We are about to move into a new house, and it has the laundry in a walk-through pantry. (you enter from the garage, walk through the pantry into the kitchen - the laundry is on one side of that pantry.) Upstairs, almost right above that area, is the utility room with the furnace, water heater, and a small water softener.

My question is would it be a huge and expensive project to swap the two? I realize it's hard to say without seeing the property, but surely this has been done before?

Thanks!

Yes, it would be expensive. In additon to replumbing, you will also need to run vents for the heater and hot water heater through a concealed wall space, add new distribution runs for the HVAC somewhere, replumb the gas to the lower level, and then add electrical service if it is an electric dryer. Your configuration is almost identical to mine. However, our BR's are on the main level so having it in the pantry is great for us. A much cheaper solution would be to install a clothes chute to drop the clothing to the first level. However, if this is new construction, you will probably need to install a fire door on the chute.