A man on the move

Floating houses.

Sheds being hauled through the countryside in excess of 40 mph.

Those are just part of the job for Steve Kinniburgh of Kinniburgh Construction.

He has spent the last 30 years moving structures.

“It’s kind of an odd occupation. We like it, though,” the 48-year-old Kalispell man said with a laugh.

Kinniburgh, his son Nick Ueland and business partner Yari Schvets, with the help of hired subcontractors, have moved hundreds of structures.

That includes everything from airplane hangars to grain silos to houses, schools and churches — averaging about 35 per year.

In his career, Kinniburgh has floated six structures across Flathead Lake on a barge called the USS Hodge.

He has taken a building down the highway at 55 mph.

He transported the approximately 200-ton Swan River School.

And he has hoisted buildings up in the air and hauled them up mountains.

But as tough as those might sound, Kinniburgh said tourist-season traffic is tougher.

“I would rather jack them up, move them across the same property, move them across the lake,” he said. “Moving them down the highway is the least enjoyable part of it.”

The rough hands of the energetic man with brilliant blue eyes are evidence of a lifetime of dedication to the construction business. Kinniburgh literally worked his way from the ground up.

He got his break while working in a ditch.

While he was a student at Flathead High School, Kinniburgh worked for Davis Pipe & Machinery.

“There was a house being moved when they rebuilt Highway 2, and I had to dig a ditch through the yard by hand for an old gal because she didn’t want equipment back there,” Kinniburgh said.

On that job he was approached by Bill Vergin, vice president of Treweek Construction Co., the firm moving the home.

Vergin offered the then-18-year-old a summer job with Treweek.

Kinniburgh said he has been moving buildings ever since.

He went into business for himself in 1991, pouring foundations, and slowly acquired house-moving equipment. He started moving houses in 1994.

Kinniburgh had a partner, Richard Tressel, for about five years, but the two amiably parted ways in 2004.

Although Kinniburgh said he has “taken a break a couple times” to work on a drilling rig and in Tennessee cutting timber, “I always end up back here, back to doing what I know. Moving houses. Moving structures.”

He said the mountains brought him back.

The third-generation Kalispell native also is raising a family here.

He and Maria, his wife of 10 years, have four children: Stephanie, Ian, Samantha and Caleb.

Kinniburgh said he loves to take his family hiking and fishes in his spare time.

But Kinniburgh’s fairly brisk business doesn’t afford him a lot of down time.

Last week, he moved the Blacktail Mountain Ski Area office building in Lakeside. Another two-story home is set to be moved Wednesday.

“This spring’s quite good,” he said. “With the bypass going through, we’re shifting houses off the bypass.”

Although business is down from what it was in 2002 — when Kinniburgh moved 56 buildings — he said the slower economy has led people to lean more toward conservation.

“I don’t think there’s anything greener than saving a whole house and recycling it,” Kinniburgh said. “Think of all the resources you save.”

He said some people want bigger, nicer houses but don’t want to demolish their old ones.

Some want to bring their homestead along when they move.

Sometimes, a building is cleared for commercial reasons.

But moving a house is no small feat.

First, Kinniburgh places big steel I-beams, weighing around 150 pounds a foot, under the house. Then timbers are built in a “crib” underneath.

Small, hydraulic power jacks, capable of lifting hundreds of tons, go inside.

Then the building is hoisted up and rolled onto a truck or barge and the move gets under way.

The operation averages around $15,000 to $20,000, depending on the structure’s construction and where it will be moved to.

“We try to keep the price down so it’s affordable to move it, set it up and reuse it,” he said.

That’s important, because during a move, walls often crack. A new foundation has to be built. Utility hookups have to be set up. All those together more than double the initial cost.

But to many people, the building is worth it. Or it’s still cheaper than building new.

Kinniburgh can be reached at 756-1721.

Reporter Melissa Weaver may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at mweaver@dailyinterlake.com