Choose Your Factory Built ADU Dealer Wisely

There are many options for Accessory Dwelling Unit Construction and one of them is a Factory Built ADU (Manufactured Home)

A Factory Built ADU Dealer comes in two types:

FACTORY BUILT ADU DEALER—TYPE ONE : Is only interested in selling you the home.   He/she has no real interest in helping you facilitate the actual site development and preparation.  Site prep consists of  grading, excavation, soil imports, utility connections and most importantly the permitting. In many cases Type One doesn’t even want to deal with the delivery and set up of the home. 

Type One’s primary function and goal is to sell you a product like a car, boat, motorhome, etc. That’s generally all they do. What and how you go from there is on you. Unless you are a sophisticated Owner/Builder or have had experience installing a manufactured home, you have to have a contractor who is properly licensed, bonded and insured to perform this task for you.

FACTORY BUILT ADU DEALER—TYPE TWO: Commonly known as a “Developer, Dealer & Contractor”. This dealer is usually also a contractor and is tasked with getting your project completed from the time it’s ordered until the time they break ground and until the home and it has been signed off by the building jurisdiction and received the “Certificate of Occupancy” (CO). The Developer, Dealer/Contractor’s overall responsibility is from start to finish. They don’t just sell you the home. They do all the heavy lifting.

I can’t tell you how many times we get calls from folks who were sold a home but had no one to install it for them so it was left up to them to find their own contractor, pull their own permits and pretty much be responsible for running the entire project by themselves. So please make sure your Manufactured Home Dealer wears all the badges and is capable of delivering you a move in ready project. 

ADU on its way before the site is ready can cost you not only money but lots of heartaches. Make sure your FACTORY BUILT ADU DEALER has your back.

It only takes about 4-6 weeks to build your home. But it can take 4 months—even up to a year to complete all the other required tasks. If you have that home built before you have everything else completed you may end up paying storage fees. And while it’s being stored, usually outdoors, its taking a beating from weather, vandalism and even theft. Additionally because it hasn’t been set up according to the manufacturer’s manual, you run the additional risks of warping, tweaking, popping and cracking, mold, dry rot, termites, premature deterioration and decomposition along with a host of other issues that would have been otherwise prevented. 

So don’t get caught up in the excitement of sales hype and urgency. Stay cool and most importantly work with a professional manufactured home dealer who is ether a general and manufactured home contractor or who works with one on a regular basis.

Your site development, utilities and permitting must be completed or you could end up with a finished ADU and no place to put it.