Single wide mobile home transport is the cleanest move in the manufactured-housing business: the home is built as one continuous section, so it leaves the lot as a single oversize load — no marriage line to split, no second trip, one disconnect and one re-set. Quartz Transport & Install runs that cycle across North Carolina and South Carolina from two hubs, Asheville/Fairview, NC at (828) 888-0327 and Florence/Lydia, SC, and because a single-wide is the most common unit a dealer stages or an investor relocates, it's the move we price most often. The work runs the same every time: inspect the chassis, file the permits, disconnect utilities, haul the section under escort, and block, level, and re-anchor it on the new pad.
What a single-wide actually is — and why it hauls as one piece
A single-wide is one factory-built section riding on its own steel frame and axles. Most run 14 to 18 feet wide and 60 to 80 feet long with the tow tongue on, which is the whole reason it travels in one trip rather than halving like a double wide mobile home transport job. That single-section simplicity is also why it's the cheapest unit to relocate. Before anything rolls we inspect the running gear — axle rating, tire condition, brake function, and frame integrity — because a single-wide that's been parked for years often needs fresh tires or axles to survive a highway. Post-June-15-1976 homes are built to the HUD-Code construction standard and move routinely; older units get a harder look. Larger and multi-section homes follow a different playbook covered under modular home transport.
Permits, escorts, and the road rules for a single-section haul
Loaded width sets everything. Under NCDOT Publication MH-2, any manufactured home past 12 feet wide is an oversize haul with daylight-only, off-peak travel windows and a movement ban once winds top 25 mph — a coastal Zone II county on the SC and NC seaboard adds tighter anchoring on the back end, but the road rules are the same. A 14- or 16-foot single-wide typically clears the route with a single rear escort, while an 18-footer can trigger front-and-rear NCDOT-certified escorts. Layered on top of the state permit is a county tax-paid moving permit under NCGS Chapter 105, Article 18, which proves the home's property taxes are current before it leaves the parcel. South Carolina runs its own system: under SC Code § 31-17-360, the county licensing agent issues the permit and the treasurer certifies taxes are paid before release. We file all of it.
What a single-wide costs to move
An in-state single-wide haul typically runs $3,000 to $8,000, and a cross-state NC↔SC move falls in the $5,000 to $25,000 range as the mileage and dual permitting stack up. The biggest cost levers are distance from our Asheville or Florence hub, loaded width and the escort count it forces, terrain — a haul off a steep Western NC grade rigs slower than a flat lot in the Sandhills or the SC Midlands — and how much disconnect-and-reconnect and re-set work the job includes. A bare haul to an adjacent lot sits at the low end; a long cross-state run with utility work, a new pad, skirting, and re-anchoring climbs toward the top. Roughly speaking a single-wide costs about half what a double-wide does, because there's one section instead of two. Run the full math on our cost to move a single wide mobile home page.
Setup is half the job — and it's included in the quote
Delivering a single-wide to the new lot is only the haul; making it a home is the set. On site we re-block the piers, level the chassis to a 1/4-inch tolerance, reconnect utilities, install or re-fit skirting, and re-anchor the unit to spec so it holds in the local wind zone. A single-section home needs fewer piers and no marriage-line bolt-up, so the setup is faster than a multi-section job — but skipping the re-anchor or leveling it loose is how floors crack and doors stop closing. Our combined crew experience tops 40 years, and the same licensed team that hauls the unit handles the mobile home setup end-to-end, both in NC and SC. Put your unit, route, and timeline on the form and a licensed transporter returns a written quote inside 24 business hours.