What Is the Homebuilding Timeline? How Am I Involved?
When you choose Shorten Homes, you’re one step closer to your own American Dream. We specialize in delivering custom-built modular homes that suit your lifestyle and aesthetic preferences, while staying within your budget. Unlike other modular home builders, we work closely with each customer from start to finish. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to provide your input and make your own decisions about how you want your new home to look. Here’s a look at the homebuilding timeline and your level of involvement.
An Overview of the Homebuilding Timeline
It takes an average of seven to 12 months to build a typical home from scratch. That’s a long time to wait, but when you partner with Shorten Homes, you can enjoy your new home much sooner. It only takes us about 10 to 12 weeks to complete the build at our factory. This is followed by site delivery and assembly. Note that this timeframe doesn’t include the time it takes for you to design your home or for the site work and final construction to be completed.
We encourage our customers to become as involved as they wish. You can stay in close contact with our team throughout every step of the process, or simply finalize your order and wait for updates. You’re only required to be present at the home site on the following occasions: the wall set, the house set, and the final walkthrough.
Initial Phase
Many of our customers find that the initial phase and the final walkthrough are the most exciting parts of building their own custom modular home! During this initial phase, you’ll get to choose your floorplan and all of your design options. Start by exploring our models online. When you find a model that fits your square footage needs, click on the “Learn More” link to see more details, such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. You’ll also see the floorplan, options, and photos of what the selected home could look like when staged.
Although you can find a wealth of information online, and we’ll pass along additional details to you, we strongly encourage you to visit our office in Scranton, PA. Here, you can take a tour of our modular home models and check out all of your options at our design center.
Other steps included in the initial phase are as follows:
- Submit your initial refundable deposit.
- Select your home site. We’ll visit it and ensure it’s suitable for your build.
- Finalize your options and get the final purchase price.
- Choose your interior and exterior colors.
- Sign off on the stamped prints.
- Put 25% of the purchase price down or close on your construction mortgage.
The initial phase takes about six weeks.
Foundation and Site Work
As soon as your down payment is received, we’ll initiate the home order at our factory. In the meantime, you can choose to either arrange the necessary building permits or request that we handle that. If you do choose to handle the permits, we’re always here to help when needed. Our customers can choose whether to handle the foundation on their own or to have us do it. If we’re doing your foundation, we’ll begin the excavation once the permits are received. We’ll also finalize the delivery date for your home.
Throughout this process, we perform periodic site inspections, even if you’re handling the site work and foundation. We’ll always keep you informed of what’s happening throughout this process. During this stage, you can be as involved as you wish. Once your home is being built in our factory, you also have the option of visiting it to see the process for yourself.
The timeline for this stage is subject to fluctuation. Pre-COVID, the timeline was about six weeks. These days, it generally takes about three months, although that may eventually decrease.
Walls and House Set
Once the foundation is completed, it’s time to set the walls. We’ll be onsite with you to observe and ensure that everything proceeds smoothly. Your second installment is required at this time, assuming that we poured the foundation. Setting the walls generally only takes a day.
After the walls are set, it may be up to two weeks before the home is set upon the foundation. Setting the home also generally takes just one day. The third installment is due at this time. We encourage customers to be present for this exciting day, although if you’ve submitted your installment in advance, your presence isn’t mandatory.
Construction
Although we build your home in our climate-controlled factory, some construction work is still required following the home set. During this phase, our experienced crew will handle the following:
- Electricity
- Plumbing
- Trim out
- Any additional excavation required
- Hookups
- Deck
- Garage
You’re always welcome to drop by the site at any time to check on the progress and enjoy seeing your new home. Even at this late stage, you can request tweaks to your home. We’re always open to suggestions, as your complete satisfaction is our highest priority.
The construction phase can take up to eight weeks. If we aren’t doing site work, however, that time can be shortened to about two weeks.
Final Walkthrough
Once your home is completed, we’ll meet you there to do the final walkthrough. This is our opportunity to ensure that every cosmetic detail is exactly as it should be, and it’s your opportunity to ask any questions you may have. Once you’re satisfied that everything is in order, you’ll sign the walkthrough form and provide the final payment. Occasionally, final code inspections may be needed. Upon request, we’ll handle that prior to the final walkthrough.
This process typically takes just a couple of days. Following that, it’ll be move-in day! We’ll continue to support you as needed. For a full year following the final walkthrough, we’ll be here to handle any issues that arise free of charge.
If you ever have any questions about our homebuilding processes or about your particular project, please get in touch with Shorten Homes at info@ShortenHomes.com. We also invite you to swing by our main office in Scranton, PA and explore your many options for customization at our design center.