|
|
south central Iowa | Considering a modular home as opposed to stickbuilt. I like modular better than my wife, my reasons being quick, more house for the money, 100% known cost upfront no overuns, less chance of construction error, supposedly more lumber and screws used instead of nails and glue in joints, I just like the concept if executed properly. She likes stick built because some others look down on them, esp contractors and realtors. Myself, I dont care if it has less resale value if it costs less in front, and also I dont intend to ever sell because it will be on my farm and as far as Im concerned my great grandkids will be walking around on this place someday. This will not be a cheap modular, but upscale in design and trim.
I heard that wausau homes was pretty good, and I sure like some of the designs, but they come clear from wisconsin and I wonder about travel stress going to southern Iowa. I also heard the all american was good and they are made here in Iowa, but still 4 hours away, but I dont really like the old fashioned designs they seem to have.
I would like to know more about modular and also these two companies, Thanks
|
|
| |
|
Audubon,Iowa | for this investment go and look at them where ever you have to go and look! a days drive better than regrets of not knowing look at the plumbing, are the mechanical things fixable without having to take the house back apart to get them out such as can you easily service the furnace, a. c., water heater, what are the requirements for basement foundation, does the furnace and the a. c. ventilation system include the added space of a basement (if you plan on having a basement) finally how many people do you know around you that are happy with this type of home what was their experience? |
|
| |
|
Here | I have a friend who does construction and has told me about some of the things that he has gone to repair in some of these prefabs that were nice higher end ones. Like settling and the dry wall corners they don't tape and mud, roofing sheating/shingle problems, entry door sills rotting out from moisture. Ya they may put the framing together better, mainly so they can be transported. They will always point out what they do better, but not what they don't do correctly.Basically you get what you pay for. |
|
| |
|
| We have one. Really no difference between it and a stick built one. It sits on a basement and that's where the hvac and water heater are. Plumbing no different than stick built. Has 2x6 walls and the drywall is glued and screwed. |
|
| |
|
| Had my Wausau home built in 1992...it is essentially a stick built home.
I have no complaints whatsoever...full basement underneath it.
I have zero regrets...lots of them around here. |
|
| |
|
| What about Heritage homes (of nebraska)? We are working with them now and so far my wife and I are very pleased. We toured a model home in Omaha and I was impressed with the quality and workmanship. They drew up plans of a design we already had. We are going this route as opposed to a site-built house for all the reasons you mentioned. |
|
| |
|
West Central IL | Come over to IL and check out http://www.homewayhomes.com/ |
|
| |
|
SW Wisconsin | Sitting in one right now, have had no regrets. |
|
| |
|
Centralia, MO | I bought a modular home made by Fuqua in Boonville, MO 6 years ago. They took great care on the installation to get the joints all fixed and their construction is first rate. Only complaint was plumbing fixtures like the faucets. I immediately replaced the kitchen sink faucet and one of the tubs needs work now. The pipes however are all PEX. And the water heater and furnace are good quality. I do have some rotting at the bottom of the exterior door jambs. This is due to inadequate water sealing around the door frames and poor installation of the siding J channels. Other than that I have been real pleased especially with 6" walls and lots ceiling and underfloor insulation. |
|
| |
|
west central Illinois | We built a so called modular home 4 years ago. Find a company that will build to your plan like we did. We used Anderson 400 windows,cabinets built locally,floors from a local company as well as all other things in a home building project.Ours is all brick and the smallest board is a fingered 2x6. Open floor plan at 2200 sq ft. can send you pictures |
|
| |
|
Southeast WI | Our first home was a pittsville modular. No real complaints and equal to a small stick built. Known cost up front was important since we were in our mid 20's. Fast forward 10 years and built our permanent home - a wausau home. In hindsight we should have gone with a wausau modular.
House is fine. Builder was a real treat to work with. He low-balled everything so everything was a cost over-run to get it right. We didnt do a lot of research on the builder so thats on us. At closing he had the nerve to go back to his original estimate and say "see, all the draws match up with my bid". After we wrote over $30,000 in personal checks for the over-runs... The modular would have given us the same house but wiring, plumbing, cabinets, etc would have all been bid and selected before hand. This builder tried to weasel on every item and pocket more money. Still want to castrate him 9 years later.
Check into wausau modulars. You can draw up most any type of floor plan and have a nice custom built home. Our wausau component home was drawn up by us on with my design cad program and they made their own blueprints from it.
Good luck! |
|
| |
|
| we know someone who built a modular 16 years ago....very little has NOT had to be replaced. Five years ago we were very close to also building a modular (this was before most of the replacements started) and eventually went with the stick built. At the time, we did our best to spec out a stick built and a modular the same way to get as accurate cost comparison as possible. It came down to the stick built appearing to cost $8-10K more. During this selection period we revisited a modular home builder that was in the process of moving a house we were kind of interested in. I was shocked about how nice it had looked on the inside all finished and put together and how crappy it looked when you could see the inner wall construction. We built the stick built and have no regrets at all. The summer we built our house, another couple in the community built a modular and we both happened to use the same plumber. The plumber mentioned on day how it was going to cost this other couple about $10k more for plumbing than they were anticipating. Evidently "ready to hook up" means different things than they were thinking. I know we had looked at both "average quality" "high end" modular homes. I'm pretty sure our friends have way more in the replacement items than they had in the original 16 years ago. |
|
| |
|
KY | We just sold our modular custom last week, pending the closing now. Stick built in the process of going up on our home farm. I have no experience with Wausau, but they tout "Amish-built" modulars around here and that's what we bought 9 years ago. I knew the first time I went to install a dimmer switch and saw the wiring we were in trouble. House settled funny, hinge screws for cabinet doors eventually pull the threads, even with 2x6 walls the place seems "loose" to me. Wife can't run a hair dryer in the master bath for more than a couple minutes or the breaker trips. Outdoor plug and both bathrooms are on the same GFI circuit...?? Anything over a 40 watt light bulb will blow in a matter of days. Just small odds and end stuff that drove us nuts. We got about 6,000 more than we invested in ours but had to let 10 acres go with it due to location. So, essentially we lost money, but more than anything, with two kids we just outgrew our 1500 sq. ft home and have been saving to build the past few years. You do what you can do, when you can do it, at the time for us, pregnant with our first, me fresh out of the military, it was about all we could do, but I wouldn't do it again in hindsight. |
|
| |
|
| Take a two hour drive to Dyersville, Iowa and walk thru the All Amerian Homes Plant and watch them build you a house. After seeing one built, you will buy one and won't regret it. |
|
| |
|
East Central Ia, S. Waterloo | We liked Century homes out of Oskaloosa, but didn't like the idea of it coming from Indiana ( they're always at the State Fair). Got an All American since they're closer. Really liked the company, not so much the dealer, all I want to say on that here. Inlaws have had two Design Homes they've been pretty happy with, I think both were displays they got a good deal on. One advantage not mentioned modulars go up relatively quickly depending on your situation can be an advatage. Bottom line, go look at them as was stated, lots to learn for a big decision. |
|
| |
modular homes? wausau homes?
