If they move it, others will film it! Recently, HGTV Canada’s reality television show “Massive Moves” featured local house movers and heavy haulers Wade’s House Moving and Heavy Hauling.
“Our first one was up in Sylvan Lake, the second one we did was in Medicine Hat, we did one in Calgary and the one we just filmed was in Medicine Hat again. I mean, we have potential with some other ones that are going to be in Saskatchewan, they’re asking us about some for there,” said Wade Kerner from Wade’s House Moving and Heavy Hauling. The first episode aired on Jan. 6 followed by other episodes already filmed.
“I know the very last one we filmed in Calgary will be the season finale March 3,” he added. Kerner noted the episodes are available online on the “Massive Moves” website and on are available to peruse on YouTube.
According to HGTV online, moving a house can be a stressful experience for an individual or family but imagine moving an entire house complete with fixtures, furniture, walls and roof intact — through a city, over a mountain or across an ocean. That’s the challenge faced by the teams of house movers in each half hour episode of “Massive Moves.”
In every show a crew of heavy haulers race against the clock to move a monster house for a nervous set of homeowners.
Kerner said “Mega Moves” was the first program about house movers and heavy haulers, which he said was basically just a show about moving big buildings.
“Massive Moves” is a more in-depth look at the families and movers involved and the stories behind moving projects featured each week on the reality show. “We’re getting some good feedback from the show so we figure we’ll keep going. I guess if ratings are good we’re going to keep doing it.”
Wade’s House Moving moves about three houses a week from northern Alberta, to Manitoba, to British Columbia and even within the United States. Kerner said the business has been operating as Wade’s House Moving for the past six years but before that his dad operated the family business.
“It’s something you can’t go to school for. I was taught from my dad and my boys are learning from me. Ninety per cent of house movers I know are generation movers. They’re people that have learned from their grandpa or their dad.” Kerner’s sister is also an owner of the business and his two brothers also work for the business, as well.
Local massive moves by Kerner and company have included a historical CP rail station in Sterling, heritage homes, a small coal house in Scandia, the Chinook Club in Lethbridge and even rail bridges.  
“I got a call from CP Rail the other day to move a bunch of bridges for them. And believe it or not, the guy said ‘I woke up on Sunday and I was watching you on TV, so I Googled you and gave you a call,” said Kerner.
“I really think there’s a lot of people that never realized how much stuff you can move and what’s capable of moving. I think it’s really letting a lot of people know,” added Kerner, regarding the popularity of the program.
Another historic move Kerner remembers is a move with local ties, the old auxiliary hospital building that used to be located where the provincial building now sits.
“There’s a building right there, a piece of history from Taber, that was part of the hospital I guess years and years ago and now it’s still sitting in town and being used for something else,” said Kerner. “We recycle a lot of stuff. You know, every house we pull out of Calgary is one less that ends up in the dump.”
The International Association of Structural Movers, an association Kerner said his business belongs to, is impressed that the house moving industry is one of the biggest recycling industries around. “If you actually take all the house movers and figure out how many houses they save that don’t go to the landfill, it’s quite huge,” said Kerner. “There’s still lots that make it to the dump because they’re not worth salvaging but I mean as a second home for some people, it’s a good cheap way to get in to a decent house for half the money of a new one.”
As for the TV show, producers are looking for anything different for upcoming episodes for series three. “They’re looking for anything you can get that is super big or something with a lot of things that could possibly go wrong, which day-to-day that could happen. Your crew not showing up could be a problem,” said Kerner. Most of the episodes took about a week to film, according to Kerner, with the final episode taking more than two weeks to film because of the size of the move. When he was first approached about the show Kerner said he was quite nervous because he didn’t know how he would be portrayed on the program. Kerner added he had a few meetings with his crew before filming began but the crew from the series wanted reality to be number one.
“We just want you to be real people and do what you do. Go out there and move the house and we’ll decide what needs to be on the show and what doesn’t and that’s what we’re looking for, real people,” said Kerner, in regards to discussions he had with the film crew before filming began.