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modular homes. designers etc

temujin | Posted in General Discussion on March 15, 2007 02:55am

I just want to say a couple of things, and I am sure that as the years progress I have a lot more to say. I just have to say that I don’t like modular homes. They are homes built in the factory in their ‘ prestine location’. The Arts and Crafts movement was an attempt to just move away from things like modular homes, if they had existed back then, which are mass produced factory built things without a personal touch. Modular homes is another proof that designers don’t really care about craftsmanship.  They don’t really care about who really builds it,be it a man or a robot, I guess. They care about their design, and what can be farther than a well designed home than a modular home, which are just boxes stacked on top of each other. It is always amusing to see a huge truck and crane to stack these boxes. Done in a day they say, the architects, but you know how long it takes to build a box.

This brings to my point that Architects are not the smartes things in the world. They are no rocket scientists, believe me.  They may look down upon the carpenters and other trade workers but read this. You got to remember that Architects have 4 yrs of schooling. Out of that 4 yrs, they spend 2 yrs studying that has nothing to do with architecture, things like Sociology, English etc. Out of the 2 yrs left, they have to take more math related engineering courses. My point is, they spend less than 1 year studying real architecture, when you consider 6 mths of vacation, weekends, holidays. If you are lucky, your architect is educated 1 year in his or her field. You say there is a shortagt of good carpenters, just think about all these half educated architects floating around.  I want say a few things about interior designers and decorators, but that it quite a different topic and my opinion of them takes a further nose dive.

I am always struck by how polished some of these interior designers are in a magazine. Hey, they dress like royalty, all of them.  They throw out their mouths everything they have read and act like they are these creative beings. Nothing farther from the truth. Putting some curtains here, placing a window and door here and there, some ridiculously priced furniture pieces sprinkled around these expensive homes: this is not creative or art. Carpenter make them who designers are with their impeccable woodworking and exquisite cabinetry. Now that is craftsmanship and art. Designers are people who not stupid but ain’t smart either. theyl ike to read books and their imain nterest is making a lot of money without a lot of skill and hard work. Appearing to be these creative beings that they are not is just a ploy, so that when that rich client calls, they can appear regal and offer them their services.

all of this is a personal opinion and can change in the future.

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Replies

  1. User avater
    txlandlord | Mar 15, 2007 03:42am | #1

    So, what do you think about short order cooks and bus drivers?

  2. MikeSmith | Mar 15, 2007 07:07am | #2

    i think you sould study up on how to become an architect.. i don't think  you have a clue

    and you don't seem to know much about modular homes , either

    perhaps you'd like to embellish your thoughts

    Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
  3. 1muff2muff | Mar 15, 2007 07:57am | #3

    An architect, a designer, and a robot walk into a modular home... OUCH!!!



    Edited 3/15/2007 12:58 am by 1muff2muff

  4. fingersandtoes | Mar 15, 2007 08:14am | #4

    I don't care for the way interior designers dress either, but you are way off base about architectural education.

    Lets take for example the Architecture program at the University of Waterloo. It is a 6 years long with only one elective per term outside of the school. It is a co-op program with the study terms  interspersed with work placements to get office experience.

    Or UBC where I studied. It is a post graduate program, so you are expected to already have a good general education. That means  7 hours of instruction a day, which generates at least another 6 hours of work on your own. No sociology, no math, just theory and design. You never had a weekend without coursework. Often it was 2 day design exercise with a 9 am monday deadline. Holidays? You spent them working construction or design to pay for the 10 month school year. Over short ones like Christmas and Spring break I worked as a hospital orderly.

    Whatever else you may think about Architects, don't think they haven't paid their dues.

     



    Edited 3/15/2007 1:16 am ET by fingersandtoes

  5. woodguy99 | Mar 15, 2007 02:48pm | #5

    So what is YOUR great contribution to society?

    "This is a process, not an event."--Sphere
  6. AllTrade | Mar 15, 2007 03:02pm | #6

    All three professions/services provide a great service . Work on your spelling ,grammar and attitude and then call the kettle black.

    1. User avater
      CloudHidden | Mar 15, 2007 06:53pm | #13

      >Work on your spelling ,grammarSomeone should go get SpellChecker from the Tavern...after "she" has a go at his post, he can crawl back into whatever hole he popped out of. I love the irony of someone who can't string a sentence together spouting off about how someone else isn't the "smartes things in the world" [sic], but I'm guessing that irony is lost on him.

      1. AllTrade | Mar 15, 2007 10:21pm | #18

        LOL, you hit the nail on the head. As I was reading his post thats all I could think about. Granted he may not speak much English but spell check would have helped a bit.

        I build Modular's, they have come a long way and are good products. Most people don't need to remember me for the rest of there lives as long as I give them a good home at a good price. While I have maintained a friendship with some of my clients it was not the goal. Sure I agree craftsmanship is not what it once was due to industry materials being offered at reduced cost to the homeowner. We simply no longer have to make the crown onsite with lumber we milled onsite,etc.

        Some Architects are worth there weight in gold. If not for them we would be doing all the print work. When would we have time for building the dang stuff.

        Designers .... I used to have the same view ( unnecessary trade) until I saw what hiring someone who knows there stuff can do.

        This guy sounds like a hater!LOL

      2. oldbeachbum | Mar 17, 2007 08:55am | #29

        You noticed that too, I see.  I've seen a lot of that lately.  The most critical seem to be the least capable.  ...The unspoken word is capital. We can invest it or we can squander it.  -Mark Twain...

        Be kind to your children....they will choose your nursing home.

        ...aim low boys, they're ridin' shetland ponies !!

  7. Tuneman | Mar 15, 2007 03:31pm | #7

    We had put up a Wisconsin Homes modular, six section loft, on a lakefront lot in the U.P. of Michigan.  We toured the factory before building and worked closely with the dealer as to design and details.  We also visited the factory and walked around in the sections while they were being built.  This house, 2100 sq.ft. with a 400 sq.ft. loft, cost $215,000.00 installed with many deluxe options.  The company was VERY good at incorporating any changes we wanted, with a wide selections of options.  They will do any door, window, trim, cabinet choices you want.  You can add or delete anything you want to, and they will do custom designs.  The house had been up two years, and there isn't so much as one drywall screw pop.  The quality of materials is light years better than the 3/4 million dollar s**tboxes they are building here in the Chicago suburbs.  Where are the "crafts" in MDF vinyl coated woodwork? Molded synthetic doors?  Drywall returns to cheap vinyl windows (no window casings)?   Three-quarters of a million and not one stick of real wood trim in the entire place.  Modular is only one choice of many, but before putting the industry down, go tour the Wisconsin Homes plant in Marshfield, Wis.  A top quality home can be built in seven days.

  8. smslaw | Mar 15, 2007 03:52pm | #8

    I totally disagree with your view of architects and the training required to become one.

    As to modular homes, almost all of them are ugly rectangular boxes, dimensioned so they can travel over the road.  But the idea of assembling pieces of houses in a climate controlled factory makes perfect sense.  There is no reason why a well designed and attractive structure can't be factory built and there are some out there, but I don't think the industry has done a good job marketing.  As a result, most of us equate modular with trailer, i.e. cheap and ugly and poorly built.

    1. woodguy99 | Mar 15, 2007 03:56pm | #9

      Dwell magazine has had ongoing articles on "prefab" modern houses.  If you like the style, there is a definate trend toward quality and good design in modular construction.  It doesn't always translate well to bare-bones traditional designs though."This is a process, not an event."--Sphere

      1. MikeSmith | Mar 15, 2007 04:38pm | #10

        some of the modulars i have seen  are pretty slick..

        you can't tell they are a modular from the exterior.. lots of dormers , cut roofs... additions..bump outs

        as in anything..  alot of depends on what the customer is looking for

        most of the modulars i've been inside .. you can only tell by the thick common walls where they join the modules together

        also.. they are all framed floor systems.. i've  never seen one as a slab-on-gradeMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

        1. woodguy99 | Mar 15, 2007 04:48pm | #11

          Yeah, there are some nice ones on Nantucket too, where the typical designs are chopped up and someone was willing to pay for the design.

          My cousin built a colonial-style modular here in Maine.  The quality was bad and it had that darned thick wall where the two halves joined.  They weren't willing to pay extra for good quality or good design.

           "This is a process, not an event."--Sphere

      2. fingersandtoes | Mar 15, 2007 06:43pm | #12

        Dwell has some pretty neat stuff, but they do get a bit too enthusiastic about the virtues of pre-fab for my taste. A couple of issues ago they had a full page, illustrated with cool graphics, on the construction timelines for building the same small one story house conventionally or pre-fab. For reasons that remain unclear, it took them 2 years to build the conventional version - concluding that pre-fab was much faster. Not a word about how inexperienced or incompetent the general contractor must have been.

        1. woodguy99 | Mar 15, 2007 07:45pm | #14

          I guess I missed that issue, that's interesting though. "This is a process, not an event."--Sphere

      3. User avater
        draftguy | Mar 15, 2007 08:56pm | #15

        A big problem with the Dwell prefabs is still the cost. That's supposed to be one of the big benefits of modular construction. The designs are great. But when you're still paying $200/sf for a house, it's not hard to see why the trend hasn't quite taken off yet.

        1. fingersandtoes | Mar 16, 2007 03:03am | #26

          A couple of other things  strike me about the dwell pre-fabs. They all look as though they are perching on their sites, almost as though they are just there temporarily until some one moves them again. Similarly, the sparse interior are always described as "calming", but apart from sitting on the cool chairs, I don't know how you live in them. There is never any of the stuff most people need. No paper, no mess and certainly no tools.

  9. User avater
    draftguy | Mar 15, 2007 09:00pm | #16

    "Hey, they dress like royalty, all of them."

    i take offense at that . . . .

    1. User avater
      CloudHidden | Mar 15, 2007 09:09pm | #17

      You could be the King of Tahiti. (Or Bellevue)

    2. JoeArchitect | Mar 15, 2007 10:40pm | #19

      Oh my, isn't that photo illegal?

      1. Piffin | Mar 16, 2007 12:31am | #22

        That's the model for the new Soymilk diet 

         

        Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

      2. User avater
        draftguy | Mar 16, 2007 12:54am | #23

        only in 12 states . . .

        and guam.

  10. Rebeccah | Mar 15, 2007 10:51pm | #20

    At Cornell, Architecture is a 6-year program.

    Rebeccah

  11. Piffin | Mar 16, 2007 12:17am | #21

    You missed a spot. What do you think about used car salesmen?

     

     

    Welcome to the
    Taunton University of
    Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
     where ...
    Excellence is its own reward!

    1. AllTrade | Mar 16, 2007 02:08am | #24

      You know I was gonna mention those lame ducks myself!

      Edited 3/15/2007 7:08 pm ET by AllTrade

      1. temujin | Mar 16, 2007 02:50am | #25

        I want to appologize to anyone that took offense to what I wrote. I speak 4 languages and all of them very very very fluently. I studied English in college along with Biology. I was in the 80th percentile in chemistry, physics and biology in the SAT 2's.  I intend to study Architecture in the near future, and I am sure that it will be a lot of fun. Thank you.

        1. Piffin | Mar 16, 2007 11:43am | #27

          You sound quite full of yourselfI'm surethat you'll make a fine architectBut I'm not sureOf your definition of fun 

           

          Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

        2. Fishrite | Mar 17, 2007 08:19am | #28

           

          I actually don't care to hear how smart you THINK you are.

          Pleeeeeease...

          pleeeeeeease....

          DO NOT BECOME AN ARCHITECT!!!!!!!!!

           

           

           

           

           

           

           

          ...otherwise...

          we'll have to take you out....

          1. fingersandtoes | Mar 17, 2007 11:02am | #30

            Don't worry, it's not really up to him. He hasn't been accepted anywhere, and the ratio of applicants to students is usually around 1 in 10.

            I'm going to be an astronaut.

  12. bobbys | Mar 17, 2007 11:40am | #31

    i think you are using too broad a paint brush, theres good and bad everywhere, Im not gonna start a architects fan club anytime soon but one that has earned his bizness over a long time must have earned it

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