Shopping Modular Homes – Home Crafters of Western Carolina

So, we did not like the basic features that came with the price quoted at Premier Homes of the Carolinas. We didn’t really like the upgrades either. We waited for them to get a price with just the bare minimum to get a CO. Or to even get back to us to look at our land and price the foundation cost and give us a price for the garage.

In the meantime, Lesley Rohe, our real estate agent recommended Homecrafters of WNC out of Woodfin. We drove down to look at the models there and liked them MUCH better. I preferred the layout and the kitchens. They could add the garage we wanted. I liked the people I spoke to there, too. They gave me the website of the place they liked best, www.r-anell.com and I started looking at plans again.

We selected a plan, the Summit Highland by R-Anell and asked for a price based on the standard options, just to see where we were. They quoted me a price per square foot that was great! Significantly less than the other place! We chose from the options on the site and staked out the dimensions of the house we were interested in. It was going to fit beautifully just above the flood zone line. The porch would be on the back, near the woods. The master bedroom would be on the left side of the house, overlooking the brook. Perfect!

They came out and looked at the land to calculate the site-prep on Saturday, July 8. It was going to cost more, because it was at the back of the land. The driveway was going to have to be longer. We would have to put in a culvert sturdy enough for heavy trucks to drag a house across. Water, sewer and power would cost more, too. Even though it was going to cost more than we expected, it was affordable and we moved forward.

We made some modifications. We flipped the house, so it would be on the land the right direction.

We sat out there and imagined sitting on our porch in our new house.

We talked to our own bank, Bank of America, and got nowhere with getting a loan for a modular, so we went with a lender that specializes in modular financing. It only took one day to get a letter promising financing.

So exciting! Now to finish the inside!

And it started falling apart. I could not get a kitchen plan. I just looked through my email chain, both to the dealer and the manufacturer. I am not remembering this wrong. Email after email after email begging for a better floor plan and a kitchen plan. The ones that are even answered have no information at all in them. You can see where the cabinets are, but there is no information on the top cabinets. It is hard to tell what is going on with the bar. I eventually found the 3-D view. Not very helpful. It kinda reminds me of the gate in the Star Trek Original Series episode The City on the Edge of Forever. We could jump through it and accidentally alter time.

And I hated the options. The ones on the website were no longer available. I hated them less than the last place, but I don’t like grey. And I don’t want a Mission or Arts & Crafts style house. There really were a lot of great options available if you like Modern, Contemporary or Arts & Crafts style. My style is Traditional, very European. Maybe toward Swedish Gustavian, but with more natural wood, less paint. The options the showed were just not my taste. Not bad. Not gaudy like the last place. But not what I want.

I selected the options that I disliked least. We don’t like carpeting. I have not had good experience with click-lock flooring. I prefer chrome in the bathroom and kitchen. I was given a choice of brushed steel or old bronze. I cook a lot. And I am awfully scrubby. I am not a good candidate for natural countertops. The Formica options were all very… loud. Very obvious prints. I prefer a solid or at least something more subtle.  I don’t ever want to clean grout again as long as I live, so no tile. I don’t mind an acrylic tub, but I hate fiberglass. I love a bath, so the tub needs to be deep. Or just don’t put one in and we won’t have to tear it out to put in a deep one.

We asked for a price, based on the site survey and including the garage. Actually, we asked for two prices, one with the standard options, one without any of those options. Just leave out everything that can be left out, just enough to get a CO. We checked. You only have to have one bath, so we could leave the tub and shower out of the master bathroom, then put in what we wanted later. You don’t have to have cabinets. So, just wire for the stove and fridge and put in a sink base to pass the inspections and we will put in what we want later. We went to Lowes and picked what we liked and got a price. (Which cost staggeringly more than I had expected.

Eventually, they got back to us with a price. WOW! WAY more than the square footage price had led us to expect. I don’t see how that price related in any way to the price we were given.

So, where did we go wrong? She showed us which models cost less and we started again.  This is very disappointing. And frustrating. So, I am looking at floor plans I don’t like and visualizing them filled with flooring and other options I don’t like.

We tried to get an answer from Premier Homes of the Carolinas again. We drove down and looked at the models at Blue Ridge Log Cabin and got some house plans.

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