On this page I will list miscellaneous things that I learned while having our modular home built.  As with most things in life, these were learned the hard way.  Hopefully you can avoid some of my mistakes by reading this.

1. If your home is vented for a gas furnace, do not assume that your home is also vented for a gas water heater.
2. Layout where each 2"x8" that makes up your sill plate will lay prior to having your foundation poured.  Give this drawing to your foundation contractor and ensure that you have the 3/4" anchor bolts placed into the top of the concrete so that there will be one within 12" from the end of each piece.  (This is in addition to the requirement to have one every 3'.)  This may vary with your local building codes, but is a problem that I ran into.  It is very difficult to drill these and install about 24 redheads after the house is set.
3. If your inspector finds problems that need correcting, make him give you a final punch list, that when completed will satisfy him.  The inspector I had came out and gave me two or three little things to complete.  When I had him back out he would give me more things to complete.  One of them was where our gravel driveway meets a private gravel road, he made us put 50' of asphalt.  Six months prior to this, I had called the local building commissioner and was told that they had no jurisdiction over driveways coming off of private roads.  Now to receive an occupancy permit, we had to get 50' of asphalt on a 500' gravel driveway.
4. Find out what all approvals are required on your home plans by your local building authority.  My home drawings took weeks to get approved because they had to go to Jefferson City, Missouri and be approved by the Public Service Commission.  My builder had never heard of such a thing.  (I could do a whole page on my experiences with the Building Department.)
5. Find someone you can trust at the building inspector's office.  Just because someone at that office tells you something over the phone does not mean that it is correct.
6. When first starting to look into modular homes, I drove to many local dealers and started asking questions. Find a place where the salespeople are knowledgeable about the construction of the homes and have a close working relationship with the manufacturer of the homes.

7. The following items may or may not be included in the price of a home:

   a.  Furnace and air conditioner

   b.  Setting the home on the foundation

   c.  Setting the I-beam in foundation (best to negotiate this to be set by the contractor setting the home so you do not have to get a crane out twice).

8. Modular homes can be as customized as you choose (depending on the builder that you choose).

9. Many modular homes are built stronger than site build homes.  How many site built homes can go down a highway 60 mph for 10 hours and arrive in one piece?  Don't take my word for it, see the link below. http://www.bobvila.com/HowTo_Library/Modular_Homes_Make_Sense-Building_Systems-A1854-2.html