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Need A Smaller Custom Modular Home Or Downsizing? Read On Below

24 November 2010

People downsize for a host of reasons.  The most common being the simple fact that our kids have moved on and we simply don’t need that much room to manage, clean, and pay taxes on.  Also, downsizing, particularly into an affordable custom modular home frees up investment dollars to improve the quality of your life.  Let us introduce to you three superb custom modular floor plans that serve as perfect downsizing options.  

First, consider our ranch style home. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and 1263 total sq. ft. Our first ranch style home is called the Amherst. It is a very functional ranch plan with three sizeable bedrooms which all stem off a central living area and kitchen. The plan also features plenty of closet space and a functional layout.

For those of you who don’t want to give rooms of furniture away when you downsize, consider the Cape Cod style home, the Barnstable, with an unfinished 2nd Floor. It offers 1 bedroom, 1 bath and 650 sq. ft. The Barnstable is a cozy cottage which offers a living area and kitchen with a lot of natural light and charm. The proposed second floor offers one bedroom and a bathroom.

Finally, one home sure to please is our colonial style home, the Newbury. It offers 3 bedrooms, 2.5 Baths, and 1568 sq. ft. The Newbury is a lovely and efficient colonial home with a large living area. The plan also features three bedrooms and two and half bathrooms. There is also an option for a garage and bonus room above which flows perfectly with the home.

Feel free to inquire about any of these homes. If these are not your style home, then please take a look at our other inventory. Contact us today to find out how you can get into your dream style home today.


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Avalon Building Systems Knows New England Real Estate

18 November 2010

As you all know, Avalon Building Systems is in business to build the highest quality yet most cost effective home in New England.  We also want you to know that we know good land values when we see them, so we’ve created our new “Lots For Sale” web page.

During the normal course of our business, we come across literally thousands of undeveloped New England real estate lots.  On occasion, one or two will stand out to us as an exceptional value.  We’ve decided to build the new web page dedicated to “lots for sale” because there is great reward for us building your dream home while helping you find a lot considered to be a "diamond in the rough".  

If you haven’t yet chose your lot, take a look at the lovely properties featured on our new page and know that these lots can support even the largest Avalon Building System floor plan such as “The Montgomery” (3 Bedrooms / 2.5 Baths / 3350 square feet) and “The Nantucket” (5 Bedrooms / 3.5 Baths / 2700 square feet). 


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Low Cost Modular "Production Homes" Can Eliminate Roots and Get You Moving

11 November 2010

Production Modular Homes are basic, efficient, dwelling units, ideal for housing in developing countries, emergencies, military, student housing, and camps.  It is very interesting to note the wide disparity between the various consumers of modular production home construction.  While first-time home buyers on extremely tight budgets rein, look out because here come the retirees

More and more retired and retirement eligible people are severely downsizing to accommodate a mobile lifestyle.  Many retired couples are shedding their old roots and setting up production home “Base camps”  as a temporary break from their live-aboard RV or boating lifestyles.  Others are selling their old home and establish two low-cost residences to support their new  “snow bird” lifestyle.  Hey who wouldn’t want to have the best of both worlds by living south in the winter and north in the summer.  Production homes make this an affordable and realistic option. 

Avalon Building Systems offer a host of small floor plans that can serve the same purpose.  Consider the quaint Cape Plan "The Barnstable", a 650 square foot get-away which offers a living area and kitchen with a lot of natural light and charm. The proposed second floor offers one bedroom and a bathroom. Also consider "The Amherst", our 1265 square foot Ranch. The Amherst is a very functional ranch plan with three sizable bedrooms which all stem off a central living area and kitchen. The plan also features plenty of closet space and a functional layout. 

Dream big by thinking small. Just imagine where retirement and downsizing into custom modular homes can take you. 


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Avalon Offers Commercial Style Modular Homes

2 November 2010

The popularity of commercial modular buildings is growing quickly, as both business owners and public officials have become aware of their advantages. Commercial structures vary from temporary single to multiple unit modules. They also have permanent, customized and original alternatives for specific needs of clients. Among the most popular uses are bank style and general office style. These styles are ideal for a small business or franchise.

Many modular commercial buildings are architecturally alluring and aesthetically gratifying. They are accurately engineered and completed sooner than traditionally built structures. These buildings can be designed as structures that stand-alone or which can be incorporated in addition to an existing building. The commercial buildings generally guarantee on-time completion. This is because the buildings are fabricated almost 90% in a factory controlled environment. Hence they are not exposed to the vagaries of weather.

The modular commercial buildings give lot of flexibility to their user in terms of design. Buildings, which are thousands of square feet and several stories high can be prefabricated and assembled. They have expansion capabilities since it is easy to add modules to expand the total construction area. The buildings can even be moved with negligible disruptions, if the need arises.

Modular commercial buildings are customized to the user's needs and can even be made to look like traditional buildings. The buildings can be given attractive interiors and exteriors. The building can be finished to look like regular buildings to luxurious office complexes. These commercial modular buildings turn out to be more economical than traditional on-site constructions as the buyer is able to avoid many overhead expenses since the building is prefabricated in the factory. This manufacturing process saves money without compromising on quality.

Commercial modular buildings have value and flexibility as major plus points. These buildings offer a swift and realistic approach to growing construction preferences. Contact us today if you have any questions about commercial modular construction.


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Want To Know How To Save Money On Construction Of A New Home?

29 October 2010

How can you reduce the construction cost of your new house? There is an easy way to save up to 30% on the cost of construction...buy a custom modular home! Our factory built modular homes are manufactured like most others. It is first made in components or modules which are then put up together at your home site. Once assembled, your new home looks like any other home in your neighborhood. It has the same quality, strength, comfort and durability as any stick-built homes.

Since your home is built in a factory, it is much cheaper than a custom-built home on-site. Remember when factories drove out craftsmen who worked with their hands? The same is happening now on a much larger scale! So how does all this save you money? As you know, factories use huge machines that build thousands of items in a short span of time. Thus, they deliver more savings in terms of time and labor. Instead of having a handful of construction workers on-site building your home in various weather conditions, you have a reliable, professional crew in a factory building your home in pristine conditions.

The homes are obviously not built with bricks and mortar which take lots of time and labor. The material for the homes consists primarily of wood, steel, vinyl and weatherboard. Factory owners buy the material from their original manufacturers and suppliers at wholesale rates which are heavily discounted. It is not possible for a retail shopper to buy his housing material as cheaply as the factory buyers can.

Avalon's
Factories cut and mold the components and modules as per pre-set designs which reduces large amounts of waste that occurs at the individual home builder's sites. And left over material is never wasted; we use all of our material and help protect the planet by constructing homes this way. The factories transfer these savings to their customers to attract buyers in a competitive market. The savings to a buyer of a factory built home can be as large as 30% which bring your home within much easier reach.

The home is then be transported to site on one or more trucks. The end result is a quality home, built in less time and for less money! Check out our quality floor plans which can be tailored to your needs. If you have an questions or concerns contact us today and we'll be happy to help.


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Cost Saving Incentives Use By Avalon Modular Homes

14 October 2010

We know that modular homes are easier and built with better quality. But they can also be less expensive than their stick-built home counter parts. There are multiple reasons why building and maintaining a modular home is often less expensive than building and maintaining traditional stick-built homes. Here we would like to share with you three great tips as to why you could be having more money in your pocket and less time spent waiting.

1) Less Material Waste:  There is MUCH less material waste in modular construction. Not only that but left over pieces are used in the construction process. The large volume of stick-built construction waste is money down the drain.

2) Energy Efficiency:  The precision construction standards of modular homes translate directly to extreme energy efficiency. Working in a warehouse and putting together the home off site saves money on expenses, such as labor.

3) Much faster home move-in: You'll be in your new modular home months faster than a stick-built home. You therefore save months of household goods storage costs, alternative living expenses (rental home, apartments, etc), construction finance costs, and more.

Better quality homes, built faster, and for less money, the main reasons that Americans are increasingly turning to modular home construction. Read more reasons on our "Modular Benefits" page.


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The Graying Of America and Multi-Family Housing

4 October 2010

We would like to share with you an interesting trend in American lifestyle associated with the “graying of America”.  It is the trend of extended families investing in multi-family housing designs to “keep the family” close.

First, what is "Multi-family Housing?"  Multi-family housing is a type of residential structure with more than one dwelling unit in the same building. For the sake of this blog post, think of multi-family housing as “town homes”, homes of any style that share common walls.  You can view a number of examples on the Avalon Building System multi-family home plans product page.

The growing trend is for American families to “circle the wagons” to both care for aging parents and to combat the poor U.S. economy.  The trend is for extended families to liquidate their individual properties and pool the equities into multi-family projects to both cut housing cost and to co-locate the family to pool human resource to care for a special-need family member (ie aging parents). 

The traditional method to keep “Mom and Dad” out of assisted living centers is to build additions or “in-law suites” onto existing property.  However, building restrictions, land availability, and land cost make this increasingly cost prohibitive.  Americans are finding they can consolidate and co-locate entire extended families by owning and occupying multi-family housing units.

You won’t see this on the front page news, but it is something to celebrate in American culture.  Americans still love and sacrifice for our elders who loved and sacrificed for us.  An alternative solution (if common walls is not right for you) might be to co-locate two or more ranch modular homes on a double-lot of your choosing.  

When and if this idea of co-location becomes a topic within your extended family, we hope you will consider any of the fully customizable Avalon Building Systems custom modular homes as your building solution. 


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Active Military $8,000 New Home Tax Credit

28 September 2010

Very few are aware that a $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers (and the $6,500 tax credit for repeat home buyers), although expired for most, is still available to some active duty military personnel. Military service members who were on official extended duty outside of the United States for at least 90 days between Jan.1, 2009 and May 1, 2010, may qualify for a one-year extension. We kept our home buyers tax-credit page live (even though it no longer applies to non-military) because it remains a great resource for our most valued active duty members and their families.  Remember we provide a custom modular home frequently asked question page as an additional ready resource for you.

Congress has acknowledged the unique circumstances affecting members of the military, the Foreign Service and the intelligence community by making the following exceptions that apply to both the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers and the $6,500 tax credit for repeat home buyers. “Qualified service member” means a member of the uniformed services of the U.S military, a member of the Foreign Service of the U.S., or an employee of the intelligence community. “Official extended duty” means any period of extended duty outside of the United States for at least 90 days during the period beginning after December 31, 2008 and ending before May 1, 2010. It is our privilege to offer a wide variety of customized  ranch style modular homes which are perfectly suited for our wounded warriors.

The bottom line, qualified service members have until April 20, 2011 to take advantage of the tax credit.  All of us at Avalon Building System offers deep respect for our military family compels us to publicize this little known fact and to ask all of you to pass the word to your military family and friends wherever they may be. If this message results in a single military family getting educated and ultimately saving money on their new home purchase, then we will be most grateful and humbly celebrate. If you have any other questions  contact us today.


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Popular Choice: Cape Cod and Ranch Customizable Floor Plans

20 September 2010

Every Avalon Building System modular home is carefully crafted and tailor made to the precise requirements and specifications of the consumer.  The process of Avalon Building System floor plan design starts with a host of different home styles and floor plan templates that we customize in close consult with our clients.  Today we discuss the Cape Cod and the Ranch, two very popular home styles.  

Cape Cod: This particular style of modular home features warm wooden flooring and stairs as a prerequisite, along with a carefully sloping roof, which will feature any number of dormer windows and will tend to make use of a rather minimal footprint. Complete with large-scale garden and greenery both from the front and back of the home, these types of modular home feature at a minimum, 1000 square feet of floor space. Given that they tend to include a maximum of two bedrooms, they may not be well suited for large families; Perfect for a couple or even a vacation home.

Ranch: This type of modular differs quite significantly from the Cape Cod variety, whereas the Cape Cod variety features a second story to the home, the Ranch does not. The Ranch style home offers a horizontal (vice vertical) orientation.  The emphasis here is about effective usage of space rather than large rooms, and one of the most readily identifiable aspects of this type of modular home is the notable presence of a basement. Ranches are also very popular among families, as the generous number of bedrooms makes it far easier to accommodate the children.

View the variety of Cape Cod and Ranch style custom modular home floor plans (along with a host of other types)  and then speak to us about customization options that will deliver you a truly unique and enjoyable home for life. 

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Interesting History Of The Modular Home Construction Industry

14 September 2010

Avalon Building Systems is approaching our tenth year of building quality custom modular homes. Bud did you know that modular construction has been around for over a hundred years? Did you know that almost everyone has been inside of a modular home or modular general office building and never realized it? Modular homes design, from traditional colonial style to multi-family units are quite the extraordinary design. The history of modular homes is quite interesting as well as the evolution of modular homes keeps expanding because of new technology.
 
Modular buildings are pre-fabricated buildings taken to a new and larger scale. We avoid the term "pre-fabricated" because of the erroneous association that that term has with mobile home construction. The use of pre-fabrication goes back over a hundred years. It started gaining popularity early in the 20th century between 1910 to the mid-1940s. The end of World War II caused the modular market to truly explode and evolve. Returning soldiers came back to America looking to buy homes and start families. This drove a demand for homes greater than the marketplace could handle via the traditional building process. This led people to look for solutions to increase efficiency and lower the cost of new home construction. The modular building process answered both of these needs. There are still 1950-era modular homes in service today.
 
Over the past twenty years, the sophistication of modular home design greatly increased.  The leap in sophistication relates in part to the pioneering support of overhead cranes with the capacity to lift 100 tons or more. This allowed larger modules to be constructed and shipped cross-country. The only limitation in the size of each individual module is rode width and weight restrictions.  Today's modular buildings normally consist of 3-6 different modules.

As the size of modular homes has increased so have customization options. We deliver custom modular homes where the owners themselves participate in the design engineering. The final product is tall, wide, and as unique as the owners themselves are.

Here are a few current examples of just how widespread modular home construction is in today’s society.  Modular units are part of the construction design of the new Queen Mary 2 cruise liner. The Queen Mary 2 is the largest and most expensive cruise liner ever built. The ship owners choose to use modular passenger cabins to ensure all cabins met the higher standards possible.  Even the VIP suites utilized the modular building process. The McDonald's Corporation uses modular building design. Virtually every Americans has entered modular structures.  Since finished modular buildings look the same as traditionally constructed buildings, no one realizes they are in a modular building.  However, trained eyes surveying for structural integrity will see a marked difference between modular and non-modular construction.


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