Toowoomba house relocation business booming as residents try to avoid rising construction costs

When people talk about buying their new home, they usually don’t mean on the back of a truck. But more residents are taking up home relocation as an option, for two big reasons.

Tyson King of TJ King House Relocators. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Why bother building a new home from scratch when you can move a house onto your block of land for similar or lower prices?

That is the question many residents have started asking, with house transporters declaring the past two years as the best for business in their careers.

Tyson King of TJ King House Relocators said his family company had shifted more than 60 dwellings over the past year, mainly in the Darling Downs.

This is borne out in statistics collected by the Toowoomba Regional Council and provided to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator.

The TRC statistics showed vehicle movements on local government roads had increased fivefold in the past four years.

Mr King said the regional migration movement due to Covid-19 and growing construction costs had prompted homeowners to look at relocation as a cost-effective option.

“We’re going good, as busy as ever, if not busier,” he said.

“It’s definitely two things, the number of people coming to the area, and because land is going up, they’re buying land and getting rid of the homes.

“The material price rise is driving it as well, because for everyone who has $200,000, you can’t build a new house but you can renovate an old one.

“The average cost is about $75,000 and if you were willing, you could spend between $45,000 and $100,000 renovating it and bringing it up to living standards.”

Dalby Removal Homes owner Robert Smiley, whose company buys, sells and relocates homes across Queensland, said he was enjoying his best trade since he started in the sector 30 years ago.

“People’s desire to have a change of direction (in regional areas) are matching our business, they’re looking for space,” he said.