Now that we’ve sat down with the designer, we are waiting on our final pricing from the manufacturer; one draw back to using a “middle man” when designing a manufactured home is that everything takes twice as long! They tell us one week and it takes two, etc. Based on our specifications, we may be over-budget by about $10,000 to $15,000. In the meantime, I’ve been figuring out what to plant in the front section of our house. We won’t have much space in the front and definitely don’t want a lawn, considering we live in the Los Angeles area – an area that has been haunted by drought these past four years. I’ve come up with some beautiful alternatives including ornamental grass, salvia (a purple flower), ground cover, and paving stones. Our lot is only 4,400 square feet with the house taking up much of the lot. Our responsibility will be maintaining the front, back and sides of the property.
The front, as I’ve mentioned, will be a mixture of flowers, plants, and pavers. One side will most likely consist of pavers and gravel (the side we won’t visit often), and the final side will be a cement drive way, garage, and patio behind the garage. Eventually, we will have a deck installed behind the garage, but that will have to wait. Our back side faces a hill side and we won’t have much space in the back to plant anything. Eventually we will also want to install a fence on either side of the house, once we have neighbors. I’m hoping we can leave the back as-is so we can always have a view of the hillside. Although, that may mean more wildlife intrusions; mountain lions, black bears, snakes, coyotes, raccoon and possums live in those hills.
We also aren’t sure how much area we’ll have in the front of the house versus the back. Our lot has a city water thingy on it (I’m not sure what to call it, but it’s a flat, square shaped thing that gets checked every few months) and it means that our house has to sit a few feet farther back from the curb compared to the other houses on the street. I’m actually just fine with a little more space in the front and less in the back since we butt up against a hill.
Here’s a sketch of what the front of our house will eventually look like:
Stay tuned for more information and final pricing!
Interested in the process of buying a manufactured home? Check out my previous posts:
An Option for the Home Hungry
I’m Buying a Manufactured Home
Step 2: Waiting on Park Approval
Step 3: Designing a Manufactured House
