FIRST, KEN and Betty Milsom had a house that was too small.

Then they had a house that was too big.

Now, they’ve got one that’s just right.

The Milsoms spent much of their married life — 27 years — in a small home on a quiet road in Lakeside, just outside Halifax.

But that house never really had enough elbow room for the family, an issue that went away a year ago when their purchase of a $100 lottery ticket won them the Dream Home.

Problem solved? Not quite.

“The Dream Home was too much for us,” Betty Milsom said. “The taxes, the insurance.”

So the couple started looking for another house to buy, one that had the size and the features they wanted.

“She looked everywhere for another place and she couldn’t find anything she liked,” said Ken Milsom. “I said to her, ‘The only way you’re going to do it is build your own home.’ ”

The Milsoms met with a contractor, but when he called back two days later to raise the price of his initial estimate, they got skittish and decided they wanted to live in a manufactured home.

Manufactured, or modular, homes are built indoors instead of on site. The people who work in the industry say that provides several advantages.

“The biggest advantage, of course is that’s built in a climate-controlled environment, in a factory,” said Rod Rhindress of Grandview Homes, who sells houses made by Kent.

“Materials are protected; you don’t have to worry about theft problems. The biggest issue I sell is that since it’s built in a factory, when we get on site it’s only a matter of two or three weeks until it’s finished.

“You have to tie the house together, finish the siding, put the basement stairs in. We do a lot of the flooring on site, and painting. There are some nail pops and cracks in transportation, so they all have to be fixed up.”

Rhindress sold the Milsoms their home, and was waiting with them when the trucks carrying their new three-bedroom bungalow arrived from the Kent factory in Debert.

“They have everything inside their showroom and you can pick out exactly what you want: the hardwood floors, the ceramic floor, the cupboards, the colours,” Ken Milsom said.

“It’s so much simpler than building a house from bottom to finish, and having to go Kent Building Supplies or Home Depot and pick everything out,” added his wife.

“The only thing that we couldn’t get, and it’s hard to, is a formal dining room. So we’ll have an island in the kitchen, and on the other side of the island is the dining area.”

The Milsom’s new house is 1,320 square feet on a single level, plus a basement and a garage to be built on site. It sits on the same site as their old house, which was torn down to make way for the new one. They expected to wait about four weeks before moving in, to give Rhindress and his crew time to paint the interior and install flooring.

“Carpet and vinyl floors are done in the factory, as are laminate floors,” he said. “Some manufacturers do hardwood and ceramic in the factory; we do them on site.”

Rhindress said manufactured homes have been around for about 50 years and can often be identified by their steeper pitched roofs, which gives a house a nicer look.

“The designs have changed a lot. Two storeys are common now, Cape Cods are common, large bungalows, open concept,” he said.

“We’re very cost-competitive, obviously, because we’re in business. We compete with the site builders. Our labour costs are very tightly controlled; we don’t have to worry about paying $25 or $30 an hour for on-site contractors, where our costs are factory-controlled. Our disadvantage is that we have to ship the house down the road, and that adds to the cost.”

The Milsoms are convinced they paid less for their house than they would have if they had it built on site.

Shelley Surette of Prestige Homes, which has a factory in Suss-ex, N.B., said custom features, square footage and the design all determine the price of a modular home.

“There are things you have to look at when you’re considering a manufactured home, in terms of the benefits. Number 1, your home is built inside in an environment where your lumber is kiln-dried and stays dry. We have engineers on site with our workforce,” she said.

“Our guys and gals know that they’re there for eight hours; they’re happy, they’re warm, they have a job to do and there’s accountability in terms of their performance on the job.”

To the Milsoms, who sat in lawn chairs watching their house being slid onto its foundation, those factors weren’t as important as that it cost what they expected and arrived on time. “When you go in this one, you’ll find it some nice,” said Betty Milsom. “Two bathrooms.”

source : thechronicleherald.ca