Has anyone ever had their house built by this Vermont outfit? Their stuff is pretty spectacular (in my opinion): they use actual colonial era homes as their models and update them to some degree.
I was wondering if anyone could provide a ballpark-y cost (not counting land)and/or thoughts on this type of house building versus the traditional method.
Connor Homes - (
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Where I had a hard time was trying to nail down what a local builder might run me as an alternative. Whereas these guys tell you what you need to have in place before the drop the home (foundation, etc.) and what it might run, and they give you down to the last penny estimates for what you're looking for in the house, the builder spoke in broad, general terms, and everything had a 'depending on' and 'somewhere in the neighborhood of'. Seemed like cost control was going to be a bit tougher there.
I'm not a pro though (not even handy, really) so I could be way off base on this...
I'm not a pro though (not even handy, really) so I could be way off base on this...
I looked into it for a seasonal home. My options there were somewhat limited due to availability, and a lot of the homes were older, so I seriously considered buying a lot and building on it before I moved forward with my ultimate purchase of an existing home.
That area is a mix of older bungalows (crap) and more recently built homes, with almost an even split of local builder and pre-fab homes.
From what I saw - the pre-fab homes did appear to be better quality more often than not, depending on the builder. There tended to be better quality components (fixtures) in the locally built homes, which I'm guessing was the result of being able to customize every last detail on the built to order homes.
What I wasn't able to verify was my home inspector's statement that the local builders were better at building homes suited for that environment. It's a beach community with prevailing winds from the north and more humidity, and according to her there was a tendency of the homes built by local builders to be better suited (windows absent from one side to limit water/air intrusion from those prevailing winds, more mildew resistant materials on the outer sheathing, etc.). True or not, I couldn't tell you - but the pre-fab homes were definitely no slouch either way.
Thanks again for your thoughtful replies.
He's not in your area, but if you have any specific questions I can get an answer for you.
He talks about the process now as opposed to 20 years ago and they can do practically everything in the factory from the fixtures to the backsplash - and nearly every detail on their custom homes are customizable, and the quality does vary from builder to builder but at this point modular with good quality materials vs stick built is very close if not equal.
My guess about the environmental concerns jcn mentioned might be true, but most of the modular companies I've heard about are regional, so maybe they know their area as well as stick built builders do.
His company link is below.
When I bought my last house I looked into modular and he recommended a company in my area (said he'd do it, but it's way too far), and he advised me on a lot of the details, but land is so expensive in metro-Boston area I couldn't see a financial advantage to it and I didn't have the cash to buy land with a house on it and knock the house down and rebuild modular.
Link - ( New Window )
Link - ( New Window )
Yeah, that's why I'm heading up north: if you choose your town carefully, I think you can get decent acreage in northern NH. I just want out of NY State and get away from the tax burden, all of which is predicated on my bosses allowing me to work remotely.
They looked into buying land and building a house but it just never made sense financially. You could buy a gorgeous house for less.
They looked into buying land and building a house but it just never made sense financially. You could buy a gorgeous house for less.
love it up there, we ski at gunstock which isn't far.
I looked at Lake Ossipee which is northeast of Wolfeboro before my wife decided she preferred ocean to lake, which is a whole different economic threshold.
I can see myself retiring up there too, if I can convince my wife.
They looked into buying land and building a house but it just never made sense financially. You could buy a gorgeous house for less.
It's really strange, I noticed the same when I bought. Basically, the house, which was big and 10 years old, cost about $100k when you factor in the difference between what I paid and the equivalent lot without a house on it. Same house to be constructed in prefab form would have cost about >$300k.