ARGH! What a choice to make - help!

[Eric]

My wife and I, after much research, have narrowed things down considerably. We LOVE one of the floorplans we've seen from Homes of Merit. But we also are very impressed with the commitment and skill and quality of the Jacobson line. Unfortunately, we don't like any of their floorplans.

My question is this - is there any major disparity between Jacobson and Homes of Merit in quality? Would taking the floorplan from the Homes of Merit line that we liked (the A1651) in the Advantage series to Jacobson be better for us? I mean, if there isn't much in the way of difference between Jacobson and Homes of Merit, we'll just get the one from Homes of Merit - probably cost less than getting a custom one built from Jacobson, right?

We're also thinking of one we've seen from Palm Harbor.

I guess, in your personal experience, if we were to choose either a standard Homes of Merit home in the Advantage series, a Palm Harbor, or a custom Jacobson using the Homes of Merit floorplan, which would be the better choice for price and quality?

[Augustaga]

I am not familier with the "Advantage" line of HOM...but Merit does build a range of homes from low middle to high end...Some of the models are on 24 inch centers, and very basic features...
No Jacobson is this way..There are 3 different model Jacobsons..The Classic I, II and III...They all have the same gut construction...only some of the cosmetic features are different..Jacobson will custom any floor plan at very little extra cost...

The Merit in this series has only 1 year warranty..Jac will have 5..The best Merits are every bit as good as Jacobson...We find the prices are very close..

Actually the Jacobson is a little cheaper if the home is heavily equiped..

I just looked...Merit does have this floor plan listed under the Atlantic series..called by merit on the site as "
Click here to see some of the floor plans of our less expensive homes"
Jacobson does have a VERY similar floor plan at 1280 ft...number CL3-4489B..

They could make an exact copy of the Merit very easily..It is a classic 3

This is the exact specs of the Merit..
http://www.homesofmerit.net/html/atlantic.htm
Jacobson standard specs.
http://www.jachomes.com/explode.html

[Eric]

Yes, it was the Atlantic series. Sorry for the confusion.

It appears to me that the Jacobson homes are built very well, with all the construction features that I like (the 2x6 walls, 2x8 floor joists, R-30 insulation in the ceiling, etc.) - do you really think that I could get Jacobson to build me the home using the Homes of Merit floorplan, and do it for less money?

[rmurray]

If you compare the Homes of Merit brand with the same construction features the prices will be nearly the same of slightly less with Jacobson...But you must be comparing apples to apples...The Atlantic HOM will be quite a bit less money..

[Larry Harrison]

I'm having a Palm Harbor "Hacienda" made for me even as "speak". I looked at Homes of Merit and they are good. I looked at Jacobson and went to their factory in the Tampa area. I also went to the Palm Harbor factory.

What struck me at Jacobson was that I had a hard time not finding someone to speak with. When I mentioned I was also considering Palm Harbor, the person just said "they're good too" and drifted away. The biggest thing was foot traffic. I was alone in the Jacobson model area. At Palm Harbor the foot traffic was very brisk.

We ended up getting more home than we thought we could afford since the "factory direct" folks were able to work with us.

I have yet to spend the night in one, but what I saw during the factory our was quite reassuring that PH has a bias toward quality all the way around.

Cheers...Larry