floor (while moving). There are stringers that would have more than enough strength to keep machines from tipping. You could use a container for a permanent shop that way, without having to move the machines while in transit. You could pack around the machines with other items when moving. When you finally have a shop, the containers would be great storage, assuming you need it.

Best Regards, Bill[/quote]

Hope this helps, Bill.

Harold

[Mike_Henry]

An acquaintance is contemplating a similar move and is planning on buying a heavy-duty pickup truck and gooseneck trailer for transport by himself. He will sell both when the move is completed.

That approach can make good sense if you will need to make frequent trips between the old and new place while the new place is being constructed or rehabilitated.

[Flybynight]

Quote:
have just changed jobs and don't relish the thought of moving my shop. For now, I will just commute on the weekends and keep my shop where it is, but in a few years I will have to relocate. But I may need to move again in another few years, and then one more time when I retire. The container idea might be a good approach.

Well I moved 1000 miles 2 years ago.
And since I made 8 differant trips. I bought a tandem trailer. And each time I make a trip I hauled some heavy stuff.
Now I moved and still have a trailer for other things.
If you are traviling to your shop might want to look at that.
By the way I bought a small 2000 toyota forklift.
Small out of the way and always using it. If you look around you can find one for $2000-3000. That is in great cond.
Just othe ideas.
Jim