A new modular home company has opened a Chipley office and is partnering with Ritz-Craft Corp., one of the country’s largest system-built home companies.

Ritz-Craft built Integrity Homes of Chipley’s main showcase home — being used as a display model and design center off U.S. 90 — at its Hamlet, N.C., factory.

The 2,600-square foot structure was featured at the 2007 International Builders Show in Orlando, said George Lee, one of Integrity’s four business partners.

“As soon as the show was over, it was taken down and transported to Chipley,” Lee said Monday.

Lee said the Orlando show attracted about 10,000 people. He said the home is featured on Ritz-Craft’s Web site.

The two-story home features a Tuscan-columned entry with 10-foot ceilings and a 48-foot view to the back patio and pool area, according to materials provided by Integrity.

Its custom-built hearth kitchen has quartz countertops and a built-in wine chiller.

Lee said the Chipley business held a grand opening celebration Friday and Saturday, and he estimated that 500 people toured the home each day.

He said all of Integrity’s homes come directly from Ritz-Craft’s North Carolina facility, and can be customized to the buyer’s specifications.

Integrity home plans start at $63 per square foot, Lee said, and customers can view multiple plans at the company’s Chipley location or at its Web site, www.integrityhomesofchipley.com.

The average completion time for a homebuyer is 12 to 16 weeks, Lee said, depending on the home’s layout.

“We’ll streamline that the best we can,” he said.

The company’s homes are designed to withstand 130 mph winds and built with 2-by-6s on exterior walls.

Integrity’s design center includes multiple kitchen layouts, lighting fixtures, siding options and flooring, he said.

“Whatever you could put in your house, we have right here,” Lee said.

Lee said he and partners Beverly Hollingsworth, Robert Clark and Howard Clark originally were partners in a Chipley-based business company called Southern Homebuyers that bought, fixed up and sold previously distressed properties.

He said he and the other partners saw a need for affordable housing in Chipley, Panama City, Bonifay and other surrounding Northwest Florida cities.

The partners were familiar with modular construction and talked with Ritz-Craft before entering into the partnership, Lee said.

source : www.newsherald.com

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