Escrow Holdback

[John]

The majority of problems reported on this site seem to be with the dealer and problems with the setup being done improperly or poorly and the lack of service after the closing. Although I have owned a DW for nine years as a lake home it is a 1978 and was bought with the land, very few problems with the home so I am convinced they are quality product. I have purchased three new houses in my life and every new house part of the purchese contract stated that xx$ was held in escrow until the punch list was completed. Why isn't this done in the MH industry?

[Bill Fry]

You can holdback on the closing until you're satisfied with the work and set.Most dealers dont particulary like this but it gets the shady ones to deliver .

[Carol]

John states that "The majority of problems reported on this site seem to be with the dealer and problems with the setup being done improperly or poorly and the lack of service after the closing."

Would it make sense to hire an engineer or private inspection company to oversee the delivery and set up and then sign off on it? I've been thinking about setting aside the money to hire an engineer to oversee this work and prevent some of the problems mentioned in this forum. How much time (approximately) does it take to set up a 28 x 60 MH?

[Bill Fry]

You could hire someone to oversee this but he would have no say on supervising the operation.(unless the dealer approved it.. which he wouldn't.)
Assuming the house pad and sub-foundation prework were all ready completed a good crew would set a house of this size in one day...if it is a standard block set.
Electrical and plumbing work is usually done by other subcontractors.

[rmurray]

Sorry...but you must have very big crews...With the complexity of todays homes complete sets are taking 5 to 7 days..including inside and outside finish...skirting...carpet finish..clean up and the like..

[Carol]

The weakness seems to be in properly setting the house on the foundation. Would you agree? If not, what aspect of set up is? What can one do to prevent some of the problems we have read about? To me, the key is prevention.

Also, I would like to understand why dealers would object to an engineer or inspector overseeing this process, particularly when the buyer cannot be present or does not have knowledge or expertise in this area. Otherwise, how would a layperson even know whether or not the more technical processes have been done correctly, until it is too late?

For example, the foundation in my present MH does not go below the frost line, so the blocks have stair step cracks. Also, an I beam is too close to the foundation wall, not allowing for sufficient expansion. I learned this after hiring an engineer to inspect my house.

I am just thinking an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

[Bill Fry]

I was refering to physically setting it and tieing it down,which is what I thought the question was..perhaps I misread it.
As for your last post Carol, the dealer either has his own set up crews or subs it out to another company.I agree with you that the layman should be able to have expertise help in the process.What I would suggest is that you get the completed home inspected(when your dealersays hes down) by your person of choice and when you are satisfied close the loan.

I am curious if Murray would allow someone to supervise his set up crew(s) if the customer requested it.Liablity issues would prohibit it I think.

[rmurray]

Actually....now that a sizable portion of your business is financed FHA...an engineer is an important part of the process...He consults on the foundation design and inspects to be sure it is done correctly....If folks feel better about it...maybe they should hire an FHA engineer to inspect the set up...They only cost about $350 and any good dealer would have no problem with it..
Supervise is another word...You are probably right about liablilty and cost would be very high...I wonder who would pay???
Of course...folks here fail to mention that they have already paid a local governement official to inspect the set up...The lady here with the bad foundation..should be taking this up with the local government as well as the dealer...they should have noticed this problem in the inspection...

[Bill Fry]

You'd make a good politician murray...you have the gift pun intended.

[rmurray]

...