I am interested to know if there are high quality, well designed modular homes being built in the North East. Is it possible to find Craftsman style or Small Shingle style homes that are well made.
Anyone with any comments or suggestions on where to get info?
Replies
Walter:
While I hate to admit it (flame suit on), the main living area of my house is a modular. It was built by AvisAmerica in PA and I bought it from the Home Store in Whately, MA. I can sum it up by stating this: If I was to do it again, I would have gone with a panelized house, not a modular.
Pros:
Cons: the little things I notice
The garage and great room were done by me. I am happiest with that part of the house if for no other reason than good ole pride!
The bottom line on modular or panelized is that if you can design it, they can build it. There are literally thousands of designs available.
Mike O.
Thanks for your reply.
What would you say the pros and cons of panelized construction are?
Any ideas on getting more information for Craftsman style plans?
Thanks.
I would recommend going to see Andy at The Home Store for plans. We took the first floor of one colonial and the second floor of another model and they used the CAD to redo the plans at no cost to us.
As far as panelized goes...you get the advantages of computer aided manufacturing and controlled building climates for the main structure of the house. This means everything is straight and square (as long as the foundation is). The downside is that you still have to do all the mechanicals, SR, trim, kitchen, etc. It is a lot more work. I don't mind that though. We had a really tight timetable and modular was the ONLY way to go at the time.
We will build again and I will do a panelized.
Mike O.
I've got a home that was built by Kieser Industries out of Maine. I purchased the house new about 6 years ago though a third party. I've had a few problems mostly with the roof and what I found is that the Kieser blames the developer and the developer blames Kieser all the while my issues are not getting resolved.
I would not by a modular again unless I was there when the house was set and documented all that you can through video or photos. They sell you on the environment in which the home is built and then when you do find something it's either the site crew that messed it up or they can engineering plans say they can space studs at a given distance. Just know that what a builder in your area may be allowed to do may vary from what you get from a modular home.
One last thing, If you have your home built on site, you will have an inspector come out at different times to check different things. You really don't know what is behind the finished wall or the specs on the material that is used. You may be able to get that from the manufacturor, but they buy in such large bulk that they may not even know what the name or model number of your slider.
Just prepare yourself and look past the finish
turtleboy
My Mother had a modular retirement house set last year (I've posted here about it before). I believe it was "SUN Building Systems" or something similar out of northern PA.
Finish is good, albeit plain casings, painted trim, etc...
Company VERY willing to upgrade specs on request (stud spacing, more roof pitch, more roof overhangs, Ice & water at eves and rakes, etc...)...but you have to know what to ask for to change. Frequently their base space is the lowest common denominator to meet code. This gets more people into houses, because they can better afford it. If you know what you want to upgrade, and are willing to pay more to acheive it, then it can be a good bet.
Obviously the more you deviate from their boiler plate spec, and deviate from their standard designs...the more closely it begins to resemble a site built house in price. I think it's still cheaper than site built when all is said and done, but not as much as the modular folks will advertise.
here's a company that builds a good product... i've seen about 4 of theirs... they can design to suit
http://www.havenhomes.com/specifications.htmMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Mike--
Could you e-mail Andy this link?; seems better than my doublewide idea...
Regards,
Rework