Preparing Your Lot For A Manufactured Home

Purchasing a manufactured home can be an affordable avenue to home ownership. In addition, manufactured home builders construct houses that closely resemble conventional homes complete with garages and landscaped yards. However, before you can build your manufactured home, you need to prepare your lot for construction. The following guide provides essential details about the tasks you need to complete before construction can begin.

Make Sure That the Lot Can Accommodate Your Home

Manufactured homes can range in size from small one-bedroom houses to grand structures with multiple stories that can house a large family. You must make sure that the home design you select will fit on the lot you choose.

You have to take into account not only the size of the lot but clearance from homes on neighboring lots. You can hire a professional survey firm to measure the lot for you.

Prepare the Land for Construction

If the lot is not level, you will need to grade it before construction can begin. You also need to make sure the soil is compacted so it can properly support your home. Loose soil will cause your home to settle and possibly damage the foundation, walls and other structures. Other tasks you may need to complete to prepare the lot include:

• Draining moist or waterlogged soil
• Removing debris and large rocks
• Clearing trees, bushes and other vegetation that will be in the way of construction

Check for Access to Utilities

Your lot needs to have access to water, gas and electricity. You should also determine if you need to install a septic system or if the home will have access to the municipal sewer system. If you do not have access to these basic utilities, you will have to contact the local utility company to install these basic services. For access to water, you may need to install a well.

Provide Access to Your Lot

If you live in an urban or suburban area, you probably will not have to worry about builders accessing your lot with large trucks to deliver the pieces of your home. However, if your lot is in a rural area, you need to make sure that large, oversized trucks can drive to your property safely.

You also need to provide driveway access into your lot. You can hire a construction firm to build a gravel driveway on stable soil with adequate clearance for delivery trucks.

Obtain Permits and Schedule an Inspection

Before you build your home, you must make sure that zoning laws do not prevent you from beginning construction. Check with your local building department as soon as you know that you are going to build a home on your lot to obtain details on zoning and any permits you may need to purchase.

Depending on where you live, you may also be required to have a government official inspect the property before and after construction.