Loading modular buildings for transport? Here’s why a lift does it better
Off-site modular construction has been revolutionary for the construction industry. It’s more efficient, more reliable, and less disruptive to the community.
But there’s a pretty big downside:
Delivering twenty tonnes of building to the final site — and especially loading it onto the truck.
Traditionally, modular buildings are loaded onto specialised trucks with a crane at the factory. But some construction companies are switching to a new way of loading — with less movement, less space, and lower costs.
Here’s what you need to know:
What’s wrong with a crane?
Conventional modular construction companies load their buildings onto trucks with cranes — which usually means:
- A fixed-installation rail crane
- A mobile gantry crane
- Or a tower crane.
While any of these options can do the job well (and have been for years), they usually come with significant costs: either an upfront investment with a fixed installation, or ongoing rental charges.
On top of that, they’re bulky bits of kit. You either need extra space in the factory for the installation — or a sizeable outdoor space for a tower crane or mobile gantry.
But perhaps most important:
They need highly skilled and trained operators — workers who can safely manipulate a weighty modular building and account for the complex momentum of how it moves on a crane.
Instead, some construction companies are switching to a simpler method: one that’s compact, cost-efficient, and has minimal amounts of movement.
How does a lift help transport modular buildings?
While a crane moves a modular building into the back of a truck, a mobile column lift does the opposite:
It allows the truck to move under the building.
With a set of mobile column lifts working in groups of up to 8, you can lift a modular building in a simple, controlled movement.
This creates a space below the raised building for a flatbed truck to reverse underneath, before the lifts lower the building and the columns are taken away.
It’s a faster and easier way to load prefabricated modular buildings so they’re ready for transport, without the horizontal movement and difficult positioning that comes with using a crane.
Compared to a crane, the movement is minimal and there’s no sideways momentum. So it’s a far simpler process that doesn’t need the same level of advanced expertise and training.
How much can they lift?
Each of our mobile column lifts has a 7,500kg lifting capacity, working together in sets of 4, 6, or 8.
With the maximum configuration of 8 columns, that means you can safely lift modular buildings up to 60,000kg in weight!
| Column sets | Total lifting capacity |
| 4 columns | 30,000kg |
| 6 columns | 45,000kg |
| 8 columns | 60,000kg |
But more important:
The column lifts can be independently grouped, either as one set of 8, or as 2 sets of 4.
So if you’re constructing a range of modular building designs, with a mix of smaller and larger modules, you can switch between one large lift, and two smaller separate lifts — giving you the option for simultaneous loading, all with one single investment.
Looking for faster loading?
After switching from cranes to a Totalkare Mobile Column Lift, one of our recent customers was able to reduce their factory overheads and boost their output — which led to them investing in even more of our lifts to help scale those savings across their operation.
So if you’re looking for ways to cut costs and improve output, take a look at our modular building lifting system — or start a chat with an expert to see how we can help.