Modular Homes and the like...

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brauhaus

brauhaus

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So my wife and I are trying to scout out some property to build our own house (within the next 5 to 6 years) and during our scouting we came across a local home builder/modular home builder and we are impressed with what we found!

exterior.jpg


Log Cabin Type

And we absolutely fell in love with the layout and design of this house... since I'm a jack-of-all-trades and come from a construction family (of which have built their own homes) we are thinking that we are going to go with something like this...

My family and I (have done this for almost everyone's home) can dig out for and pour the foundation (or block) and we can even finish out some of the carpentry and such, should we decide to purchase the home without the wrap-around porch and finished upstairs.

Anyway, we haven't put costs together, but I'm curious how many of you have built your own home and if any of you have a decent modular home that you've added your own craftsmanship to...

Please share! My wife and I are going for a Cabin/Lodge type theme for our home since we are very much into the outdoors! We are looking to have a wood burning stove in the living room to help heat our house during the winter months and to help with fuel costs for heating... just tossing around ideas.
 
That really is beautiful, modular homes seem to have come a fair way. Just make sure it has plenty of insulation in the walls. I've not built my own home but I hope to some day.
 
I am marginally dissatisfied with the construction of my Pre-Fab, but overall it's great. We have some walls that I don't feel like were shimmed properly when they did the dry wall, and all of the water lines are stiff plastic hose....Works great, but it's a ***** to work on. The electrical outlets suck...they just clamp to the dry wall, and some have broken out. Other than that....I hope to get the house you are now looking at. I have looked at that same model a few times.....VERY Nice.
We are planning on moving to the other side of our ranch some day, and that would be the house of choice if it happens today.
 
I was employed as a construction jobsite SuperIntendent for well over a decade. specialized in wood frame multi-story hotels. Built handfuls of them all over theses great states. I have excavated, poured too many CY of concrete to quantify, roofed, drywalled, tiled, painted, trimmed, and stained all in the name of a job.

AND I WOULD NEVER EVEN CONSIDER BUILDING MY OWN HOME WITH MY OWN HANDS!

For one, it would take too long on my available schedule. If I screws it up (and it happens), I have to pay and fix-it myself. With a GC and very clear communications, it is difficult but possible to lay that burden back on the GC as a QC issue.

Besides that, it's hard enough to get paid contractors to a job on-time and on schedule much less trying to do the same with donated, family labor. AND "family labor" will have waaaay to much "advice" to give on how it should be done.

That said, in a pinch I might be inclined to pitch in here and there provided my efforts are deducted from the final bill in the amount that I would have been charged.

You asked.
 
BigKahuna said:
I am marginally dissatisfied with the construction of my Pre-Fab, but overall it's great. We have some walls that I don't feel like were shimmed properly when they did the dry wall, and all of the water lines are stiff plastic hose....Works great, but it's a ***** to work on. The electrical outlets suck...they just clamp to the dry wall, and some have broken out. Other than that....I hope to get the house you are now looking at. I have looked at that same model a few times.....VERY Nice.
We are planning on moving to the other side of our ranch some day, and that would be the house of choice if it happens today.
Click to expand...

Wow. Are all the outlets like that?

I am not sure that even meets code for pre-fab. Of course, a third party should have verified and inspected. IIRC, the NEC only allows for the retro boxes in the case a added outlet post drywall.

Of course, your jurisdiction may have their own regulations.
 
Well in the past when we've put together homes for family we usually take our time... we don't accomplish anything very quickly (as you have said, scheduling plays a huge role) and typically it takes around 12-18months for us to complete the task...

Right now I live 1.5 hours away from my family so being able to get equipment out here is going to suck, but I may rent an excavator to get things moving... although if it's more of a benefit (and esp if it's less hassle) we'll end up subbing out most of the work...

With this home builder they act as the GC and line up the subs to take care of excavation and such, although from talking to this company if we have a site already prepared and all they have to do is "drop off" the house we'll save a ton by having the majority of the work cut out for us...

We were able to tour this particular model and just love it, we would change a few things (adding a real wood burning stove vs the propane one shown, building out the second floor, etc) but we have a few years to save up and such so we aren't really jumping into anything...

The overall construction seems to be solid, however my in-laws have a ranch modular and after 10 years it's showing signs of weakness (the outlets are cheap, the windows needed replacing as well as the kitchen cabinets) so my wife and I are trying to see what kind of options we can go with later down the road to improve the home...

What's nice is that the kids can have rooms upstairs and we can have a master bedroom on the first floor as well as an "office/game/whatever" room. What's nice is that we've been told we can customize the layout to whatever we want...

anyway, like I said, we're tossing ideas around, all we know is that we love this house's design and would like to stick with what you see above.
 
I would highly recommend getting 2x6 exterior walls... which is not likely standard on pre-fabs. Those PA winters can be cold and the summers hot and humid.
 
I wanted to build a log cabin kit, swmbo loves the look of them. After pricing them, we found out they were more expensive than a brick home. So I ended up building a log look-a-like with wood siding. I did 99% of the work myself, and it took 7 months from start to finish.

If you have the know how and time you could the same and save yourself a lot of money. Although I must say, it's a brutal 7 months:mug:
 
Build away with open eyes. We built a home 400 miles down the Yukon River where it was only accessible by boat or plane. Had a fair amount of help but I had my hand in every part of the process and supervised more than 90% of it. When we were done it was an awesome sense of accomplishment. It took a toll on relationships at almost every level but it was worth it in the end. It is too bad we moved after 2 years of living in it...long story.

Do your home work! Have real expectations with your time. If you are having a hard time brewing beer and keeping the grass mowed because of life's other responsibilities, realize some things will have to change if you are going to finish. I like to say that building a house is like brain surgery. There isn't any one thing that is all that hard, just a lot of it. The whole process is fatiguing and it becomes tiresome, especially if you try to live in it and work on it all at the same time. If at all possible, don't move in until it is ALL finished. Did I mention the need to do your homework!!!

Also realize that outside the death of a child, there are few other things that will bring such a high level of stress into your relationship with your spouse. We have had both and if you work together it can work. Remember do your home work!!

Get all your ducks in a row, learn about the things that are cheaper to do yourself and easier to have someone else do. Plumbing and electrical are all within your abilities. make friends with a plumber and an electrician who can give you pointers and check your work (Beer is the all time best networking tool). Drywall is 15% knowledge and 80% technique, just like lying block. Network, do your home work, be realistic and be ready to walk away from the whole process if it is ruining your life; it's just a house. The folks who will live in it will make it a home.

Good Luck
 
wildwest450 said:
I wanted to build a log cabin kit, swmbo loves the look of them. After pricing them, we found out they were more expensive than a brick home. So I ended up building a log look-a-like with wood siding. I did 99% of the work myself, and it took 7 months from start to finish.

If you have the know how and time you could the same and save yourself a lot of money. Although I must say, it's a brutal 7 months:mug:
Click to expand...

this isn't a true "log cabin" the siding materials are made to look like logs, so in a way this is a "look-a-like" log cabin.
 
I haven't done it myself (I was going to, but that didn't work out), but modular homes are quite common here due to the short building season. There's a log home down the road that is very similar to what you are looking at. Went up in less than a month.
 
KingBrianI said:
you should make one like this: Building a log cabin in Alaska, preparing the land and peeling logs.

takes a while to read through the whole thing but worth it. it is very cool!
Click to expand...

HELL YEAH! I actually found that site about a year ago when I was looking for ideas for a log cabin, they (and their friends) have awesome sites of cabins and all aspects of construction... I esp love their dog and how they talk about sleeping in the Alaskan log cabin... although it's a shame about having to board up the windows and doors b/c of vandals and BEARS! although I'd rather have those ugly covers than bears ransacking my house :D

wildwest450 said:
Holy crap, those people are dedicated. That's awesome.
Click to expand...

Check out their links page (i think it's called that) but their friends have also website documented their homes as well... there is a TON of awesome stuff floating around on that site as well as their friends... although their site is put together nicely.
 

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