anyone build one?
I have a potential/future customer asking all the right questions….
co-worked of the wife.
maybe next year…..
so I got time to learn. The modular was a suggestion of mine to look into…and they’ve already been researching on the web.
I read the article in JLC from earlier this year.
Just curious if anyone here’s build one or two.
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery…..While U Waite
Replies
one of largest builders of modular homes in ontario is in next town to me ( Guildcrest Modular Homes)
I have watched them install 12 on land i sold them over the last few years
tey build only R2000 energy rated homes
I know they have shipped to Boston & buffalow in the past
they have a web site
The GC I'm working for right now had an apointment at the factory yesterday, so I took the drive with him.
Avis America ......near State College PA.
They have a sister company Excell, somewhere near by. Excell was the company my potential customer had looked into.....Avis is the more custom end of their lines.
After the factory tour, and after sitting in on their meeting hammering out some final design ideas on the on to go up in a month or so, we went to the sales reps house so we could see one being lived in.
You'd never know it was modular unless you knew what to look for.
They take regular house designs and make them fit into boxes "small" enough to transport.....finishing everything aside from the marriage walls.
I think he said they could truck up to around 60' long and 15' wide....somewhere there abouts.
I was pretty impressed.....on the catwalk looking down on about 6 open ceilings...looking down onto the joists and seeing the top of the drywall....I only saw a total of 3 or 4 crooked joists....
and that didn't affect the drywall ceiling as they adhesive foam the drywall to the joists....said it makes for a near perfectly flat ceiling..and as we toured the open boxes......really couldn't find a wavy one.
pretty cool to see how the roofs hinge up and flip into place.
The house my GC was working on was one of his own designs....not outta their books. The first design was to build off and existing foundation after a complete tear down.....then that didn't fit into the budget...but they liked the design....so he looked around and had his design modular-ized.
Customers can now fit their dream design into their budget.
Also sounds like a good way to build a spec.....just get all the basic/ most common options and be done with it.
Takes them about 4 days from the time it starts the line to finish. He said they give it 8 days on average though.
Erecting takes about one day. Connections take about a day. Said to figure maybe 2 weeks of patching and finish after it's all hooked up.
So no one's put one up yet?
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite
Jeff: The GC that I had worked for many years ago was a dealer for Avis homes,I also took that factory tour,was very impresive..Ive got to say that we never had any problems with the Avis homes,everything went nice & smooth..
We were using them in private develpments in the Poconos Pa,as a matter of fact that GC is still selling them there...
ToolDoc
Jeff,
I have been working as a sub for some builders who do modulars. Overall, I think they are pretty cool. Everything *could* be very good as far as workmanship and material quality, as they are built in a controlled environment. The houses that I've seen are made filled with cheap finishes, but the framing and other important stuff is done right. Nothing jaw-dropping, but I've seen a lot worse done in the tracts.
I don't know what the financial end of it is, but I do know that there is alot more time spent on tie in that if you were just building new. For instance, they leave the bottom course of siding off as so you can nail the rim to the sole plate, and filling stuff like that in takes much longer per piece than if you had the whole wall to do, but if you think like it's a remodeling job then no problem. Sometimes I wonder why they don't leave whole walls of siding off or sections of roof with just paper, as it seems that it would be more efficient in the long run because of tie-in construction, but then again, I don't know what the numers are so maybe it's not an issue.
Setting them is no big deal. If your foundation walls are right, the boxes should be right, so you just basically crane the thing on. Make sure you use either straps for the sole plate of countersink your j bolts, as they will be in the way.
Your 2 week figure seem reasonable. I bet you could hustle and have it done in 3 or 4 days, but that would be only by good coordination with subs.
I will be setting one tomorrow in the AM, so I will report if I have forgotten anything major, or if I have a revelation about something. Keep posting, as I would be very interested to see what the price comparison is. The guys we work for are kind or tight lipped about the business end of things.
Jon Blakemore
pictures?bobl Volo Non Voleo
You always want pictures. Get your own beer for a change.
Jeff, If I knew you were going thru State College I would've bought you a cold one!
I've subbed hardwood flooring, ceramic tile, and siding from a dealer here. They really are built well. I agree that some of the finishes aren't top quality, but structurally they're hard to beat. The set crew the G.C. used would usually have it set and shingles tied in by about 2 in the afternoon.
The fastest one I can remember being completed was 4 days. Lots of long hours. I had tile, wood flooring, siding and two decks to do on that one.
Glad to see a post I might be able to help with.Greg
we coulda met ya at Clems for barBQ.
we stopped at the expansion branch.....his tent and a trailer. ...somewhere on 220.
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite
Never ate there but it was a little too hot yesterday for bbq wasn't it?
It was Excel and Professional Building Systems houses that I worked on.
If you need to know anything inparticular let me know and I'll talk to the G.C.Greg
In a couple of weeks I will go back to after-trim a "custom" modular for one of their salesmen.
The factory work is hack, but ok. Their mill, and your mill, isn't the same. There is more onsite work than you let you onto. I dunno, you can make some bucks slapping these up.
The rep admitted he could build custom cheaper, but he was inside, and he did ok. I'll take some pics when I go there, you won't believe this is a mod.
He asked me then, and he asked me again, to slap some up for him, but I passed. If I did this for money I would have said yes, both times...
what "after-trim" are you going to do?
From what I could see....all they left off was a piece here or there that would run into the next box.....maybe a door leading from one room to the one on another truck.
Is that the kinda thing you're going to do....or is there more to it on your job?
from waht I could see....looked like they did a good job of tacking the needed piece to any exposed framing near by....REp said it's supposed to get attached as they trim out....less chance to forget that last important stick.
One thing of concern to me....
The only siding the ship with is vinyl.....and he said house wrap was an extra...
and extra he didn't think was necessary.
I had to ask twice to make sure I heard right. Said "most" of their builders think house wrap an unnecessary expense...even under vinyl.
And falt paper isn't an option.
I prefer felt.
But at very least would insist on wrap.
Makes for a thought to upgrading the siding and doing it on site.
Everything else I saw looked pretty good. As good if not better than any plan homes I've been thru during construction. 2x6 exterior....2x4 interior....2x6 wet walls.....all walls 16OC.......5/8th rock ceilings on 24 centers......and I know they'll make the change to 16 OC if requested..as my GC's gonna do a beaded ceiling and wanted the extra nailers. Forget what the price diff was...but they don't up charge too bad at all....
One I remembered...from flat hollow core to fake raised panel.....$15 per unit.
Sounds like all their mark up is on the base option.....then the up grade is just added in as additional material at a decent price.
Let me know how your trim goes...
I got plenty of time to research this.....
but the more the better.
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite
jeff.. keep looking... their options are way too limited for today's modular market.. you should be able to get ust about anything you want any way you want it..
if not... pass.. and
there is a lot of on-site work.. which is why there are a lot of complaints about modulars .. a lot are built by part-timers who know nothing about building.. so they get the on-site details wrong...Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
After-trim is some fireplace wetdream, a windowseat thingy, and some shelving. This house has been up for 2 years; back then I was just there to trim the stairway, (I guess he didn't know Larry), and got conned into doing a couple of other things that were being hacked, or no one could figure out.
This one was weird, it is not your normal modular, and I think it is the only mod I ever worked on. The boxes came naked, he sided with fiber cement. There was more than a little stick framing, here and there. Mucho plastering left to be done, all over, but I guess that is normal between the boxes when you have multi-stories. Plaster? For some reason I remember plaster, but that seems to be an odd choice for a road rig. He also did all of the flooring, cabinets, and finish painting, (ha, still...).
Ok, it is coming back to me a little, he did a walkout basement, and that was all stick built, by his keeper crew. They dropped the units and an install crew tied it together and capped the roof, (you ought to hear that story. Freakin guys worked all night until they were done, the weather wasn't pretty, and they were running short because one guy had to leave because his hand got in the way of two sections), and then he had the garage stick built, and the porch and decks, siding, etc.
I dunno, I'll pick the guy's brain when I go there, supposed to be after the 4th, but I am doing most of the work here, and just going there to install. If you have any questions left by then, wrap them up in a bundle and I'll run them by him. He knows his stuff, and is a straight guy...for a saleman. ;-)
Two other times I worked next to modulars? does that count?
The last one they had cranked into place in about as long as we spent doing finish. That was scary, but we were there a long time. The other time was they put two in next to the first house I was building for myself, and they broke ground as I was framing. I moved in first, thank you, and all I ever heard, the whole time I lived there, was problems with them. I got out of Dodge and doubled my money, while they were trying to get out with the shirt on their back.
They all seem to be schemes to bottom feed, cheaparsed stuff, lowbid techs that need to break in new tools, and dopes who don't know how to get a house out of the ground. The guy with the house I know got things the way he wanted, knows he paid a bit more, and you have to look to see it is a modular.
You have to sort out the crap and find a "quality" manufacturer, you need to get the house right ground up, and you need to be sure you want your name on whatever you do. Your weakness is groundwork, and you know it, You will pay your dues on this one.
The siding? Frig it, do it onsite, you will be there anyhow, and it will take just as long to do the whole thing, as to piece it. Ship it housewrap and windows. I wouldn't even have them do the roof, you have to piece roof and trim, please. Give me the $$$ and I'll do the whole thing. Side and roof the silly thing in a week, and get your wallet fat. The mechanicals are the big thing, and they take time, so get outside and goof around.
Hey, I could make a million setting these stupit things up by phone, but I don't do this crap for money, and I can prove that.
From a home buyer's point:
We are building a house on a farm next fall and have four builders giving us estimates.
One builds concrete houses, two that use regular framing and another uses SIP panels.
We are tending to that one as he is the most experienced one. 30+ years building regular houses, before a plumbing contractor with business in two towns and four as a manufacturer for local builders and builder himself with SIP.
We bought the Tauton Press book on SIP's and he had just bought several to give to his workers as they had the old edition and wanted the update. We have a termite problem and he was working on that and that book had some good ideas on how to protect agains them.
He mentioned that some modular home builders are starting to use SIP's.
We also looked at the local, framed manufactured homes in several nearby towns.
Those come in many kinds of quality and the prices are about $60.- dollars/foot, (about what regular built houses go for around here, if not very fancy) for the, I assume, better ones.
Here, they can deliver 28' wide and 60' long, they told us (we asked twice because we didn't believe that 28' the first time). They also said that their houses were set on 18" piers and termites would not go over 12", something we can prove to be wrong, as we had some go clear to the rafters in tunnels in a barn we had.
They are having a demand explosion and if ordering now they will have it in 8-9 months at the soonest.
A friend just helped his friend move into one and they say they were several problems, the quality was not the best and there was some damage from the moving (that the movers fixed).
I'm a real estate broker in an area (rural Rockies) where lots of modulars go up. It may be completely different in your area.
My experience is that (deserved or not) a lot of buyers won't even look at a modular. We hear lot of complaints about them and the people who put them up, lots of factory and timing problems, quite a few law suits.
There are three main reasons why people tell us they went in that direction: 1. It was faster and they just couldn't wait for a reputable local builder to get to it. 2. They were offered a financing package which allowed them to do more than they could otherwise (read in more foreclosures and more naive people being bilked out of their money with astoundingly bad financing rates and charges. 3. They can have "new" without going through the period of buying a "starter" home that most people have traditionally gone through.
I'm afraid that to me it seems like another symptom of degrading culture.
Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one.