Modular Homes in Newton, MA. Specific question on Westchester Modular Homes (Lee: rental, income)

[tvieira24]

Great, thanks for the update!

[wski4fun]

I'm looking into modular myself. Live in Needham looking to build a 2850 sq ft house. Stick built was coming in around $180 for what I consider to be on the lower end of finishes. Modular looks to be coming in around $150 a sq and will be better appointed. Would enjoy reading any updates or stories of others that have built modular.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by wski4fun

I'm looking into modular myself. Live in Needham looking to build a 2850 sq ft house. Stick built was coming in around $180 for what I consider to be on the lower end of finishes. Modular looks to be coming in around $150 a sq and will be better appointed. Would enjoy reading any updates or stories of others that have built modular.

Cool! Please let me know when your house comes rolling into town on the trucks. It's so much fun to watch.

[paragvohra]

Status Update: the foundation is done. And they will roll the house in around the 30th of June. Still need to get a final date, but it should be around then.

The site work was the one that went way over budget - Newton is a tough town with codes mandating french drain, a number of retaining walls, even where we didn't have them earlier, capping at main for water sewer instead of property line etc.

[flowbe202]

The Islands have been using modular for years.

Modular houses barge in

According to Hal, stick-built construction costs on Chappy at the time of his project were running about $400 to $450 per square foot. The Flacks slashed their expense to about $250 a square foot, taking into account about $100,000 for transportation alone.



Compared to the Islands, you got a bargain!

[paragvohra]

Final update: we moved in 2 weeks back. It was a stressful experience overall - loads of decisions etc, moving out to temporary housing and then moving back in again.

The final house is 4100 Sq ft, central entrance colonial. Final cost is approx 650k, and that include everything including finishes, lighting landscaping etc. We used Harris planks, and the house includes two decks, one small cantilever balcony off of the upstairs balcony and the second normal deck, a bit small extending from the nook on the ground floor.

Also, the house is going to be Leed certified as well as energy star certified.

All credit to the folks at Dreamline Modular - the builders were great to work with and they have a lot of passion about what they do. Having good builders make all the difference in the world.

Overall it was a lot of work but I am happy it's done.

[Allharv]

Originally Posted by paragvohra

Final update: we moved in 2 weeks back.

Congratulations!

It was a stressful experience overall - loads of decisions etc, moving out to temporary housing and then moving back in again.

Can you please elaborate? Did you only need to move out of your old house and into your new house, or did you need to move out of your house for a while? What were some of the unexpected bumps in the road which weren't mentioned here?

[paragvohra]

1. It was 2 moves - in April we moved out of our house to temp accommodation. We stayed there for 7 months and then moved back.

2. Dealing with the city was stressful - not getting the demo permit because of the historical commission, appealing to them, then getting all of these site requirements for code with extra expenditure on retaining walls, drainage, access etc.

3. Decisions around hardware, granite, fixtures, lighting, appliances. This is where we sometimes had to go outside of what the builder package includes to getting some of our own things.

4. Just general coordination on top of working regular job, kid stuff etc. Getting impatient in the last stages and then again having to deal with the city around occupancy certificate pre-reqs and coordination with bank inspections.

Overall, Newton is a tough city to build in. We know another couple - same builder, building in Lexington and their processes were simpler and less time consuming.

[soal]

Thanks for the update as this is definitely valuable information. Most people post questions here and disappear without updates.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by paragvohra

Final update: we moved in 2 weeks back. It was a stressful experience overall - loads of decisions etc, moving out to temporary housing and then moving back in again.

The final house is 4100 Sq ft, central entrance colonial. Final cost is approx 650k, and that include everything including finishes, lighting landscaping etc. We used Harris planks, and the house includes two decks, one small cantilever balcony off of the upstairs balcony and the second normal deck, a bit small extending from the nook on the ground floor.

Also, the house is going to be Leed certified as well as energy star certified.

All credit to the folks at Dreamline Modular - the builders were great to work with and they have a lot of passion about what they do. Having good builders make all the difference in the world.

Overall it was a lot of work but I am happy it's done.

I don't see tons of modular homes go up in this area, but many of the ones that do seem to have Dreamline signs out front. It would be great if you could check back into this thread every once in a while to tell us how your house is holding up.

Originally Posted by paragvohra

1. It was 2 moves - in April we moved out of our house to temp accommodation. We stayed there for 7 months and then moved back.

2. Dealing with the city was stressful - not getting the demo permit because of the historical commission, appealing to them, then getting all of these site requirements for code with extra expenditure on retaining walls, drainage, access etc.

3. Decisions around hardware, granite, fixtures, lighting, appliances. This is where we sometimes had to go outside of what the builder package includes to getting some of our own things.

4. Just general coordination on top of working regular job, kid stuff etc. Getting impatient in the last stages and then again having to deal with the city around occupancy certificate pre-reqs and coordination with bank inspections.

Overall, Newton is a tough city to build in. We know another couple - same builder, building in Lexington and their processes were simpler and less time consuming.

Living in temporary housing and choosing all the finishes are usually two areas of building a new house where people grossly underestimate the amount of stress involved. Building a house is really like having a second full time job. Most people also exceed their material allowances as you found out as well. This is where a good real estate agent can come in handy because they can give you an idea of how far your allowances will take you. Of course, I'm referring more to buying a home that's under construction rather than building one for yourself.