we found a modular home that looks good, and we have heard that buying a house (in Chasn SC) will be $100sqft, and building ~$90sqft.

http://www.crestlinehomes.com/

the sales rep at Crest Line homes told us $60sqft for a modular.

Deercroft
3 bedrooms
2 1/2 baths
1890 sq. ft.

http://www.crestlinehomes.com/displa...ay&ID=10&lg=en

so let me know what you think, good or bad, ideas, or dumb stuff, investment value, just whatever.

don't want to make an expensive mistake, but seems like an OK idea.

we will be putting this on a few acres in the country, with a small garage on one end, and a large sunroom on the back, out the dining room.

Every builder on this site claims to be one "of the top ten modular home builders in the country"
http://www.modular-directory.com/

http://www.modular-directory.com/33.html

 

Pretty slick lookin for a modular. We went lookin to replace a mobile on opur property. Cant remember what brand it was but its rated as one of the best. Looked pretty poor to us. there are visible quality differences. I would look as several different brands before buying. Here in Cali, the cheapos are $55K + install, and the really top notchers were over $200k. Made our house look like what it really is...... Junk

 

i bought three modulars for my kids 4 years ago . went with Four Season brand, made in Middlebury ind.
one thing i can say for sure is that they are economical to live in. while these are small ones i got (28 x 40) ranch style, they have all been able to heat them with about 750 gal of propane for the entire winter!

 

after watching the storm coverage on the news tonight, I would not live in Florida in anything less than a steel re-inforced cinder block building with a concrete roof and bolted on iron shutters over the windows..........

You folks get 10 to 15 storms a year that YOU GIVE NAMES TO!!!!!!!!!!

just my .02...........


big jake
THE FORD GUY!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I'm not a carpenter but with the help of local subs, I can build a much better house, at a lower cost, than buying most any house (modular or stick-built, old or new). Be sure to keep land cost separate from construction cost so you can compare apples to apples. Also, when you do your own construction, you can work in quality that you'll not get from even the best builders. All this, of course, is based on having the time and basic skills to do the work.

 

i have several friends who are in the trades business's and when i purchased the three homes for my kids we crunched the numbers and could not even come close to building for what we bought the modulars for here in michigan.

 

I have a modular too. It's a Chelsea Modular out of NY. I found my home at least to be built very stoutly; 5/8" drywall throughout, 2x6 outer walls, and a 1/2"x12" steel "backbone" running the entire length of the home where the two halfs are joined together. I've been very satisfied with mine and there has been very little in the way of drywall cracks. I understand that quality can vary greatly between manufacturers, so just do your homework.

 

We upgraded from a single wide Fleetwood p. o. j. IMO to a Palm Harbor double wide, 5yrs ago. We absolutely love it. We looked around for a year, even conciderd having a good friend who builds custom homes build us a stick home. After crunching numbers we decided we didn't want to be that far in debt.
Went to alot of manufactors & seen alot of nice modulars. What sold us on this one was, no particle board anywhere, brass shut off valves under sinks, duct work insulated, strand board sub sidding under the vinal sidding(some just use fiber board), 31/2 x 31/2 square cornner hinges on doors not those cheap strap ones any ways look around we went to the factory & took the tour. There is a factory in Florida. They also had a display on how the Palm Harbor held up to hurricane Andrew. Good Luck

 

All good info, esp Herb. appreciate the feedback.

Mama was all excited, be glad to relay your guys good reports,

anybody else?

surely someone will pooh on my dream of economical housing?

 

Do modualr homes last as long as a stick? Resale value as good? In 40 years will they hold the same value as a stick down the road?

Don~

 

Modular construction is pretty much unlimited today in quality of engineering and workmanship, mostly to it's credit and financing is even showing some preferences over custome construction with better warranty and accountability down the road, at least from my experience.
However, construction related economics are terrible right now, at least N.E. is!
Politics, oil/transportation baloney and storm damage demands advise to buy good used or consider 2-3 year options and wait till after elections.
Herb bought at right time. Materials are now sky high for the MODS you mentioned. Stick built lumber packages are average up $5000 and Florida can,t get enough glass/window product right now!

Anyway, that,s about all the Pooh I can think of . Good luck...sty

 

My sister inlaw just bought a large modular, her husband is a stone mason by trade, so he covered it in brick, cant tell it is a modular on outside OR inside. Remember, modulars are hauled on the road, so they have more than just 'local' building codes to meet, believe they must also meet certian highway standards. I don't know of very many stick builts that would handle 70 mph down the highway. I have no real experience of my own with them, but from what I've seen and heard I certianly would not be afraid of them

DuaneWKKC

 

i built garages (unattached to the modulars ) i got for the kids , and was surprised when i went to the lumber yard to match the shingles that the modulars had the best preimium shingles that were made.
cheapest thing in them was the trim work around the ceilings and floors. we have replaced it with some nice oak we cut and routed ourselves and that added a lot to the interiors.

 

I looked at modulars pretty closely as we have 3 modular factories close by. In my .02 they are far superior to stick built in many ways. the construction is all done in jigs where these homes have been done over and over so the manufacturing bugs are worked out. Too many stick builts are done by a rough crew that is too sloppy for my liking not to say good ones don't exist but it's hard for the laymen to pick the right one. modular on the other hand is a repetitive process where a crew works under a supervisor that has on site engineering and technical help as needed and to top it off you can go to most of these builders and observe the quality control of the product you are considering. I didn't like the flooring,interior doors and trim or the cabinet choices of the homes I looked at. I did ask about doing the finish work myself and the companies were all O.K. with that and had a standard give back for the amount of finish you would provide. So all in all I think a modular home may add value and square footage for the right monies. I went away thinking that the value (at least in the roughing) was pretty impressive and you would be hard pressed to find a rough crew that would do as good of a job. I do think the finish work could have been better and a guy that could do his own finish you would get a great deal.

 

Blackjack, what kind of finish?

I am not that "house detailed" so I'm not real picky. More worried about the bike

anyways, I could cut & put down moldings and stuff, I redid mine after I laid ceramic tile.

I think I am so lazy & impatient, I'd rather let them do it, and use my energy moving in.

I did notice they use a 5 inch crown molding where the wall meets the ceiling, I assume that is to cover larger gaps & mistakes, or is that some new thing to look high dollar?

I'm low rent all the way, no big moldings for me, unless needed.