Massive Moves

Garry and Vicki Andreson built their ideal weekend getaway – a beautiful two-story wooden house - in the majestic Cascade Mountains along the banks of the raging Skagit River. But shortly after they completed their house, the river burst its banks and changed direction. Their dream home is now perilously close to falling into the river. To rescue it, they call in experienced house trucker Dell Davies, to lift and roll the house away from the brink of disaster. Will their dream home escape unscathed from a perilous journey through a dense forest?

Since they met Graham and Sharon Harkley have shared a love for the Fraser River, enjoying a variety of water-based hobbies and the wildlife. They like it so much, they buy a river mooring and decide to build a giant floating home. A team of architects designs the family a three story aquatic mansion. Then a fearless tug man face the challenge of a lifetime – sail the house across the state to reach its new moorings. Will the floating house survive the river journey on it’s epic odyssey?

Vancouver Islanders Red and Barb Reuther need a bigger home for their big family gatherings. Rather than extend their existing home, they find a vacant second hand house but it’s a 100 miles away ..by sea! So they call in a crew of house truckers to not only haul it but also sail it to their lot. Ron Nickel’s team battle high tides and strong ocean currents to lift and load the house onto a barge for a unique sea journey. Will the home’s huge glass windows survive intact on this epic ocean odyssey?

Ursula Pfeiffer-Strautman and her partner Lorne Bauer have found their dream home – a two-storey, century-old, disused train station. It’s steeped in heritage and the perfect place for their beautiful river-side plot in Saskatchewan. But 60 miles of railway crossings, power lines, tight turns and muddy ground lie between the station and their plot in Warman. So Lorne and Ursula call in experienced house trucker Kerry Neufeld and his team to move the 100-ton station. It looks in great condition, but it’s not long before they discover that the foundations have collapsed and there’s a fragile floor. Will Ursula and Lorne’s century old dream home survive a cross-country trek to reach the new plot intact?

Brothers Wayne and Sean Bodenstab call house hauler Kerry Neufeld and his team to lift and shift their family cabin from the shores of Lake Kipabiskau, 150 miles to Sean’s leisure resort where they can make more use of it. The cabin holds many special memories of their family holidays they’ve had there, so to keep it intact is very important to them all. But with trees blocking the main road to the resort, the only way the crew can haul it to the new site is to wait until the lake freezes solid, and then build an ice road to roll the house across. Several attempts to haul houses across frozen lakes have ended in disaster. Will Sean and Wayne’s beloved cabin make the journey without sinking into the icy abyss?

On the vacation of a lifetime in Antarctica, partners Doug McClelland and Tony Tucker received a phone call – it was their worst nightmare. Their beloved floating home, moored in an exclusive location in downtown Vancouver, had capsized during a freak snow storm. With cherished possessions ruined, and the house a wreck, Doug and Tony were not beaten, but decided to re-build. They enlist one of the world’s best naval architects, Alfonso Sotres, to design an unsinkable new floating home. Once complete a team of marine engineers has to sail the house down the busy Fraser River and out into the Strait of Georgia to get it to the new moorings. Will the house float when launched? And can it survive a perilous sea journey to reach the moorings?

When Annalie Plaetz’s parents decided to give their daughter their acres of farmland, she and husband Joe were overjoyed. But the farm meant Annalie and Joe had a daily commute of over 20 miles to farm the extra land. Building a new house was not an option with so many memories at the farmstead. So to eliminate the daily journey, they decided to move their house to the farm. They call in experienced house trucker Garvin Marcus, to lift and move their home and workshop, and take it across country to the new plit. Will both buildings survive the tricky trip unscathed?

Now that Trent and Mary Marr’s two girls have flown the nest, they figured they have a change of lifestyle. Trent dreams of building up his new budding business ventures - dog training and quail hunting. And, he has found the perfect piece of land that will allow him to do just that. To help realize the dream Trent and Mary call in veteran house mover Donald Wayne and his team, to shift their cherished holiday cabin from its current site to the new plot of land. The 15-mile journey is fraught with obstacles. Donald will have to negotiate the cabin through thick forests and over narrow bridges. With the Marrs house and business dreams hanging in the balance will the move be a success?

Doug Pilcher and his wife Mary built their dream home together in 1977. Today it is worth three-quarters of a million dollars. When built, it was set in the middle of the countryside. Today the city limits are way beyond the house and housing developments are encroaching on its views. After 34 years living there and having raised their family in it, Doug and Mary are reluctant to leave their treasured home and move elsewhere. So they call in experienced house truckers Kerry Neufeld and his crew, to save their beloved home and move it 5 miles away. This trek won’t be easy. The house will be extremely awkward to lift due to its massive size and 100 ton weight. Rough terrain, power pylons and narrow country roads also threaten to make this move extremely difficult.

After making his money in real estate on the mainland, Jeremy Henderson now lives on the North Shore of Oahu Island. He found the perfect house to live in - a beautiful architect-designed house built in around 1915. But there’s a catch- at the moment it is at the wrong end of the island. So he calls in local house mover Mike Faye to move the house to his site. But the house is too large to shift in one piece and Mike has to take drastic action and cut the house into 8 pieces for the move. To make matters worse the crew can only move the home in the middle of the night to avoid blocking Honolulu’s busiest highway– a huge challenge.

In 2008 Chuck and Connie Turbeyville watched in horror as their town was flooded in a deluge of water, caused by Hurricane Ike. Their home for over 20 years, where their son Chuck Jr had taken his first steps, was ruined along with the rest of the town. Connie and Chuck never want to go through such a disaster again. So they take the risky decision to buy a new house and move it to a site outside the flood zone. They call in expert house mover, Joe Matyiko - one of America’s most experienced movers - to undertake the huge challenge. Jo Matyiko has to guide the house around tight turns and under dangerous cables before finally tackling the steep hill up to the new site. All of which threaten the house almost as much as the river below.

Dan and Mary Gill have given their sons Kyle and Keefer a fantastic start to life. And now they want to help elder son Kyle to buy his first home. So, when Dan discovered a perfect house for sale. But it is by the local airport, which is now expanding and sits right in the way of the new runway and is destined to be demolished. To save the house, Dan calls in house truckers Randy and Troy from Ehrlichmann Movers. Moving the super wide home is a huge challenge. They have to guide Kyle’s dream home under high voltage cables, across rough terrain and over precarious river crossings. To make matters even more complicated the bitter Minnesota winter closes in on them.

Dan and Joyce Enders live just outside Calgary with their five children. Their house is small and crammed. The Enders have also had an extremely challenging two years due to a family illness. But things are starting to get back on track. Now Dan wants to buy a house big enough for his family to live in more comfortably. He’s found the perfect home - a huge 100 year old colonial mansion. The only problem is that it is in the wrong place. It’s located 6 miles away from a plot of land the family own where Joyce’s thriving riding stables sit. So the family call in one of Canada’s premier house truckers, Pat McCann, to move the house to the stables. The house is massive, so lifting it in one piece will be a colossal challenge. Pat’s team must then guide the house across frozen fields and down narrow country roads, as the temperature drops to -18 degrees centigrade.