hart housing/four seasons housing

[amanda]

Looking for advise/complaints from owners of hart and four seasons housing.
We are considering purchasing one of these two brands of homes and would
like to hear from others who have these brands of homes. The quality is supposed
to be outstanding with the Hart house, but have heard the home is not backed up by the company. Any comments would be appreciated..good and bad ones..don't want to make a huge error if there are serious problems with this type of home.
Thanks!

[rmurray]

Amanda..

I am not familier with either manufacuturer...but..instead of rumors about service..why not ask for references from recent customers...Ask them about their experience with the manufacturer and dealer...

Generally...very high quality manufacuters have very good service and deal only with experienced dealers with good service records..

Good Luck

[Braden T.]

Amanda-

My mother owns a Hart home that she has sitting in Iowa. I don't live there with her, but I do know that she's been very happy with it. She's lived in it for about 3 year now, and the house is very energy efficient, and there have been no major problems with the home since she purchased it. The only problem that she did experience that I know of is some cracked glass that occured during transport, and the dealer never replaced one of the panes. Other than that, I think that she's had a fairly good experience. Good luck.

Braden

[Brian Sheehan]

We have a 2000 Hart bought in Indiana new. 1500 square foot, open floor plan. Awsome house. The details and fit and finish are excellent and it has and extremely solid foundation. We have had many wind storms in our area and when most of the places in our community where losing siding and roofing materials, ours had no problems at all. It is very energy efficient. My next door neighbor has a slightly larger Palm Harbor and their heating biil averaged over $200 a month. Ours was about $65 a month, no bull using a Coleman heating unit which seems to work very well. They actually used 3/8 inch drywall instead of that 1/4 inch junk many manufacturers use if they use drywall at all meaning you can actually hang things on it without breaking and all the cabinets are solid oak, no veneer which I though was very unusual. I have friends with stick builts that are not that nice. All plumbing is PEX, not that grey Polybutyl pipe that has been having all those problems. They give you the option for copper but I did research and apparently Pex is better, especially if you have aggressive water. The jambs around all doors and outside wall outlets are foam filled and insulated. Windows on my model are Anderson bit I think they also use Pella and Peach tree. The skylights are structural framed units with a 25 year leak warrantly. I checked out a similar set at Lowes and a few other places. Very expensive, not the cheap plastic domes I saw on all the other homes we looked at. The siding was 3m's best lifetime warranty siding. Roof has 30 year Corning Shingles. The only problem we have had in 30 months is that the front door was not centered well after setup, but they sent a repair person and fixed immedially. They did cut some corners on the crown and door molding using that vinyl stuff instead of wood, but that is minor and easily replaced. It is probably and option I failed to look at. The only other problem is the sliding door off the family room is a non standard size to allow for roof overhang. Because it is shorter than normal, I had to have a custom screen made when my kid ran through the original for the third time;-) All in all these are great homes. I anticipate staying in this place with no problems for the next ten to fifteen years.

[arquald]

I am also pricing a particular floor plan that I've fallen in love with. It's relatively basic so most companies in my area have the plan as a standard. So far the cheapest MODUALR home I've found with the floor plan and dimensions I desired has been a Hart. As soon as I mention that I'm looking at a Hart they tell me, "Well it won't be as cheap as the quote for the Hart." On average the Hart home is around $8k to $10k cheaper, than any of the rest, so far (Wick, Skyline, Terrace, and Wisconsin Homes) Some dealers have told me Hart does not provide adequate service after the fact, one dealer told me that Hart stiffs him on services he provides for the buyer, because Hart doesn't do it themselves. Other dealers have said, I'm not tryin' to knock anybody, but "You get what you pay for." I don't know how the quality compares. I would appreciate any replies in favor or against any of the above named companies. The only info I got about the construction of Hart homes were SPECULATIONS of them using lower grade lumber, and the posiblity of using lower grade trusses, again I stress these were SPECULATIONS. Again I implore you please give me your two cents in the matter.

[trmimo]

Hart today is a lower priced home. When they were an independant they were more like Wick. If you are looking for a really well built home, Wick or Terrace is probably your best choice. Wisconsin is also superior to Hart. Skyline and Hart build about the same quality house with Skyline having much better service after the sale. Hart does rely on the retailer or contractors to perform service. That means though, that if you find a retailer with a good reputation and good references from people who recently bought Hart homes from them, then you can expect the retailer to give you good service. Ask your Hart retailer for names of people that you can talk to who have recently bought Hart homes from them. If they are satisified, you can probably expect to be satisfied too. If you can't get a list of people who have RECENTLY bought a Hart home and are satisifed, then you probably ought to buy from someone else. In January, Hart upgraded the standard features of their modular homes to include some sorely needed features like OSB floors, porcelain sinks, house wrap and dimensional shingles. These things were optional or unavailable for the last 2 years which hurt Hart's reputation considerably.