How much is a fair price for moving a shop?

[Rcgiovannani]

Hi Guys,

I am thinking about moving my shop. I'm in Lowell, Massachusetts. I don't have an exact spot picked out yet and that's partly due to me not having an idea of how much moving would cost. I have balls parks on electrical and I will run air myself - just not sure what's fair for rigging. I assume I'd probably need a few days of a rigger's time? See below.

Equipment:

Trak Machine Tools VMC 10si - 144" X 112" - 9,900lbs
Brother Speedio S700X2 - 81" X 88" - 5,300 lbs
Fryer MB-14 - 113" X 80" - 6,000 lbs
ProtoTRAK 1630RX Lathe - 87" X 45" - 3,500 lbs
ProtoTRAK K3 Knee Mill - 78" x 103" - 2,300 lbs

Current Shop:

8FT tall door, 12 feet wide
Shop is only 1000 sqft. The machine furthest from the door is less than 40 feet from it.
Shop at ground level, no loading dock.
I will move everything out of the way for them before they start moving machines - will also prep machines for moving.

Most Likely to choose Shop:

8ft tall door, 10 feet wide
Shop is about 3000sqft. It's wider than it is long, so the furthest machine will be placed, I would say 50-75 feet from the door.
Machines will need to be lifted onto a loading dock - it's at standard box truck height.
This shop is located in Gloucester, MA which is about an hour away (50ish miles).

I have reached out to the rigger that has done most of my machines - waiting to hear back but I would like to get opinions. I will get a few quotes eventually.

Thanks for your input!

 

[sfriedberg]

Hundreds of dollars per hour for riggers. If I recall correctly, I paid $800 or $750/hr, but they didn't count transit, and they provided temporary storage for my machine once it came in LTL. Best to call one or two, let them know what you have to move (how many machines, what kinds, how heavy) and get them to estimate.

 

[CarbideBob]

Sounds like an easy afternoon move.
I'd ballpark guess $2500 to $4000.

 

[jtaylor]

Why don’t you move to New Hampshire and save on all the taxes - it’s minutes away?

 

[Rcgiovannani]

Sounds like an easy afternoon move.
I'd ballpark guess $2500 to $4000.

Rigger delivered just my Brother for $2700 lol. They received the machine and then delivered it to me (which is common here, I think in the Midwest a lot of people have LTL drop it right to them). Massachusetts is a crazy expensive state.

Why don’t you move to New Hampshire and save on all the taxes - it’s minutes away?

I wish. I've wanted to move up there, but my kid is in school where I live now.

 

[RC Mech]

What type of truck does your rigger have? How many backhauls will he have to do? Do you have a forklift that will move all machine that can be left at the old shop during?

Probably around $8-10k. No way any rigger would touch that for $4k.

 

[john.k]

I moved 2500sq ft of machines,stock in shelves ,heavy floor stock like truck diffs and gearboxes entirely by myself .......took one month ,and a lot of effort .......I had a 4 ton truck, 4 ton forklift ,a 50 year old Coles mobile crane at the shop,at the other end in my yard I had one old crawler crane that was supposed to lift 10 ton,but for some reason would tip over with 5 ton...........anyway it did the job ,and shop was clean floor in one month ..........I picked the time because the landlord was in Europe on a skiing holiday ,and couldnt interfere ............Yes the landlord was on a Switzerland luxury ski holiday .....on the sweat and struggle of a dozen schmucks like me who never had a day off in 20 years and paid rent on time .

 

[technocrat]

you should have bought the place

 

[m16ty]

I’m a rigger. I’d need a lot more info before providing a price, but I’d say anywhere from $5k to 10k.
Lots of factors will play into the price. What is your area outside your shop like (concrete, asphalt, gravel, or dirt)? The distance to you new shop will also greatly affect cost. If you have everything cleared out and ready and travel distance isn’t too far, should be able to get everything moved in a day. $10k should be a good budget number. We just moved a local shop about 2 miles down the road for $6,500. The equipment consisted of a Haas VF3, a smaller boring mill, and a medium size radial drill. All equipment fit on one truck and another truck to haul the forklift. No tarps needed because it was a nice day and short haul distance.

On your new shop I would seriously consider a 12x12 door. If you get other bigger machines in the future you may have trouble getting them into a 8’ tall door. Also, if you have machines that are rigged overhead it can be hard to get them though a 8’ tall door.