You found the right plant manager. The interviews went well, the offer is competitive, and the candidate is excited. Then the conversation turns to the house, and everything stalls.
In ag equipment, construction equipment, RV, utility and turf vehicle, lawn and garden and other complex engineered products manufacturing, this happens constantly. Plants sit in smaller cities and rural counties where the local bench of experienced plant leaders and engineers is thin, so the best candidate usually lives somewhere else. Relocation is often the real negotiation, not the salary.
So what is the real cost to relocate a plant manager in 2027? Below is what employers are paying now, our estimated 2027 cost of a full move for someone who owns a $300,000 to $500,000 home, what a relocation package for manufacturing engineers typically needs to include, and the tools leading companies use to make the move work.
How to read the numbers: Survey figures are reported as published, with the year they cover. Where a figure is older, we show a 2027 estimate that assumes costs rise about 3% a year, and we label it as an estimate.
How far employers go in paying relocation costs
The Atlas Van Lines 2026 Corporate Relocation Survey, which polled 549 relocation decision-makers about 2025 (the newest data available), found:
- Full reimbursement: 47% of relocations were fully reimbursed.
- Partial reimbursement: 23% were partially reimbursed.
- Lump sum: 19% were handled with a lump sum.
- No help: 12% were not reimbursed at all.
(Atlas Van Lines, https://www.atlasvanlines.com/hubfs/2026%20Corporate%20Relocation%20Survey%20Booklet.pdf)
The home is where policies get thin:
- Home sale help is the exception: Only 33% of companies reimbursed home sale costs (49% at large companies), 27% covered loss on sale and 21% paid the tax on relocation benefits.
- Yet homeowners are common: 45% of relocating employees were homeowners.
- Housing kills deals: Housing concerns were behind 49% of the times an employee turned down a move.
- Declines are rising: 59% of companies had at least one employee decline to relocate in 2025, and 46% said declines increased (Atlas Van Lines, same survey).
Larger employers tend to build structured home sale programs. Cartus’s 2025 U.S. and Canada Domestic Mobility Survey found that nearly three-quarters of companies offer a home sale program, and among them 80% use a buyer value option, 46% direct reimbursement and 40% an appraised value buyout (Worldwide ERC summary of the Cartus survey, https://www.talenteverywhere.org/Mobility-News/Article/cartus-examines-trends-in-us-and-canadian-domestic-relocations).
| What employers covered (2025 data) | Share of companies |
|---|---|
| Final move travel | 56% |
| Temporary housing as a standard benefit | 50% |
| Shipment of household goods | 41% |
| Home sale costs (all companies) | 33% |
| Home sale costs (large companies) | 49% |
| Loss on sale | 27% |
| Tax gross-up on relocation benefits | 21% |
| Help finding a job for a spouse or partner | 31% |
Source: Atlas Van Lines 2026 Corporate Relocation Survey.
The cost to relocate a plant manager or engineer who owns a $300,000 to $500,000 home
Two broad benchmarks set the baseline:
- Worldwide ERC average homeowner transfer: $85,466 in 2022 (latest published), with home sale assistance ($36,910), loss on sale ($31,125), household goods ($16,465) and tax gross-up ($14,289) as the costliest pieces (Worldwide ERC, https://www.talenteverywhere.org/Mobility-News/Article/migration-patterns-survey-examines-where-people-move). 2027 estimate: about $99,000.
- WHR Global average homeowner package: $63,685 in its 2024 to 2025 client data (WHR Global, https://whrg.com/blog/how-much-is-the-average-u-s-domestic-relocation-package/). 2027 estimate: about $67,600.
Averages include plenty of modest homes. For a plant manager, operations director or manufacturing engineer selling a $300,000 to $500,000 house, the math looks different. All figures below are 2027 estimates.
| Cost item (2027 estimate) | $300,000 home | $500,000 home | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real estate commissions | $16,380 | $27,300 | 5.46% average total commission (Clever Real Estate 2026) |
| Seller closing costs | $3,000 to $9,000 | $5,000 to $15,000 | 1% to 3% of sale price, excluding commission (Redfin) |
| Moving household goods | $10,300 to $20,600 | $10,300 to $20,600 | Upper half of WHR Global’s $5,000 to $20,000 range, plus 3% for 2027 |
| Temporary housing, 2 to 3 months | $14,000 to $29,400 | $14,000 to $29,400 | WHR Global Q3 2025 Midwest benchmark (about $6,800 to $9,500 a month for a 3-bedroom furnished unit), plus 3% a year to 2027 |
| Duplicate mortgage, 3 to 6 months | $3,200 to $6,500 | $5,400 to $10,800 | Principal and interest on an 80% loan at a 3.5% rate locked in earlier; taxes, insurance and utilities extra |
| Subtotal before taxes | $46,900 to $81,900 | $62,000 to $103,100 | |
| Tax gross-up at 40% to 50% | $18,800 to $41,000 | $24,800 to $51,600 | WHR Global estimate of what gross-up adds |
| Estimated total (range) | $66,000 to $123,000 | $87,000 to $155,000 | Before any loss on sale |
| Typical cost (midpoint) | About $94,000 | About $121,000 | Midpoint of the range above |
Sources: Clever Real Estate (https://listwithclever.com/research/average-real-estate-commission-rate/), Redfin (https://www.redfin.com/blog/closing-costs-for-sellers/), WHR Global (https://whrg.com/blog/how-much-is-the-average-u-s-domestic-relocation-package/) and WHR Global Temp Housing Benchmark 2025 (https://www.whrg.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/WHR-Global-Temp-Housing-Benchmark-2025.pdf). These are illustrative estimates, not quotes.
What drives the cost: the line items that matter most
- Selling costs: Commissions still average 5.46% nationally, split roughly evenly between the listing and buyer agents. Add 1% to 3% in seller closing costs, and selling a home costs most owners 7% to 8% of its value before they pack a box.
- Temporary housing: WHR Global’s Q3 2025 benchmark priced a 30-day, 3-bedroom furnished rental at $6,798 in Fort Wayne, $7,640 in Indianapolis, $8,762 in Milwaukee and $9,108 in Grand Rapids. At about 3% a year, that is roughly $7,200 to $9,700 a month in 2027 (estimate). Families with school-age kids often need more than one month.
- The duplicate mortgage risk: This is the cost that keeps candidates up at night. If the old house sits unsold, the employee carries two housing payments.
- The rate gap: The 30-year mortgage rate averaged 7.32% in the week of October 22, 2026, according to Freddie Mac (FRED, https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MORTGAGE30US). A family trading a $400,000 loan at 3.5% (80% of a $500,000 home) for the same balance at 7.32% would see principal and interest rise from about $1,796 to about $2,748 a month, roughly $950 more, for the same size house.
- Candidates are already saying no: A 2026 Storable survey found 20% of Americans have already turned down a job or promotion that required relocating, and 36% more would (Storable, https://www.storable.com/resources/storables-2026-moving-forecast/).
- The tax gross-up: Employer-paid moving expenses are taxable wages for most employees, and that treatment is now permanent for everyone outside the armed forces and the intelligence community. Reimbursements are subject to income tax, Social Security and Medicare (IRS Publication 15-B, https://www.irs.gov/publications/p15b). If you don’t gross up, your new hire pays tax on the cost of taking your job.
What a relocation package for manufacturing engineers should include
Not every hire needs the full plant manager package. For engineers, the right package depends mostly on whether they own a home:
- Renters and early-career engineers: A lump sum usually works. Atlas found the most common lump sum ran $10,000 to $12,499, and WHR Global puts its 2025 average at $14,608 (2027 estimate: about $15,500). Gross it up, or state the after-tax amount honestly.
- Homeowning senior engineers: A lump sum rarely covers even the commission on a $300,000 house. Pair it with home sale help, temporary housing and a gross-up, or use the $300,000 column in the table above as your guide.
- Engineers with a working spouse: Add spouse or partner job help. It costs little compared with a failed search.
Creative ways to lower the cost to relocate a plant manager
The companies that win relocation hires don’t necessarily spend the most. They remove the specific risks that make a candidate say no.
- Guaranteed buyout: A relocation company appraises the home and offers to buy it if it doesn’t sell on the market. Dollar General’s executive relocation policy, updated December 2025, includes an appraised value offer with a 90-day acceptance window, up to 120 days of temporary housing, home purchase closing costs and tax gross-up on many of those benefits (Dollar General policy filed with the SEC, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/29534/000110465925118289/dg-20251031xex10d7.htm).
- Buyer value option: The employee markets the home normally, and once a buyer is found, the relocation company buys it at that price and resells it to the buyer. That removes the duplicate mortgage risk and keeps the deal clean. Cartus found 80% of companies with home sale programs use this approach.
- Loss-on-sale protection: Some employers cover part of the gap if the home sells for less than the employee paid. Only 27% offered it in 2025, per Atlas, which makes it a real differentiator. Corteva’s 2026 offer letter to an incoming executive specified that the executive was not eligible for its guaranteed buyout or loss-on-sale benefits, which signals that its relocation policy includes both (Corteva filing, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1755672/000119312526153947/d57201dex101.htm).
- Mortgage help: In 2025, 28% of companies offered mortgage rate assistance and 52% offered a cost of living adjustment, according to Atlas. Common tools include a temporary rate buydown, which lowers the payment for the first year or two, and a mortgage interest differential allowance, which covers part of the gap between the old rate and the new rate for a few years (Cartus, https://www.cartus.com/insights/blog/u-s-mortgage-options-to-ensure-a-robust-mobility-program/).
- Lump sums, used wisely: Lump sums are simple and predictable, but for a homeowner they rarely cover even the commission on a $300,000 house. Use them for renters and early-career engineers, and pair them with home sale help for senior leaders.
- Flexible start dates and a remote transition: Atlas lists flexibility with start dates among the benefits companies now offer to ease the stress of a move, and 30% of companies said they planned to use commuter or extended travel arrangements in 2026 instead of relocating some employees. A plant leader who can start on site four days a week while the family finishes the school year is far more likely to accept.
- Spouse and family support: Family ties were the top reason employees declined a move in 2025, and a spouse or partner’s job is on the list too. In 2025, 31% of companies helped spouses or partners find a job and 35% helped find schools and daycares (Atlas Van Lines). A short engagement with a career coach costs far less than a failed search.
How Lodestar helps
Lodestar Recruiting works with manufacturers nationwide in ag equipment, construction equipment, recreational vehicles, utility and turf vehicles, lawn and garden equipment and other complex engineered products.
- Relocation comes up first, not last: We learn whether candidates own or rent, what their mortgage rate looks like, where their spouse works and what their kids’ school calendar requires, so you know the true cost of a hire before you make an offer.
- We help you shape the package: When we know your policy, we can tell you whether it will compete for a plant manager or engineer selling a $400,000 home, and where a targeted add-on such as a buyer value option, a mortgage differential or a later start date would close the gap at a lower cost than a bigger salary.
Learn more about our Services (https://lodestarrecruiting.com/services/) and our Talent Acquisition approach (https://lodestarrecruiting.com/talent-acquisition/).
Budget for the move in 2027, not as a surprise
If your next plant leader or engineer will probably come from out of town, budget for the cost of relocating them as seriously as you budget for salary. Contact Lodestar Recruiting (https://lodestarrecruiting.com/contact/) to talk through your next search and what it will take to get the right person to say yes.
