The Top 4 Reasons for Manufactured Home Complaints
Why Are There So Many Manufactured Homes Complaints?
Manufactured homes have a bad reputation. It’s one of the things that keep a lot of people from considering them as a housing option so I feel it necessary to confront the issue head-on.
Manufactured homes aren’t perfect and I’m certainly not trying to say they are. If you’ve read any of my previous articles you’ll know I love the homes but not the industry. I feel as if the industry has failed time and time again both as a whole and as an independent unit. However manufactured homes are the most affordable homes available and every one of them has unlimited potential. The good outweighs the bad in my opinion and if we can educate potential homebuyers and get them prepared for the manufactured home world we can all gain from it.
Related: Is a Manufactured Home Right for You?
Top 4 Reasons for the Majority of Manufactured Home Complaints
Earlier this week I wrote about improper installation being a huge reason for homeowner issues and manufactured home complaints in ‘The Ultimate Manufactured Home Installation and Setup Guide‘. In addition to improper installation, I think there are a couple more reasons that can explain why manufactured homes get so many poor reviews and complaints from homeowners besides just poorly built homes and terrible after-sales service, though those are big reasons too.
I have no proof to back my opinions. I’ve found no studies or documented data that correlates my belief other than my own experience with living in manufactured homes my entire life, working in the construction field, and the experience I have obtained while publishing Mobile Home Living. I have spoken to countless homeowners that have both minor and major issues with their homes. I’ve also read countless reviews and complaints online and I feel that all of them can be categorized into 4 categories that explain the underlying reason for the vast negativity:
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Building Errors
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Improper Installation
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Unreasonable Expectations
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Poor After-Sale Service
Improper Installation
Improper installation of manufactured homes ages the home quickly. It also causes leaks and cracks in walls and floors as well as other serious issues. Since I’ve already written extensively on the subject, I’ll just send you to the article if you want to read more about the installation and setup process of a manufactured home:
The Ultimate Manufactured Home Installation and Setup Guide
Chances are if an owner is experiencing leaks around windows or doors or has creaking floors or doors that don’t open or shut properly there is a most likely a reason other than faulty construction. It’s 2014, construction technology has advanced far more than most realize and we’ve learned how to make homes with better materials in better ways. Problem is, you can use all the technology in the world to build a home but if that home’s foundation is un-level it isn’t going to matter at all.
Building Errors
Even the best installation in the world wouldn’t have mattered at all if the home was poorly built. In the mid-nineties, when the manufactured home industry was experiencing a record boom – selling more homes in a week than they now sell in a year, the factories were very busy and I suspect quality control wasn’t as much as a priority as getting as many homes as possible built to meet the demand – that’s why the homes built during that time have unreasonably high negative reviews and complaints.
But, Site-Built Homes Are No Better!
Which would you trust more:
A factory-built home where employees are hired on a full-time basis with benefits and trained extensively. Where every construction phase is planned meticulously down to the nail or a home built by a bunch of people that are usually hired out of a Home Depot parking lot whenever a construction company gets a new contract? Or maybe hired right out of high school and trained just enough?
There’s little to no consumer protection for site-built home construction. At least with manufactured housing, you have a federal protection agency.
In fact, the issues and complaints regarding new site-built home construction were becoming so rampant that many states initiated a complete overhaul of licensing for anyone working on a construction site.
In WV they passed a law requiring every person working on any kind of construction site to carry at least an apprenticeship license. To obtain the license, they must pass an exam. As their experience and knowledge grow, they could apply for a journeyman license and then a master license (after passing the exam for each). The crazy thing about all that is the fact that when the law took affect anyone could grandfather themselves in by simply signing a paper stating they met the requirements (minimum hours worked under a licensed contractor) and pay a $75 fee. No exam was required for those grandfathered in. So, people that are hiring a company to build their dream home are probably paying the hourly rate for ‘journeymen’ and ‘master’ carpenters, electricians, plumbers, etc but their knowledge and experience has not been proven at all. Seems fair, huh?
At least with manufactured homes, you know the people working in the factories have been trained and the process is so calculated and detailed that the potential for errors is reduced significantly.
If site-built homes were any better than factory-built homes then the show Holmes on Homes on HGTV wouldn’t have been a runaway success with thousands of applicants begging his team to repair all the issues they have!
Unreasonable Expectations
I think unreal expectations of the home buyer is a major player in the high number of negative reviews and complaints of manufactured homes.
Unreasonable expectations could be easily remedied if the sellers would simply take the time to explain a few things to the buyers. The most important would be explaining the different tiers, or categories, that each builder has. Manufactured homes can easily be categorized into 3 simple tiers based on price and quality: Low Priced Tier, Mid-Priced Tier, and High Priced Tier.
Low-priced Tier
The low priced tier consists of the lowest priced homes available from each manufacturer or builder. Dealer lots are usually full of these homes because the low price is what brings the most people to the lot. These homes are built with the most affordable materials that are often secured together with staples and glue. These homes can be upgraded significantly but they will never compare in quality to a site-built home. With that said, these are still great homes and can be a perfect home, as long as the buyer understands that the construction technique and materials used are different from a site built home.
Mid-priced Tier
Homes within the mid-priced tier are built with better materials and higher construction standards but still aren’t comparable to a site-built home construction technique. They are usually 25-35% lower priced than a site built home and may have equivalent materials and construction techniques used.
Still, site-built homes are not as great as you think. While the materials used are more traditional, the methods used to construct the home are usually outdated unless the builder has enough capital to purchase the latest tools and has taken the time to educate themselves on new materials and construction techniques.
A mid-priced manufactured home is often better built than a standard site-built home based on modern building techniques alone.
High-priced Tier
These homes have the latest luxuries and stylish materials. No expense is spared! They may be a bit lower in price than a site-built home but you can be assured that the latest building technologies and highest graded materials have been used.
Related: The 3 Levels of Manufactured Homes Quality and Price.
Poor After-Sales Service
There’s not much I can say about this except we all know it’s true. If the dealers would just keep in mind that a happy customer is worth more than 10 new customers they would thrive as well as the buyers. I’ve always thought that the dealerships need to stop acting like a used car dealer – they are selling homes for goodness sake, not cars! Maybe the industry could gain a little bit of respectability if they would stop the practice of commission based sales people. We all know that situation isn’t known for great customer service after all!
I’m not picking on the industry. Well, maybe a little. I did read several reviews earlier today that made my blood boil.
Was saving a few hundred dollars worth having your dealership’s poor after-sale service spread all over the internet by an unhappy buyer? Was taking the shortcuts and not doing everything in your power to make your customer happy after buying their dream home from you worth the negative advertising and BBB complaints?
Any other industry would be gone with this kind attitude on customer service but the need for affordable housing and the small number of competition (due to mergers and bankruptcies) doesn’t allow the power of capitalism to work its magic in this case. All the negative manufactured home complaints in the world won’t stop people from needing affordable homes and the industry knows that, unfortunately.
But, Site-Built Homes Are No Better!
Articles all over the internet are written about the poor after-sale service of track home builders and contractors. When it comes to building homes they all love to build them but hate to repair them, even if the repair is due to their own negligence.
It’s simply not profitable to have to correct issues after you’ve already received payment for the home’s construction. That eats away the profits and no company wants that, especially a small construction company that doesn’t have the needed capital to maintain a repair crew to handle after-sale issues.
There’s good and bad in everything and while manufactured homes aren’t perfect they can be much better than a site-built home. manufactured home buyers have many more protections afforded to them than a site-built home buyer, both on a national and state level.
As always, thank you for reading Mobile and Manufactured Home Living!
My son and I bought our Friendship manufactured home 4.5 years ago and other than the ugly skirting around the bottom that I’m trying desperately to save enough money to replace with something more attractive, our house looks no different than any site built house (and is much, much nicer on the inside. Because of the affordability, we decked it out pretty nice). I do regret not putting it on a basement though. Someone told me that since our house is on a permanent spot of land we purchased, I could sell the chassis. Is this true?
Hi Marcia!
That’s a really good question that I have never been asked before. I’m no professional but I don’t think you can. Your home is built onto the chassis and cannot be removed from it because it’s cambered specifically to hold the load of the home in specific areas (in layman’s terms, it’s curved to allow the home to set properly and hold the load properly based on length, weight, and layout) and if it’s ever removed you’ve lost all structural integrity of the home. Plus, with each chassis built specifically for the model a chassis would only work on another home just like yours (if at all) so it would probably only be worth whatever scrap metal is going for.
From what I understand, a permanently installed home really has nothing to do with foundation or skirting or even a basement. It simply means that the proper tie-downs were installed correctly and to the manufacturers specs.
If you’re talking about just the tongue, you could probably sell it but should you ever need to move the home for any reason you’ll wish you didn’t. I’d hold onto it – it’s not worth much anyway and can be stored under the home fairly easily if it’s been cut off already.
Hope that helps! Thanks so much for reading MHL – I appreciate you!
Thanks for the great read! Me and my wife finally decided to purchase a home from Clayton. We’ve filled out the application and awaiting approval. This will give us all the information we need to consider as we move forward and help us not to get lost in the blissful fog of “finally getting a house”.
Your site is very informative and entertaining to read.
Thanks so much for the kind words, Jon! Be sure to read through the Buying and Selling section so you can get the best home at the best price! There’s lots of great tips!
Good luck – so happy for you!
I love your site! mobile homes are a much panned genre of housing. People have trouble seeing past the stereotypes to the beauty and quality of manufactured homes.
Your 4 reasons for complaints is totally on the mark. I worked for several years on a crew for a family owned business, and have put together 200+ homes. We were the rare exception of quality and service in an industry plagued by the problems you detail. The car-sales model of dealerships is largely at fault for creating a disconnect between homeowners dreams and the quality of the home they buy. Financing by banks does not allow for adequate labor and materials in installation, installers are often subcontractors given too little to do the job right , and their work is not checked. Buyers NEED TO BE VOCAL…Tell the dealer, call the manufacturer, call the BBB. When you buy a new home check Everything, and don’t stop until they fix it!!!
Manufactured homes are built really well overall, but that quality can easily be lost by poor installation.
Keep up the good work Crystal, i’ll send you the remodel pics of my brothers 195(?) Spartan when it’s done.
Hi Mathew! It’s always great to hear from someone with so much experience in the industry! Thanks so much for commenting!
I Can’t wait to see your brother’s Spartan, they are on my top 3 all-time favorite list. I’ve never met one I didn’t like!
Please keep in touch, with your experience I bet we could learn a lot from you!
In my experience what you have written is true. I have owned four MHs. two were new. The after sale service was poor and aggravating after a while they won’t answer the phone if it is you calling. Some things are puzzling like not hooking up the drain to the dishwasher!
I now have an older low budget MH. I’ve had to repair/refurbish it because it was a HUD home. Now it is livable, comfortable and I enjoy it. Is it perfect? No, I still have projects that need to be done and may always have projects I want to do. Yet, it is home my home and it is paid for! :-)
Hi Kay! It’s great to hear from you – I was trying to find our emails on FB but never could get it to scroll down far enough (I struggle with FB). So glad you commented!
You have done so much to your home – it’s looking great! I’d still love to feature it!