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If only the three little pigs had these options for their houses. As homeowners collect insurance money and other funds tied to storm recovery, three alternative building systems are beginning to gain attention - modular, concrete and steel framing. "These options will catch on," said Toni Wendel, president of the Home Builders Association of Greater New Orleans. "New Orleans is ready for some new ideas as long as we can keep our neighborhoods, our city, looking like our neighborhoods, just better and stronger." Building companies, already beginning construction or contracting with neighborhood groups to build homes, are using the three models. "Modular is quick and it's coming," Wendel said. "We didn't have the labor trained to use the steel and concrete but they're now working with us to teach about using those materials." Modular versus manufactured The issue is what's modular and what's manufactured.
Starting with a short history of the more than 75,000 Sears Roebuck kit homes built between 1908 and 1940, this book explains the pros and cons of today's factory-built homes. Binsacca explains that there are many choices and sources for customizing these new homes. Looking at the many photos throughout the book, readers would never know most of these houses started out on a factory assembly line. This step-by-step book shows home buyers how to investigate and compare catalog designs, manufactured and modular homes, kit or lumberyard suppliers, and on-site assembly of components. There is also brief information on mortgage finance sources and options. This new book opens wide the door of affordability to prospective home buyers, especially those desiring to build in a rural or retirement area away from city or suburban housing.
The Ashland-based manufactured home dealer, Amega Sales Inc., was ordered last week to suspend all sales activity for 20 days and pay a $10,000 fine.
The Missouri Public Service Commission approved the agreement between the PSC's staff, Amega Sales Inc. and Amega's president, Greg DeLine.The agreement requires the dealer to be closed for all sales business for 20 days, starting Tuesday.In addition, the dealer will pay a $10,000 penalty to the Public School Fund.The PSC staff, through its Director of Manufactured Housing and Modular Units Program, filed a complaint against Amega alleging the dealer sold a home that had a prohibitive sale notice, a violation of PSC rules.Specifically, the complaint alleged the dealer sold a home claiming it was a new home, even after the PSC's Manufactured Housing and Modular Units Program had placed a prohibitive sale notice on the home, informing Amega the home could not be sold as new.During the closure, there is to be no contact with potential customers and Amega must post a clear notice the Ashland lot will be closed.The dealer also is prohibited from steering customers to other sales lots owned by DeLine or Amega affiliates.In addition, the agreement prohibits Amega and its affiliates from selling any new manufactured home that does not have a HUD (Housing and Urban Development) label and data plate as required by law.It also requires Amega and its affiliates to notify the PSC Manufactured Housing and Modular Units Program whenever it receives any manufactured home that doesn't have the HUD label, which is required for the home to be sold to the consumer.
Shares of Champion Enterprises Inc. surged nearly 10 percent Wednesday, the day after the manufactured homebuilder narrowly beat Wall Street expectations despite a cool U.S. housing market. The company's third-quarter profit dropped to $9 million, or 12 cents per share, from $16.6 million, or 20 cents per share, last year. But revenue rose 3 percent to $346.5 million, buoyed by a 17 percent jump in modular home sales to $89 million. "We think Champion Enterprises' move toward selling more modular homes is a positive trend given the higher price points and the ability of these homes to hold their value better, which makes modular homes more appealing to consumers," Sidoti & Co. analyst Paul Nouri said Wednesday in a note. The firm also reiterated its "Neutral" rating on the stock and its $8 price target.
October is Manufactured Housing Month in Mississippi, according to a recent press release from the Manufactured Housing Association in Flowood. The release went on to say that one out of every three Mississippi housing starts in the first six months of the year was a manufactured home. With so many manufactured homes sold in the state, there is no doubt the industry fills a need. But the volume of manufactured homes sold may help explain why so many people confuse them with modular construction. Emily Austill said she got a permit and financing for her modular home in Perkinston. But after the home was delivered and while finishing work was taking place, a neighbor protested her right to have the home, believing it to be manufactured. Austill said work has stopped on the home until the misunderstanding can be rectified.
A fight over which state agency should regulate modular homes -- considered by many the quickest way to replace the thousands of hurricane-destroyed homes -- has been temporarily resolved with an attorney general's opinion placing regulatory authority with the state contractors licensing board. The argument pits the Louisiana State Contractors Licensing Board against the Louisiana Manufacturing Housing Commission. Modular homes are factory-built structures that are delivered to a lot in components and assembled into a permanent home either on a slab or a raised foundation. Manufactured homes are built on metal chassis with wheels and hauled to the home site in one piece. They are also called mobile homes or trailer homes. While the wheels can be removed and the chassis mounted or tied to a foundation, the law still considers the structure moveable.
THE bar and nightclub owner behind a planned £3 million new nightspot in Edinburgh's city centre has reported record profits of £7.3m. Entrepreneur Stefan King's G1 Group, which also owns a string of pubs in the Capital, including the controversially-named Morningside Glory and the Auld Toll Bar premises in Tollcross, saw profits soar by 12.7 per cent - in the fifth consecutive year that both profits and sales have increased for the company. .
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