Mobile Home Moving in Rhode Island & Southeastern Massachusetts

We'll help you get quotes from licensed, insured mobile home transporters. Tell us about the home and where it is going; we pass it to transporters that cover your route; they quote you directly. For a sense of cost, national cost guides put a single-wide move at $4,000-$8,000 (Angi). Below: what drives the price, the Rhode Island and Massachusetts rules, and what to have ready.

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How it works

1. Send the details below. About two minutes. Photos help.
2. We contact transporters that cover your route and pass on your details.
3. They quote you directly. Compare them. Nothing to pay us.
4. You book the mover you choose. They pull the permits, bring escort cars if needed, and move the home on a permitted weekday.

What moving a mobile home costs

National averages, not quotes. Real quotes depend on your home, your route and the permits it needs.

Transport only, or full service?

Transport only means hooking up a home that is ready to go, moving it and unhooking it, including the permits and liability insurance. Full service adds disconnecting the utilities, taking off the skirting and anything attached, and reconnecting it all at the new site (Angi). Full service costs more, but it is one company doing the whole job.

Rhode Island rules for moving a mobile home

These come from the Rhode Island Department of Transportation's (RIDOT) oversize permit rules (Rhode Island regulation 290-RICR-40-00-1, the same text as RIDOT permit manual). Your transporter applies for the permits; this is so you know what to expect.

• Size without a permit: 8 ft 6 in wide, 60 ft long, 13 ft 6 in high. Anything bigger needs a special permit.
• Permit fee: $20 a trip.
• Days: no moves from sunset on Friday to sunrise on Monday, or on the state holidays listed in the rules.
• Hours: permitted loads travel from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset. Homes over 12 ft wide on I-195, or on I-95 from the Massachusetts line to Route 37, may only travel between sunrise and 7 AM and between 9 AM and 3:30 PM.
• Local roads and some bridges: city and town streets, and the Mount Hope and Newport Pell bridges, need permits from those authorities too.

Escort cars required in Rhode Island

Source: Rhode Island regulation 290-RICR-40-00-1, sections 1.4.4, 1.4.9, 1.4.15, 1.4.19, 1.5.4 and 1.5.8.

Bridges to and from Aquidneck Island

Portsmouth, Middletown and Newport are on an island, so every home going there crosses a bridge. The Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority (RITBA) runs two of them (RITBA):

• Mount Hope Bridge (Bristol to Portsmouth): anything wider than 8 ft 6 in needs a RITBA permit as well as the state permit, and the bridge's maximum gross weight is 30 tons (60,000 lb), no exceptions. The 30-ton limit for trucks with 6 or more axles took effect on December 29, 2022 (What's Up Newp).
• Newport Pell Bridge (Jamestown to Newport): also needs a RITBA permit on top of the state permit.
• Sakonnet River Bridge (Route 24, Tiverton to Portsmouth) and the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge: a wide load needs the state permit only.
• RITBA may limit permitted crossings to outside commuter hours: 6:30-9:00 AM and 3:30-6:30 PM on weekdays.

Massachusetts rules, in short

This is a third-party summary, not the official rules (Oversize.io summary): Massachusetts will not permit a mobile, modular or sectional home taller than 13 ft 6 in, and the maximum length is 100 ft. Homes 12 to 14 ft wide may travel only in daylight, Monday to Friday, and not between 7 and 9 AM or between 3:30 and 7 PM.

For the official rules, see the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) page on truck permits (MassDOT). It says no oversize movements are allowed on New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving or Christmas, and lists the permit office: (857) 368-3690.

Older homes: built before June 15, 1976

Every manufactured home built in the U.S. after June 15, 1976 has to meet the federal standards of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and each section carries a certification label, the "HUD tag". The data plate shows the wind, thermal (heating) and roof-load (snow) zones the home was built for, and a home should never be placed in a tougher zone than it was built for (HUD). The HUD tag is on the outside of each section at the taillight end, about a foot up from the floor (24 CFR 3280.11); the data plate is inside, near the main electrical panel or another easy-to-see spot (24 CFR 3280.5).

Older, "pre-HUD" homes can be harder to move and to place. In Arizona, for example, an industry group says parks often refuse them and some counties will not issue moving permits (Manufactured Housing Industry of Arizona). Rules differ by state and town, so tell us the year and ask your destination town or park before anyone commits.

At the new site

HUD advises checking with the local authorities about transport and zoning before relocating a home (HUD). Placing a home usually needs your town's sign-off. In Portsmouth, for example, the town says most projects need a building permit, with the fee based on the project cost and a $66 minimum (Town of Portsmouth). If the home is going into a park, ask the park what it needs from you and when.

What to have ready

• The year it was built, and photos of the HUD tag and data plate.
• The width and length, and whether it is a single-wide or double-wide.
• Whether the axles, tires and hitch are still on the home.
• Transport only, or full service with tear-down and setup.
• Where it is going: a park or a private lot, and the local permit.
• Power, water and sewer ready at the new site.
• Weekday dates. Oversize homes move in daylight on weekdays.
• Photos of the home and of the way in and out at both ends.

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