House Update.

I went and visited Fineline Homes yesterday.  I got to walk around in a couple of double wides they had set up.  Turns out they don't do modular houses anymore.  It is kind of scary how much mobile homes have gone up the last couple of years, though they aren't as bad as I feared they could be.  I was chatting with the sales guy and he mentioned that one of the ones I was looking at was $89k just before Covid.  It is now $140k.  $140k is more than I wanted to spend, at least on a mobile home, since they don't appreciate like a regular house.  Single wides are up over $100k now.  The current list of homes and their prices is available at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dJYcN3IxmtNkjRoJp90_w1lmRJyozsoqfOYdaoYQGkw/edit?usp=sharing 

Something else I found out is that my slab won't meet the current code in NH.  They are required to be 6" now with double reinforcing 4' in from the edges.  That means one of the main cost advantages of a mobile home, only needing minimal site work, is now moot.  Needing a slab likely adds almost $10k to the cost of new construction.  It also adds a lot of complication.  Instead of just picking up the tiny home with a forklift and moving it when the new house arrives, I will have to get it moved before work on the slab begins.

Without the slab, I lose most of my utilities.  This means I have no water or sewer while this work is being done.  I can jack-hammer the old slab out and find something to do with the old concrete, maybe use the concrete on the hill by the creek to reinforce it instead of building a retaining wall.  Of course, doing all this myself means I have to move the tiny home myself.  That means getting new tires on it and stuff.

I also poked around at a place to put a prefabricated shell.  Some guys at work recommended https://lavalleys.com/products/

One of the ones I like was the Nash (https://lavalleys.com/products/garages/nash/).  It only comes to 28x36, so it is a bit smaller (and I would lose space for stairs), but since I would have a garage the square footage is not a big deal.  It would give me a two bay garage and the home over top of it, which is kind of nice.  The shell alone only costs $73k.  He said the fee to set it up was only a few grand, but that was many years ago.  Since the slab is now required regardless of route chosen, this becomes a more favorable idea.  The guy at work who recommended them got a barn from them and he said it was up in a weekend.  I will want to calculate how much completing the home will cost, but that might be the better option (at first blush it certainly seems like the cheapest option unless building materials have gone up in cost more than I think), especially if I can get them to put a large opening (basically frame around the tiny home so it can be pulled out later and then I will complete the wall when that happens.  I am still debating whether I want to spend the next 5 years of my life building a house though.

I will have to find a new vendor to look at modular homes, but if their price premium over mobile homes still holds true, they are almost assuredly not in my price range.  If a double wide is $140k, I am thinking that a modular is likely going to be $250k to $300k.

The house plans are now in progress.

Summer projects:

• Prep truck for trade in
• Determine house plans (modular vs mobile vs stick)
• Get my power service upgraded
• Shed floor
• Shed doors
• Concrete shed supports
• Anti-mouse the shed (seal it, maybe spray with pepper spray or something)
• Eliminate pile of crap in the back yard.  
• Level the side yard.  
• Investigate retaining wall construction. 
• Install windows in the shed.
• Fix/sell the utility trailer.
• Driveway round 5
• Get building permit
• Determine the future method of travel.  Build prototype?
• Come up with garage plans
• Clear walking trails on lot.  
• Build a bridge over the creek