Modular Housing

Discovery Homes

A couple weeks ago we looked at a couple of Discovery modular homes in Walton County. I couldn't tell you exactly where they are, I was just kind of along for the ride.
But these did not seem to be crummy little crackerbox homes.
What do y'all think?

proposal for Mossy Head

Obviously nicer than a mobile home. Did you see these homes in north or south Walton? I'm curious to know if the homes can meet the 130 mph wind load requirement for south Walton.

As for the article; I'm not sure about his comment about the $8,000 savings though, local labor costs may eat up any saved costs from not having to transport the homes here from North Carolina.

Palm Harbor (parent company) is one of the biggest players in the mass market modular home biz, so the financial backing is probably there. As for quality, I'd want to see how the homes look/wear after five years of typical family use.

More my taste in modular homes:

http://www.thedwellhomesbyempyrean.com/Preview3/Navigation/Menu/2_menu.html

Obviously nicer than a mobile home. Did you see these homes in north or south Walton? I'm curious to know if the homes can meet the 130 mph wind load requirement for south Walton.

As for the article; I'm not sure about his comment about the $8,000 savings though, local labor costs may eat up any saved costs from not having to transport the homes here from North Carolina.

They are in SoWal, north of 98. There is one, recently seen on EBAY advertising, located on East Pt Washington Rd. There is another brand of one on Cabbage Rose and Georgie (I think), another brand on East Wild Blueberry (two story - pretty good layout & the owner of the modular company built it as a model and for his temporary vacation residence), two on West Wild Blueberry, there are several more built around Old Town of Santa Rosa, with one on Central 6th St, a couple on Indian Woman, and probably a few more scattered here and there.

The only people I hear bragging on them are the manufactorers and the guys selling them. They do sound much less expensive to build and typically reduce much time on the job site, thereby decreasing costs. There is always a place for everything, and this may provide a less expensive alternative for some affordable mass quantity housing in the area of MossyHead.

We looked at modular housing at one point. The big plus is that there is very, very little jobsite "waste" (you know how things/materials tend to disappear?) If put together properly at the home site, they should be as sturdy as a site-built house. I would pay particular attention to the roof and hurricane straps.

If anyone happens to be in DeFuniak Springs, go down Walton Road, past Walton High School. Go approximately another mile, maybe less, until you see Juniper Lake Road intersecting on the right. Look to your left, and you will see a large, beautiful red brick home with vaulted ceiling and several cars in the driveway. That's my brother's house. And guess what...it was modular. ;-)

Had I not had flood zone issues, and if the company that did my bro's house had not pulled back and restricted themselves to Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties, I might be modular too.

They are in SoWal, north of 98. There is one, recently seen on EBAY advertising, located on East Pt Washington Rd. There is another brand of one on Cabbage Rose and Georgie (I think), another brand on East Wild Blueberry (two story - pretty good layout & the owner of the modular company built it as a model and for his temporary vacation residence), two on West Wild Blueberry, there are several more built around Old Town of Santa Rosa, with one on Central 6th St, a couple on Indian Woman, and probably a few more scattered here and there.

Hmm, interesting- those locations put them outside the Wind Borne Debris region which would not require them to have impact glass etc. It would be a little more complicated to get one permitted south of 98. I was just curious because last time I looked into modular housing (more along the lines of beachmouses' Dwell Homes) most companies would not even ship to FL because they would not be able to meet code requirements.

Does anyone know what the cost per square foot is? (If buying directly from the manufacturer).

As for quality, I'd want to see how the homes look/wear after five years of typical family use.

I agree; and after a few hurricanes.

Yes, ShallowsNole, you don't necessarily think you are looking at a modular when you see these.
Twt, I am sorry, I don't know which ones I saw, I was just sort of riding along. The first one was a two story, Discovery's Buckeye, and the next one was a one story. The second one had a lot of custom stuff, which is the only way I would consider doing it.
The husband has toured Discovery's factory in NC and was pretty impressed with the quality that goes into these homes. They definitely would be up to hurricane building codes; as for family wear-and-tear, when looking at the materials used, it seems about equal. However, I would definitely want to make sure that--duh--the home was properly assembled. ;-)
Beachmouse
I've seen that modular home link before. Interesting.

My apologies for the properly assembled part...I've just heard stories. And I'm convinced that NO home is perfect, be it custom, mansion, or a singlewide trailer. There is always a glitch, somewhere.

I do know of a modular home off of Don Bishop Road where half of it fell off the truck and into the ditch, :shock: and the truck nearly turned over, as it was turning off of 98. It all turned out OK, though I don't know how - and the homeowner has pictures of the near-disaster on the wall of his den.

I've heard that modular homes have something like 25% more wood in them than a site built home. It seems like common sense that assembling sections under controlled conditions would make them sturdier than a home pieced together under the crazy weather conditions we have around here.

Don't many site built homes use prefab trusses? If it's good enough for the roof I would assume it's good enough for the rest of the house. I've heard of some modulars that are built to withstand 170mph winds. Don't remember the name of the manufacturer.

There is a company called Nationwide that had a virtual tour of a 3 story modular on their website a while back. It was very impressive.

It seems like common sense that assembling sections under controlled conditions would make them sturdier than a home pieced together under the crazy weather conditions we have around here.

Don't many site built homes use prefab trusses? If it's good enough for the roof I would assume it's good enough for the rest of the house. I've heard of some modulars that are built to withstand 170mph winds. Don't remember the name of the manufacturer.

I think the issue is really the necessity of the modular home to be transportable, and therefore constructed as several pieces that will be spliced together at the homesite.

Pre-manufactured roof or floor trusses are indeed quite strong; but any system is only as strong as its weakest link. It would depend on where, and how many of these splices were necessary.

Site built homes would, presumably, have an advatage when using pre-fab roof or floor trusses in that these can span the entire house.

That being said, I have no problem seeing a pre-fab structure being designed and built to withstand 170 mph wind loads.

This article says it much better than I could.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/default_pf.aspx?newsID=72376

My apologies for the properly assembled part...I've just heard stories. And I'm convinced that NO home is perfect, be it custom, mansion, or a singlewide trailer. There is always a glitch, somewhere.

I do know of a modular home off of Don Bishop Road where half of it fell off the truck and into the ditch, :shock: and the truck nearly turned over, as it was turning off of 98. It all turned out OK, though I don't know how - and the homeowner has pictures of the near-disaster on the wall of his den.

I bet none of the nails come loose when that happens. :shock: I am sure they removed all of the sheet rock and cabinets and floor tiles to check it out. Right!

one of my favorite sites, more thsn you ever thought could be assembled in one place regarding prefab: http://www.fabprefab.com/fabfiles/home.htm

also check here; http://members.livemodern.com/
the home page shows a prefab steel house near completion from ecocontempo, a division of northern steel, one of the largest steel building manufacturers out there. they have a factory in tampa and are offering free freight.

jr

I bet none of the nails come loose when that happens. :shock: I am sure they removed all of the sheet rock and cabinets and floor tiles to check it out. Right!

There was damage but it was all repaired onsite. Did I neglect to mention that the homeowner was present when it happened. (I don't know what I would have done. Seriously.)

Sheetrock? Cabinets? Tiles? In this modular, as well as my brother's, there was no interior work until the frame was put together. I didn't know you could get ones with the interior pre-fab (except for doublewide mobile homes)...

ShallowsNole
I think a lot of them do come with sheetrock, cabinetry, flooring etc, but for ones that will have more custom finishing, this would not be the case.

some great photos of building, transport and setting here: http://www.fabprefab.com/fabfiles/fablist/031_Glidehouse_FL/glidehousestatus/glidehousestatus.htm

these of course(for now) are only being built in the western half of the us.

Does anyone know of a good company that does like a pool barn/steel building. We are looking to build a six car garage - work area on the back of our property to store my husbands toys - boat and car - plus a workstation for him.

There was damage but it was all repaired onsite. Did I neglect to mention that the homeowner was present when it happened. (I don't know what I would have done. Seriously.)

Sheetrock? Cabinets? Tiles? In this modular, as well as my brother's, there was no interior work until the frame was put together. I didn't know you could get ones with the interior pre-fab (except for doublewide mobile homes)...

Yes, you can get them finished. That is one of the supposed benefits of going modular. Much time saved on the job site. Not all of them are done that way, but there is a great example of one on East Wild Blueberry St. It is a two story with a nice layout and many upgrades. If I didn't tell you it was modular, you would certainly never guess it to be so.

TWT512, the last time I spoke with the modular folks, it was before all of the substantial price hikes following the storms of 2005, so the prices would not hold true today. The guy on E. Wild Blueberry was telling me that cost to the buyer for that particular house would be around $65 per sf. :shock: That is low enough to make me think about ordering a couple of those for rentals, but I just couldn't make myself do it. I would guess that today's prices would be closer to $95 per sf. -- just a guess.

Here is a cool little building that FEMA could have built for less $ than a deathtrap (not to mention UGLY) trailer. Many possible applications-affordable housing, guest house, post-disaster quarters....

http://www.inhabitat.com/entry_1235.php

Thanks SJ & Cil - when we were looking, the companies we visited basically trucked in the frame, as they did with our friend whose house wound up in the ditch. If coming in from out-of-state, you had to have a FL licensed general contractor do your foundation, oversee the frame being put together on your site, and put the roof on. Then, you could either pick from their choices for cabinets, flooring, etc (much like you do with Adams Homes), which the modular company's guys would install or you could contract out the interior yourself.

Keep in mind, this was five to seven years ago, if not longer. And, yes, the cost/sq ft could be about $60, if not lower.