The Manufactured Housing Forums

Well, after spending 2 weeks on our property in Northern CA building our Garage/shop,(AKA The man cave). We are now in the planning stages of putting up a home.

Our original plan was to build a 1900 sq. ft. home using a panelized system from PMHI.We used this system for the garage, and while it turned out well,it took twice as long and cost much more than we had originally anticipated. I can see now that building a home this way will be more expensive than we can afford in the time frame we are working with.

We are now researching manufactured homes in Northern CA and Southern OR. After reading posts here for the last 2 weeks,reading reviews,etc; I have narrowed our choices of manufacturer to Skyline or Palm Harbor. We haven't gone as far as talking to dealers yet as I plan to order the 2 books by John Grissom to educate myself further before we start that process.

I'm looking for lower cost options to fit our small, and out of pocket budget
while being able to have a home erected/set up in a very short period of time. We live in So. Cal, and I am only able to do work on the property for 2 weeks at a time while on vacations.

So, I'm wondering if a home can be ordered without a finished interior. I am imagining the interior walls finished with doors installed, but without cabinets,plumbing fixtures, lighting, and flooring. From what I have personally seen in mfg. homes, the standard amenities offered are sub-standard and quite low quality. And, from what I have learned recently, upgrades are over-priced.

I am a contractor, and would be able to do the finish work myself.

Thanks in advance, Mark

Sounds like you are well on the way to making a well informed decision. You might want to also plan factory tours of the manufacturers you have on your short list..

More directly to answer your question..You cannot buy a partially finished manufactured home. You will be able to get very direct answers to your questions while on a plant tour, but HUD requires most of the finished items to be come..GooLuck

Mr. Murray is correct.  The HUD building code requires builders to put out finished homes.   That includes a full kitchen and minimally  one full bath.  I also faced this problem when I put my home in place.  I did not want the typical MH finish features.  As a renovator I had the ability to make the changes I wanted.   We decided to bring in  a used home, at less then half the price of a new one, strip out those things we didn't care for and refinish the home to suite our taste and life-style.Now is an excellent time to follow this strategy.  The current foreclosure explosion offers thousands of pre-owned homes of every type, including a great selection of recently built manufactured homes.   Browse our new foreclosed manufactured homes section to preview homes available in any area of the country.

You can order a modular home with or without whatever you don't like from just a framed shell up to finished. The IRC is much more flexible that way. It will cost more.

Thanks for the responses all!

I suppose I knew what the answer might be, but I hadn't considered the HUD requirements. I see that makes sense.

Trmimo, I am starting my research for modular as well. Any manufacturers in the Northern CA./ So. Oregon area you would recommend?

And to all, Are there any other quality MH builders in that area I should check out?

Thanks, Mark

Both Palm Harbor and Skyline build modular homes in your area in addition to manufactured homes..

A M/H can be ordered "unfinished" one must work the order so that it meets the bare minimum of the HUD standards.There is no requirement for finished cabinets, flooring, wall covering or cieling finish. You can order a house with for example bare floors through out, "no finish flooring" the HUD stds state that subfloors in "wet" areas only be sealed. Some DAPIA'S permit the use of OSB exposure 1 APA rated sheathing bare.The stds do not require a minimum amount of cabinets, countertops, a furnace is not required, you don't need to install light fixtures, the NEC states that "lighting outlets" shall be installed.All the walls can be gypsum board with no texture or paint.

There are requirements for many aspects of any HUD product, but finish aint high on the list. You can option down as far as finishes or what in your eyes is finished.There is no requirement for what the countertops are made of, I have built well over a thousand units with 3/8" or 1/2 " OSB counter tops that are bare, customers use it as a base for Corion or Granite or just tear them out and start over.Think minimums and forget about options, HUD does not tell you how well appointed your house must be. A 24" lavy and a 32 shower stall with a base line toilet can be installed in a 16 x 20 bathroom, and be pulled out after delivery in less than an hour. I feel that most Mfgr will give you a credit or partial credits when omitting standard items like bath mirrors, cabinet doors, bath hardware,countertops toilet seats etc... retailers want to sell and mfgrs want to build product.Mfgrs will not void your structual warranty if you install your own cabinet doors, or texture your walls. Check it out a bit more it can be done.