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I still think your math even on a very small house like 1036 sq. ft. cabin is not including well, septic, basement, grading, driveway.
The owners have put in over 50 trailers over the years and charge on average about 500.00 a month to live in them. .
The price quoted is for everything, turn key. I went and looked at one of his houses and that house was 1300 ft built for $87,000 (67 sqft), the builder added a large garage to that house($20,000) and total was $107,000. The $66,000 I was quoted does not include a garage, just on a crawl space. The house I toured was of good construction, and looked very nice. Unfortunately the investor guys had him build it out on Hwy 107 and it sat empty for almost 2 years.
I also thought about putting a few trailers on my land, but the cost to move trailers seems kinda high add that to the cost of a decent used trailer, gets pricy pretty quick. That's one of the reasons I wanted to find a very low cost builder and build me a low cost house and maybe a couple of small rental homes to boot.
Doesn't look good for a low cost builder, still don't know why they can do the homes in WA state and cant do the same thing here.
I don't know what to tell you. What were these homes you speak of in WA state that you feel were so affordable and how many years ago are we talking? Can't really believe anything on the west coast is cheaper than TN to build on unless you were really talking about way out in the wilderness somewhere.
65-70 bucks a sq.ft. has been the low end of home building that I've seen for a long time and lumber pretty much costs the same in all 50 states. Windows being the most expensive other single component. Kitchens and baths being the most expensive rooms. [making a bedroom or living room larger was cheap since it was just a few more 2x4s and another sheet or two of drywall and maybe a bit more roof over head.] But adding another bathroom or playing around with the kitchen could really jack up the sq.ft. costs. Surprised it's still that low even in this area myself with building supplies not coming back down since they raised them to cover the shipping costs last summer. Hopefully the quote you got from the builder you spoke to was for a home you would actually want to live in. The deal when I was working for a modular home company was to quote a sq.ft. price for a house with about 3 windows and just the minimum two doors and practically cardboard cabinetry. Sure it was the price we quoted you over the phone per sq. ft but would you really be happy with what they were giving you for your money. Once they hook you into the program they start selling you up on more windows,better cabinets and trim and before you know it you're paying as much a sq. as would be with any other builder.
I don't know about the cost of moving a used trailer as we spoke of earlier. I did see used 2 bdrm. trailers made in the last decade or two for as low as cheap new car. Don't know how trashed they may have been or what the cost of re-locating on your land would be. I suspect there will be more deals on trailers as they start getting repo'd more.
There are some good condo deals in Boone's Creek two bdrm condos built in the 90's, some with hardwood floors, etc. and a bonus room in the basement totaling 1,300 sq.ft. of space with a garage listing for around 104K [which usually means you could offer less]. Great location. With the 8,000 dollar first time homebuyer tax/stimulus thing it might be a good way to become a homeowner and you wouldn't need to run out and buy a lawnmower etc.. That's a bit under 100.00 a sq.ft but probably not much available for less than that a sq. ft. for home under 25/30 years old. I've seen one FSBO sign that the owner wrote "Must sell, make offer." on it. I can only guess what you might be able to offer a person in that situation if they've been transferred or lost their job.
Last edited by NorthernLights; 07-16-2009 at 08:01 AM..
HiLine Homes | Floor Plans - a HiLine home suited to every family. (http://www.hilinehomes.com/floorplans.aspx - broken link)
These guys only build in WA state, so hopefully the link won't get deleted, but these guys build all over the Seattle area and have been for years.
Like I said, doesn't look good for low cost building here, the best I know of is around $65 per sqft not including land or garage. I finish school next month and depending on where I get a job is where I'll try to live, like to live closer to work, right now I drive 35 min to work each way.
Don't understand how they're claiming that 40.00 per sq.ft. Send that link to the modular builder you're talking with down here and see what he tells you about it. The two homes I saw a price on were 2500 and 2700 sq.ft. homes. Sq. ft. costs go down as the house gets larger unless you're adding another kitchen or more bathrooms. What do they charge a sq. ft. for the 1,036 sq. ft. house you were thinking about?
Last edited by NorthernLights; 07-17-2009 at 01:16 PM..
Hey Tony good luck with your LPN interview and your wife's interview at the VA. What type of job is she going for there?
I don't know if you can beat the price per sq. foot of a mobile home unless maybe you build it yourself. Up in Maryland we have a larger number of fine Modular Home builders which, of course, are different than mobile homes although some folks, even realtors, down here do not know the distinction. I found one modular home builder down here Atlantic builders I believe is the name. They are doing a neighborhood in Kingsport, a condo development in Pigeon Forge and they did the Pointe 24 condos on Boone Lake. The thing with most modular homes is that they are built indoor in good conditions and with woodworking equipment and work tables/**** that ensure everything is square etc. so good quality but it still costs about as much as stick/site built.
Don't know how to find a cheap homebuilder. I have worked for builders and modular home companies and subscribe to all types of architecture magazines so I am very interested in building. For a bang for your buck the trailer/ double wide is it. You can find a real run down home or a small home that you can build on to to build equity. There was an intriguing article in Dwell magazine a few months back about some design firms rehabbing old mobile homes by increasing the outer insulation and roofs etc. and improving them to increase their lifespan. There are a number of companies that are looking to 're-invent' the mobile home to raise it from its poor housing status to level where folks who could build other options would be enticed to consider it for its affordability and portability. A home worth keeping and moving to another site someday. There coming up with some neat things, real contemporary designs that aren't the standard mobile home everybody knows. Problem is I don't know of any mobile home builders in the area looking into it.
Hi Folks:
The Dwell article(s) sound interesting. I will try to look them up. When I was up in Alaska, all of the mobile homes "authorized" for sale were supposed to be 6 inch walls, and I don't remember what for the ceilings. A few years ago I visited some family members in Japan. My sister-in-law had a "modular" three-story house. It was extremely well built and was felt to be superior to any of the "stick-built" homes available. They showed me a bunch of pictures of its "installation." Supposedly it took only a few hours once the foundation was in place. A comparable model is now running around 300,000 dollars---not what Tony was looking for!! Incidently, I looked at a model-home that was being sold via a type of lottery. The 2400 square foot, three story, home was about 7 years old and the winner of the lottery would buy it at a very good rate and then, the place would be disassembled and moved to the buyer's lot.
I think it was the June issue of Dwell magazine. This should be a link to the article mentioning the "Trailer Wrap" house that the University of Colorado put together from what appears to be an old construction site trailer. Maybe not for everyone but certainly more 'snazzy' than the ubiquitous ol' trailer you see around here.
I think it was the June issue of Dwell magazine. This should be a link to the article mentioning the "Trailer Wrap" house that the University of Colorado put together from what appears to be an old construction site trailer. Maybe not for everyone but certainly more 'snazzy' than the ubiquitous ol' trailer you see around here.
Thanks for the link. It is not exactly what I had in mind, however. I have generally subscribed to the theory that "Beauty is, as beauty DOES." The summary of this article is given as--"Aiming to divest trailer parks of their decidedly declasse status, a caravan of designers is working to create greener, more attractive additions to the uprootable urban fabric." I am more interested in taking a plain vanilla mobile home and making it into something that is inexpensive and energy efficient.
Hey, I'm with you. "I are college edu-ma-cated", but I'm still not 100% certain I know what "declasse" means but I'm all for designers and trailer owners thinking about how to make their trailers better looking and more energy efficient. The contemporary feel of the trailer in the article may not be what floats your boat but I like that style of home myself and I have looked at how folks in this region, in their own more provincial ways have built roofs, porches etc. on their existing trailer homes and I can't see why you couldn't, with minimal brain power, effort and some sweat equity, figure how to take a standard trailer home and add thicker insulation all around it, slap on some new siding material [vinyl, T-111, board and batten, etc.] add a more substantial roof and foundation and improve several of the interior things I don't like about trailers and get yourself a much more insulated, durable, and weather resistant home [not to mention more aesthetically pleasing], and do it bit by bit while you live in it. Trailers don't hold their value but the more you anchor them to the earth and more solid you make them the better chances you have on resale but there are still some folks out there who don't worry about resale with every purchase they make and just plan to find a great spot of land and build a cheap solid home on it for the rest of their days and for those folks a trailer might be a residential option. i've also thought of the trailer as a stop gap solution on a property to live in while I build a home elsewhere on the property and then have the trailer as a income property to rent later.
I thought of doing a couple of things like "Dry-Vit" the foam stucco stuff on the outside of a trailer, I've seen it done on some site trailers for sales offices at development communities and I had an idea about sinking 4x4s or 4x6's along the outside of a trailer and anchoring the trailer to the ground with those and supporting it better than the loose pile of cinder blocks I see many trailers resting on. You could add an angled shed roof on top of the beams and build a porch or deck off of those posts too.
Again, not for everyone but for folks who really want a cheap home in the country and don't need the standard housing options you could apply design features you see in 'high-end' magazines to an existing trailer on a great lot and end up with a classy shack. We don't all need McMansions or New England cottages to be happy with our piece of the American Dream and the money you save can be put aside for other investments. Just some random thoughts I've had on how to improve the ubiquitous trailer home in rural areas.
Last edited by NorthernLights; 08-05-2009 at 03:57 PM..
I have built several homes in the area. I have worked for several contractors in the area selling their homes and I just can't realistically tell you that a home for under $65.00 is even a possibility. Most of your "cheap" builders are now out of business due to slow demand.
The homes I have built have always cost me with lot around $80.00 per sq.ft. Unless you are willing to do almost EVERY bit of the labor yourself, then I don't see you even coming close.
I know one home builder in Bluff City who does all his work that he possibly can and he's building around $69.00 per sq.ft.
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trailer wrap article
