Walker says effectively the size of the house does not matter, so long as it can be cut into reasonably sized chunks.
The furthest he has moved a house is from Auckland to Linton Army Camp near Palmerston North, no sweat given it was a solid army building.
Many costs, such as driveways and services, are similar to building a new house in the boondocks.
They will vary substantially depending on how far the house has to be moved to, whether it has to be cut up, how far it is from the road and whether or not a crane will be needed.
As with building a new house, you need to consider having a driveway laid, pay for power and telco connections, water, drains and council consents.
That's not to mention, landscaping, driveway and path, and fencing. Walker gives people a list. Occasionally he advises people against it, based on his reading of them. "It's not for everybody," he says.
Walker estimates the total cost of moving a house and making it habitable is generally around half the cost of building a new house (plus the cost of land). He even gives people a form to use to work out all of the costs.
Generally houses are moved late at night, so as not to cause traffic jams, and rather than the expensive option of taking down power or phone lines, the roof is cut off, then replaced.
Usually the houses are moved from a suburban street to a country location - a lifestyle block.
As a rule of thumb, only weatherboard houses can be moved successfully.
Walker says he once saw someone try to move a brick house, but the bricks had to be removed and then re-clad over the house's wooden frame. Chimneys also have to be rebuilt.
"So long as the house is made of timber, it's okay," he says. If the house has a large concrete block base, this will need to be built afresh.
WATCH OUT FOR PROBLEMS FROM THE LEFT FIELD
Cushla Clark and her partner Rick Horst moved a Mt Eden old villa onto their Matakana property a few years back. Cushla says they love their kauri home but many costs were higher than expected.
She says the lines company gave a verbal quote for undergrounding power of around $10,000, but the eventual cost was $50,000. They used a builder to 're-gib' but he substantially underestimated.
"He hadn't looked at the house," she says.
Other costs, needed in rural areas, such as swales (a place to hold water, to prevent runoff) were also a surprise for the former city-slickers.
However, the removal wentsmoothly, partly because they had ensured their section was flat.
"The removal company did a great job," she says
You might expect kitset or factory-built homes to be easier to move but Walker says that most wooden house are strongly made.
Although pre-built homes are inevitably narrow enough to fit on a truck, Walker says most houses can be cut into pieces, then re-assembled on the site.
Prices for an old 'character' three-bedroom house in South Auckland start at around $10,000 on Trade Me, up to $100,000 for a large bungalow or more for a two-storey mansion on Walker's lot.
Over time, the house may have settled on the ground. When it is made square again, some cracked plaster should be expected. A keen DIY-er can replace the plasterboard or Gib, although plastering requires a knack.
Unless you re-line your relocated house, filling in with insulation and replacing the windows with double-glazing, it is unlikely to be as warm as a new home.
Walker says the council does not require double glazing to be retrofitted, and that in any case, "good drapes are almost as effective as double glazing". Roof and floor insulation are basic.
Walker says he is getting many inquiries resulting from the new unitary plan - but it is still early days. Potentially some 65,000 former heritage houses can now be moved, as a result of the unitary plan, he says.
He expects developers will move houses a short distance to create room for a second house, on sections where the plan permits two or more houses on a site.
Once in a while something can go wrong with the removal - although it is unlikely, given the wide experience of reputable firms. A decade back a house removal firm was sued after a house fell into a gully and was damaged beyond repair.
Over the years, this writer has seen many moved houses. You generally can't tell the difference. One included a two-storey mansion which had been used by the Blind Institute in Parnell.
It was cut into many pieces and moved to Whitford. Its owners were doing it up while living downstairs.
It cost a fraction of buying new, and I recall a happy party there - a break from years of sweat and slog.
