Planning to Lift your Home? Here’s what you need to know

If you happen to reside in a zone that’s frequently flooded, you may want to first assess the damage to your current foundation. If the structural damage is extensive, then you can weigh your options which would generally involve lifting your home and moving it to an entirely new location. And all considered, if the new location is safe from floods, and you happen to own a lot in the new location, then it is more than doable. If your current foundation has an issue with mold, mildew, and moss, due to frequent floods, you can pay contractors to lift your home, get the inspector to check out the current foundation, to get the health hazards sorted out fixed. But either option would first involve lifting your home from its current foundation and here’s how you prepare for it.

Hire a professional

To put it simply, lifting and moving home is not a DIY project and it certainly is not one that you can handle on your own. And that’s why, when it comes to house lifting in Auckland, or house moving, you need professional movers to handle it for you. Just make sure that you double-check and vet the various contractors in your current locality before opting for one. Make sure that they have the requisite skills, know-how to handle it, along with the required registration. And needless to say, you must determine if they have the required insurance as it can help protect you against any liability as well. It should be pointed out that several homeowners often opt to get their current homes lifted, as they would want to add in a new first story, due to the size of their current family.

Discuss the plans with the contractor

Once you have selected the contractor for the project, discuss your current requirements and what it is that you require. Make sure you inform the contractor whether you require the home to be lifted from its current foundation so that the contractor and his team can build you a new basement, crawlspace, or even a complete floor. Make sure that he understands your requirements clearly so that there is no confusion later on. If you need a new story to be built to your current existing home, the contractor would usually note this requirement on the plans themselves. Once the contractors have understood your requirements, they would design the plans and you would be required to approve the same, before letting them go ahead.

Check out the agreement

Most contractors these days, tend to use a simple contractual agreement – which is more like a template. The contract should list out your current requirements, the proposed project, and the timeframe by which it would be complete. Once you have reviewed the terms, and happen to be okay with it, you can go ahead and sign the contractual agreement.

Site prep

When it comes to preparing your home to be either lifted or moved, you need to carefully store away the valuables and breakables. Apart from this, you need to clear out your basement, the crawlspace and clear out all the appliances you may have stored in there – from the washer to the dryer. If you are looking to have a new story built on top of the existing foundation, this is a must, for obvious reasons.

These are some of the essential tips that you need to review to understand what house lifting is all about and how best to handle it. Make sure that the contractor provides you with the right estimate, right at the beginning and not later on.