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Just wondering what the top 3 best built double wides are? I know some are built really good and some are not, just wondering, we have an oakwood doublewide and would like to know if anyone knows if these are well built? I know the walls studs are on 16" centers wich is good, but other than that, i dont know much..we used to have a fleetwood and i thought it was well built.
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Just wondering what the top 3 best built double wides are?
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That's like asking what are the top 3 best built automobiles? You can probably get lots of opinions, and very little objective proof. And there may be even more manufactured housing manufacturers than there are automobile manufacturers.
So . . ., I saw one trade journal about 6 years ago that listed, Schult, Palm Harbor, and Oak Creek as being the best that year. You have to remember that "quality" of almost any product may improve or deteriorate in different years, so to me, at least, that journal's opinion then means little or nothing now.
The next thing to consider is that most manufacturers make different models, just as GM and Ford make different "brands" of cars. So the quality of different models may be different.
And then the car manufacturers offer a number of "options" with each model, most of which do not affect the overall "quality" of the car, but the manufactured housing manufacturers offer "options" which actually do affect quality in my opinion. For example: do you want plywood floors instead of OSB? To me that option is a quality matter; rather than a cosmetic or convenience factor. Or would you want 2 x 4 studs or 2 x 6? There are also tremendous differences in the quality of the cabinetry in different brands and models.
To the best of my knowledge, Fleetwood is still the biggest manufacturer of not only manufactured housing, but also RVs, in the nation, and I believe in the world. I've owned a Bounder motorhome by Fleetwood (one of their cheaper lines), but they also make the American Eagle (no comparison). And I'm now living in a Fleetwood manufactured home that is nowhere near the quality of the Oak Creek we had for 5 years. Fleetwood's big (must be dong something right), but cut corners whereever possible, and fight any attempts to regulate the industry or require better quality (and they've been pretty darned successful at it, too).
Oakwood was a big name in this area for a long time, and I'd say at least moderate to better quality, but a few years ago they closed the manufacturing plant in the area, as well as a number of their retail outlets, so I don't know how they are now.
Anyone considering manufactured housing needs to do a lot of homework; at least as much as you would with a builder of site built houses, and learn what kind of flooring, what kind of plumbing, what kind of HVAC, what kind of fixtures (toilets, lavatories, sinks, tubs and showers, faucets), what kind of cabinets, drawer guides, what kind of framing, doors, locks, windows, insulation, roofing materials, siding, water heaters, electrical wiring, switches, etc., etc. And at least as important as the manufacturing is the "installation" and set up when it's delivered.
Enough of my rambling. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]
Palm Harbour won again last year too. Six years ago, last year...that seems like a pretty good record. I don't know what happened in between, but I can only assume.... [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img]
Bird, fine post with a lot of thought, hardly rambling.
never heard of palm harbor, just wondering about our oakwood, i remember they had all sorts of advertisements in their office about how they have been proven to be the best built double wide, but naturally they are going to say that, but what really got me wondering is they had a plant here also that closed last year and saw on the news where they are going bankrupt, so i was wondering if it was because they built crappy homes or what..? Nyone else know much about them? so far, this ones been nice, only problem has been the front door, i dont think the home was leveled right or something because the front door has a large gap between it and the spot on the wall that the latch latches to..
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advertisements in their office about how they have been proven to be the best
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Yep, and in '97, Oak Creek had the same thing in their offices; best in the world according to them. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] And I not only dealt with the salesman, but also went for a tour of the plant where ours was built.
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dont think the home was leveled right or something because the front door has a large gap
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I'd bet on that being your problem. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] AARP ran a story in their magazine quite a few years ago that mentioned that the majority of the problems have involved the installation and setup. At one time, AARP, the federal government, manufactured home representatives, etc. got a committee together to try to establish new standards and one thing the AARP representatives thought they had succeeded at was to have a 5 year waranty on the installation, but they said the head man at Fleetwood succeeded in stopping that. [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] Most of the guys who do the leveling only guarantee it's level when they finish the job; may not be level tomorrow. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] I talked to one guy who guarantees them to be level for two years, but of course, he also charges twice as much as anyone else to do it. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] When our last new one was installed and set up, I had to have it re-leveled less than 6 months later (those concrete pad and piers settle), then about 3 years later, had it re-leveled again. And in the 5 years we lived in it, I also adjusted the perimeter blocking at the front door 3 times myself (I had my own 12 ton jack). And when we bought this current manufactured home, it had been here about 6 years and the prior owner said it had never been re-leveled, and I knew before I bought it that re-leveling would be the first thing on the agenda. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] It was about 2" low on one end. I don't know what they charge in your area, but around here, you can expect to pay $300 to $600 to have one re-leveled.
Palm Harbor is one of the big sellers in this area, but I don't know whether they are sold in other areas. I know the ones around here at built at Ft. Worth.
As far as I know, there's nothing wrong with an Oakwood; don't know why they closed a number of their manufacturing plants, as well as the retail outlets. It may have been price, marketing strategy, or their management, but at least I've never heard anything bad about the quality of their product.
I don't know where you live but if I lived in wisconsin I sure wouldn't buy a home built in texas or florida. That said I live in Canada and a reputable company here is called Quality Homes. Designed and made where it can be real cold with snow loads to boot.
Sometimes a sort of time delay/time warp sort of approach is good. Everyone says theirs is the best and sets their price and quality level at time of manufacture. Look at the prices and quality of used units. These prices and to a degree the quality retained reveal a lot more reality than looking at new units on the sales lot or pictures of new units.
When I had no other simple means of validating a company’s stability, I used to use 3-5 year old phone books. If I could look up a supplier or whatever in a 3-5 year old phone book and contact them at that number then they were fairly stable. Extend a similar tactic to trailers/mobile homes/manufactured housing/whatever by shopping the used market, not to buy but to see what your proposed unit will likely be worth and look like a few years hence. This can be a very sobering experience.
There is more than one way to spend money. Buying a mobile is more likely to be an expense than an investment. In a way it is like renting, you have a place to live but over time not an appreciating investment in equity. There are exceptions to any generalized concept and any given situation with its own circumstances may "buck" the trend. You might go to Vegas and come back way ahead but it isn't the norm.
A good friend who retired from academia (PhD in bugs) worked for several years in real estate sales and was the one who suggested I consider a rollaway in place of a manufactured home. He told me that it was typical for a manufactured home to depreciate $10,000 on delivery and setup and to depreciate instead of appreciate over time. I continue to be grateful for his advice as I put my mom in a rollaway.
There are always specific circumstances when a mobile might be a good choice.
In many instances, these units deteriorate more quickly than well built conventional homes and even when they don't they will frequently depreciate instead of appreciate over time. There are enough used units available to allow forming an opinion of how well they hold value. Tend to ignore asking prices and try to get an idea of what these units actually sell for. That can be a shocker. Ask yourself what is it about your intended expense in a mobile that is different and why your retained value should not go the way of the others.
I am not trying to be negative, I'm trying to offer some realistic input. It is a whole lot better to have your eyes wide open before you commit and about half closed afterword.
As to quality, yes there are great differences in quallity in mobiles. Unfortunately it is a nuance that is typically ignored by the marketplace after the sale. High quality mobiles get tarred with the same brush as the true junk. There is a strong stigma attached to these latter day trailerhouses, unwarranted and unfair in the instance of the higher quality units but still there and still influencing value over time after the sale.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
mopower,
I'm fairly familiar with mobile homes, and I can offer you some advice about shopping around for the best one. Many homes are dressed out very nice on the inside, but when you get past the cosmetics and into the structure, you can see quickly the differences in the various manufacturers' work. Fleetwood uses 1/4 inch papered board attached to 2x3 wood framing lumber. The subflooring is standard grade plywood and the roof trusses meet minimum specification guidelines. Clayton Homes are comparable to Fleetwood. Palm Harbor is a step above those two. The best I've seen is Solitaire Homes out of Oklahoma. They use 2x6 exterior wall framing, solid 3/4 inch subflooring, full 1/2 inch sheetrock-tape and bedded. Interior walls are 2x4 framing. There are other manufacturers who build comparable quality to Solitaire but I can't give you any names because they are not in my area. I would recommend that when you look at homes, that you ask to see a cross-section or sample of the framing. If you get the chance to see how well a double wide can be built, you'll become a little more selective about what you're interested in. Of course, a well built home is going to cost more than a cheaply built one, but you'd be surprised how close the prices are. Hope this helps a little.
CowboyUp