| 2/6/2009 9:16:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Code change is plus for home buyers
By Arlene Shovald - Special to The Mail
Adoption of changes to the land use code to help create affordable housing in Salida has been a plus for potential buyers of modular homes and the builders.
"We haven't been allowed to build in Salida for 6-8 years," Don Dill, co-owner of Great Western Homes, Inc. in Poncha Springs, said.
"When the changes were approved by Salida City Council on second reading in December it was great news for us."
Rick Ormsby, co-owner, said, "We've had customers who wanted to buy homes and couldn't put our homes on their lots in Salida.
"We appreciate Mayor Chuck Rose and the city council and the fact they have shown genuine interest and concern that residents can have the most affordable homes. Our homes, on average, cost about 20 percent less than stick built homes."
Much of the savings in an off-site built home are in condensed time. They can build in 90-120 days compared to stick built which can take a year.
One of the reasons for the change, Dara McDonald, Salida community development director, said, is because modular construction has progressed so much in the past couple of decades and is now subject to the same building codes as frame construction.
"With that in mind," McDonald said, "it just didn't make sense to limit availability of off-site built homes."
Modular homes are allowed in any residential zone in Salida. They remain distinct from mobile homes which remain limited to R4 residential areas allowing multi-family and mobile homes.
Chaffee County adopted International Residential Code standards, replacing the Uniform Building Code.
"Counties in Colorado now are all slowly adopting the (international code)," Dill said.
Great Western Homes was formerly Pine Creek Homes on U.S. 50 in Poncha Springs. Dill owned Pine Creek Homes about 13 years. Ormsby was with Summit Crest and Genesis Homes of Colorado.
Ormsby moved to Poncha Springs from Berthoud where the manufacturing plant is and where he was sales manager and supervised plant operation.
When Dill and Ormsby joined, Pine Creek Homes was dissolved and Great Western Homes, Inc. was formed.
"Because Rick ran the factory, he knows how to customize and what we can and can't do with our manufactured homes," Dill said.
One of the homes from the Berthoud plant, a 6,000 square foot residence in Loveland, was named House of the Year by "Country Living Magazine" in 2005.
That was the first time a modular home received the coveted House of the Year designation and the home was in competition with stick built structures.
"Availability of computers and advanced Computer Aided Drafting programs has given us the ability to design hinged roof systems," Ormsby said. "We have to transport these homes under bridges and hinged roofs allow us to do that."
Local contractors are used for on-site building work.
Among the benefits of "off-site" construction are:
• Improved structural integrity - homes are built in modules. More engineering structural components allow them to be transported efficiently from the manufacturing plant to the building site.
• Controlled environment - materials and workers are not subject to prolonged exposure to the environment.
• Improved energy efficiency - with 6-inch exterior walls, 4-inch interior walls, engineered roofs and floors built as single components, air filtration is minimized. "Off-site" constructed homes can easily achieve energy programs and certifications.
• Fewer cost overruns - 80 percent of the price of the home is locked in.
• Improved speed for project completion
• Decreases environmental impact of construction.
• Neighborhood friendly - off site construction dramatically reduces the amount of heavy equipment and other disturbances on a job site.
Local bank financing packages for Great Western Homes are available for as low as 4.5 percent on a 30 year fixed mortgage.
"We would be happy to do a free site inspection on your lot to let you know if it's feasible and what costs would be," Dill said.
|
Article Comment Submission Form
|
