Building a house on a very large lot has its disadvantages. An Australian couple learned this after constructing a big bungalow in a two-hectare plot.
Melanie and David Moor put up their pre-fabricated house in rural Victoria in March 2024, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Five months later, the local council called, telling the Moors to stop work because the house was on the wrong lot. Ironically, the same council and their real estate agent had advised the couple that that was the location of their property, when the lot next to it was the correct site.
The couple needed to move from the wrong lot and restore it by 2 May, per its owner’s demand. They moved their house about 100 meters by truck to the right plot on 2 April and they are now living in a van while their home is being finished, according to AFP.
Meanwhile, moving a house in the Philippine countryside is also done but without the use of trucks or other equipment. Instead, dozens of men lift the house, carry it on their shoulders, and move it to its next location, in a custom called “bayanihan.”
Last month, male residents of Barangay Matalang in Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur volunteered to move a house whose owner was told by the lot owner to relocate.
A video of the relocation, reported by GMA News, showed dozens of men carrying the single-story wooden house on their shoulders. But using sheer physical strength and muscle power to move a heavy house has its disadvantages.
In the video, the house was slowly moving forward but the men in the front appeared to tire so one side began to tilt. A few steps more and the whole house came crashing down as the men in front could no longer carry the load.
Some men were seen running away to avoid getting crushed; others were not so lucky as the house fell on them, pinning them to the ground.
The men who ran away rushed back to lift the house and pull out the others who were trapped underneath. Four were injured in the incident, including the barangay chief and a local councilor, according to GMA News.