Checklist for Moving a Mobile Home

Moving a mobile home can be an overwhelming process with many moving parts (pun intended).

We purchased a new Single Wide on the cheap and then only four months later, found the town and Mobile Home park we want to settle in, 3 hrs away from our existing placement. My first naive thought, “I’ll just call a Mobile Home mover and be done with it” – Ha! If only it were that simple!

As I quickly learned, the hard way of course, it wasn’t simple and it wasn’t quick.

Everyone from the Mobile Home parks to the Mobile Home Movers to your future destination City’s Planning & Building Dept has a say and rules and regulations and fees involved in moving your home. I do hope our Mobile Home Moving Checklist will help prepare you and inform you of all the requirements and costs associated – so that just maybe you won’t feel the need to pull out all of your hair.

Mobile Home Moving Checklist

Ours requires 72 hr notice for moving the home, and then 30 days notice for terminating the space rental agreement. We also had to give them the opportunity to purchase our home, at a price we determined, to keep the home on site in their park instead of having it moved off. We purposefully set this price very high to discourage their purchase, where if they did buy it we would be left with enough money to purchase a new comparable home, with costs to move it, and included costs for the required hotel stay till the factory built home was habitable.

The permit and mobile home moving & setup quotes will require an address.

Most of the time this will be handled by the City, sometimes when the address is on the outskirts it’s handled by the County. Ask them for the requirements for placing a NEW (doesn’t have to do with age of the home) Manufactured Home into an established Mobile Home park, or onto Private land. There’s typically a Planner on-call that can answer your questions same day. I go into more detail on how I created and assembled the required documents in Everything you Need to Know About Manufactured Home Placement Permits, but here’s a general overview of what’ll be required to submit.

Permitting process can take 1-3 months, or longer if your Building Dept is really small or backed up. Inquire early and ask for their current Processing Time. Don’t leave any required information out, they’ll issue Correction Orders for that information and it will delay your Permit being issued. If you’re not detail oriented and have at least some Construction knowledge, better to find a Full-Service Mobile Home Mover that will include securing the Permit for you.

Our cost is estimated at $500 from the City, still waiting on the final amount.

Tear Down – disconnecting Mobile Home Park utilities, dismantling carport, gutters, tie-downs, removing leveling blocks, removing skirting.

Move – picks up the home from your space, secures the necessary Highway permits, plans the route, physically moves the home with the necessary oversize load banners & lead cars, moves the home into place on lot. Insures the home and contents during the move. Older Manufactured Mobile Homes may need to be brought up to current Structural Codes before they can be moved.

Site Prep – Prepares the spot you’ll place your home on with a concrete slab foundation, or a compressed and crowned rock for setting pier blocks into. Clears any debris, vegetation or obstructions. Grading your lot for proper drainage. Installs Utilities such as water, power, sewer/septic, and cable or internet lines and necessary trenching. Installs a Vapor Barrier to keep ground moisture out of the underside of your home.

Setup & Install – After the home is delivered to the exact spot on your site, pier blocks and tie downs are placed to stabilize the home from wind and seismic activity. Entrance way stairs are built, Carports reattached, final connection for utilities are made, skirting is installed around the home.

Full-Service movers will handle everything needed to go from living in one location to the other. They handle the Highway Permit and usually handle the City Permit process as well.

Individual Service Pros will handle just their role and you will need one where you currently live and one located in your future location. If you’re willing to keep track of multiple people, this can save you thousands!! Example, I was quoted $20K for the move from Full-Service and instead with Individual role providers I’m saving $8K!!!

Once your Manufactured Home Placement Permit has been issued, you can schedule the entire move and the before and after services required with your Full-Service Movers or Independent Service Pros. You can’t be firm with any dates until the permit is issued, as you’re at the mercy of the Building/Planning Dept.

Site prep absolutely must be completed before the movers can deliver your home. They will not set a home in place without it being done. After selecting your foundation style, concrete slab or pier blocks, the site will be prepared for the home by clearing debris, making it level, ready to drain water away from the home, and capable of holding the weight of the home. If utilities are not already installed, they will be and brought from existing connections to within a connectable distance from where the home is planned to sit. This is a good time to install a storage shed too if that’s planned as well.

Part of the Tear Down process is disconnecting your Mobile Home Park Utilities from your Mobile Home. It is required that you turn off the utilities to ensure a SAFE disconnection from your home. Plan accordingly with a hotel stay or consider it indoor camping for 1 day/night.

Your home will be made ready for transport by the Movers. This means disconnecting Mobile Home Park utilities, dismantling the carport, removing gutter downspouts, disconnecting tie-downs, disconnecting stairs, removing stabilizing pier blocks and removing the trailer’s skirting. Note, the skirting is often thrown away and new skirting will be cut to size at the new location which will undoubtedly require a different skirting height. Tear Down should not be done more than 24 hrs before the moving day – the underside of your home will be completely open to the elements and accessible by critters. Ideally the Tear Down is done on the same day as the move – morning Tear Down and afternoon Move.

The Mobile Home Movers have previously secured a Highway Permit and the necessary Wide Load/Oversize Load vehicles and Lead cars depending on the size of your home. They will transport your home along their predetermined route that has been carefully configured ahead of time to avoid obstacles such as tunnels, low hanging bridges, or mountain passes that can be difficult for the towing vehicles to navigate with their wide and long loads. This is your home after all, this is the most important step of the entire journey requiring an experienced mobile home moving company with proper insurance. The journey could be several days depending on distance traveled. Be sure you have lined up a hotel or campsite or airbnb.

The Setup and Install phase begins once your home has been safely delivered and set on your desired spot. Your mobile home will be stabilized and leveled on your chosen foundation, the final connection for utilities are made, entrance way stairs are built with code compliant hand-rails, Carports are reattached, and mobile home skirting is custom cut to fit around the home.

You’ll need to schedule a Rough-In Inspection for the home where an Inspector visits your home to assure that the home has been placed correctly and properly in a safe way.

Rough Inspection Criteria – City of Bend, OR – revised 03/25/20

Final Inspection Criteria – City of Bend, OR – revised 03/25/20

After you pass both Rough & Final Inspections, you are allowed to live in the home.