Holly recently contacted me and had a question about moving a tiny mobile house once you had it near it’s final location. She had seen an article somewhere and was looking for it. I knew right off she was talking about the Powermover that Dee Williams and Logan Smith have used to move homes in the Portland area.
I wrote to Logan and he filled me in on what they use. Logan says: I believe the tool name is an “electric dolly” but the commercial name of the tool we purchased was “Powermover” from a fellow named Brady outside of Los Angeles, CA. The website for the Powermover is http://www.powermoverinc.net/
We purchased the AC10 model with a 1/2 horse power electric motor. We have had issues with traction on gravel and wet grass so I would probably recommend an AC12 model for more traction (6 wheels instead of 5). List priced at $1299 at the website. Some friends of ours, Thomas and Audrey, purchased the same model as us and had some difficulty due to soft ground and no traction.
So these may not be perfect but they are a great option if you are looking to move your home short distances or in someone’s yard. I would also suggest checking your local equipment rental agency as you might be able to rent one for a move and than return it. Thus saving a big outlay on a piece of equipment you may not use very often.
You can also use a skidsteer (bobcat) with a ball mounted in the bucket and move them into most places easily
Bobcat!!!! Tie a chain around the tongue and use the bucket pinch: that way it is much easier to negociate uneven terrain than being hooked up to a ball hitch. I had to do this to my 12,000# 28′ tiny house. Way easier than using the hipster dolly which is designed for boats!
Yes, this is the hippest tool around for jockeying trailers. They are not too easy to get your hands on (not alot of rental houses carry them.)
If you don’t have access to one of these beautiful machines: there are always cables and come-along style winches (very easy to find.) Doesn’t take long to rig your house and pull it across the yard.
Hopefully I don’t have to say it, but be careful with any rigging equipment. If you don’t know what you are doing, hire a contractor (or arborist, most are decent riggers). Tensioned cables, and large loads (your house) can be very dangerous.
One cool thing about tiny houses on wheels… is that you CAN move them!
I can attest to that! While moving a Boler trailer around with a comealong we had a defective line pop apart and having more than one line in place defintely saved the day. Still got a good scare (12 foot dropoff only a few feet away)and that was a light trailer. Redundancy is your friend.
Kent – thanks so much for gathering info and videos. Very helpful in understanding the challenges/solutions for final placement on a property.
Ditto on the Bobcat and ball mount option. It would be a lot easier to rent, possibly cheaper, and you have a skid steer to use for other projects for the day! With that said, I moved my house with an extended cab truck and had to navigate some rather tight yards, but if you just wiggle it around for a couple minutes its amazing the spaces you can fit thru!
I was looking for something like this, I have friends that say I can park a tiny house when I build one in the their back yard but getting in their, parking the house, and then getting the vehicle out looks near impossible. One option that I saw in a parking lot was someone had a ball mounted on the FRONT of a truck. My dad says he used to have one mounted on his truck in the 70’s. Sometimes ‘Deer Guards’, those things that people have on the front of their trucks so if they it anything they escape unharmed, have a front ball and a winch, which also might come in handy when moving small houses.
a ball mounted either front or back on a small (Ferguson )old tractor works fine too …better than a pick up
True, the smaller the vehicle the better.
FWIW, airplane magazines and sites are full of ads for these motorized “tug” contraptions (for getting airplanes in and out of hangars.)
A great many people have a lawn tractor,an ATV and the like.These often have ball mounts for moving heavy stuff around.Just an idea.
Tim
A tree and a come along work.
A forklift with a ball on one arm works.A pick up truck in some yards will work.John Deer yard mowers work.A bobcat and ball can go anywhere in a muddy yard and can be rented delivered for far less than a dolly powermover purchase or rental.
the easiest way to make a mover is a car starter and Deep Cycle battery and use a chain drive to the axle and it is reversible with a switch for forward to back. Mount it on a framework with a handle and a ball mount and you are set. A car starter has lots of torque and will easily push around a tiny house on a trailer.
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