Pre-Fab Houses (Ellsworth, Madison, Washington: to rent, insurance, modular home)

[eporter2be]

I saw a place selling pre-fabricated houses along Route 1 in, I think, Washington County. Anyone own a pre-fab house and want to share their pros/cons of owning such a house in Maine? The Missus and I are set on a ranch home for our retirement years and maybe a custom-made pre-fab makes sense?

[mainegrl2011]

I know someone who bought a modular home from a company in the S turns on Rt. 1 heading out of Ellsworth (can't think of the name of the place at the moment)....not too far past Jordan's Snack Bar....

Of course, the house was put on a basement, wood stove in the basement, double flue chimney, along with a furnace for back up.....seems to be well insulated....had it several years now and seems to be happy with it. I would suggest you supervise the delivery and set up and speak up if things don't suit ya.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

If it has a steel frame it's a double wide mobile home. If it has a wood frame and no permanent steel frame it is a modular home. There are BIG differences in value, insurance costs and rules to get financing. Double wides are often sold and moved to other sites. Modulars are pretty much permanent.

Then there are post and beam homes. Some dealers call them timber frame homes. These have all the charm of log homes at about a third the cost. Check Distinctive Timber Building Kits Inc. for info on post and beams.

[RMoore007]

This place in Madison...Campbell's True Value - Campbell's Norhtern Cabins...has several floor plans of their "Country Cabins". I checked on a small one that they had built for someone a couple years ago. Here are some pictures below. I'm planning to build a version of this place on my property in Maine. A garage in the middle will follow and then another cabin on the other side with a different floor plan. Probably an extra bedroom to sleep more people.



























I will need to get a septic, well, electricity and driveway first. I need to walk the property by next fall to see what to cut and keep with the trees in there. It's close to my three siblings houses but they can't see me from their individual homes. I need my privacy. A mud room and covered porch will come later.

I checked on all the costs a few years ago and they seemed quite reasonable especially since I already have a cousin that can build these for me and I own my own gravel/sand pit so the guy that runs it will be doing all the set up work. I like the wood everywhere because that's what people want. Something different than where they're from. And the more it is used the better it will look. Plus it is tough and replaceable. I don't plan on living there full time but probably a lot. I will be renting them by the week to mostly people that I know and maybe others to keep them rented during certain seasons. I plan on just staying at one of the other family houses when they are rented out so that I can give tours by car, motorcycle, atv'ing, snowmobiling etc. I want to bring in people from the west that have never been to New England, yet alone Maine. I will include a "guaranteed" 'to see a moose' tour.

If I decide to stop renting them and decide to just retire and live there, I would convert them from gas heat to wood/pellet. My other sister in CA may want the other cabin too so we have lots of options. I hope this helps.

[mainebrokerman]

i really like these cabins....I want one in my later years,

id retire in one of these- out in the woods...

[RMoore007]

Originally Posted by mainebrokerman

i really like these cabins....I want one in my later years,

id retire in one of these- out in the woods...

Me too. My aim is to to keep them small but roomy, well insulated, energy efficient and easily maintained. The prices are really quite low for the smaller ones.

[namder1]

How reasonable are the prices? Great looking place! Thanks for sharing!

[Coaster]

Nice-looking house. I could live there. But the photo of that woodstove snuggled up against the wood walls behind it gives me the creeps. I hope someone put up a heat shield and a LOT more clearance before it was fired up.

[RMoore007]

Originally Posted by Coaster

Nice-looking house. I could live there. But the photo of that woodstove snuggled up against the wood walls behind it gives me the creeps. I hope someone put up a heat shield and a LOT more clearance before it was fired up.

That's a gas stove. If you ever want to rent it out, you can't use wood or pellet. If I move in permanently, I could convert them from gas heat to wood/pellet at that time. And of course should ad some kind of heat shield.

That little gas stove should heat this small place quite well. Especially the upstairs bedroom and loft. I'd ad a small elec stove in the bathroom like they did.

As far as the cost, I left all that information in a packet on top of the refrigerator in the old house back there. If I remember right, I was planning to get it built under $50k including the septic, well, and driveway. Maybe even less. Campbell's has quite a few other plans that are larger and of course you can double that figure quickly I suppose. I know that when I was seriously shopping, the wood prices were very low though. It was in the winters of '08-09 and '09-'10.

I also looked into mobiles, steel and and log homes. I liked this type the best for their simplicity, price and availability.

[Coaster]

Even gas stoves get hot enough to pose a danger when the wall is that close and made of wood. No way would I want to use it in that situation.

But nice that a stove that small can heat the whole house. What's the R values of the roof and walls?