Custom Designing A Home From The Floor Up (NAPSA)—An industry-wide commitment to customerchoice is making factory-built homes a preferred option for many homebuyers. ——_— Design innovations in the man- ufactured housing industry have created homes that fit in with regional architecture, boast distinctive interior and exterior features and offer a high-quality alternative to site-built homes. With the additional option of floor plan customization, manufactured housing companies are offering buyers a major benefit of traditional new home construction along with the many advantages of building in a factory. Studies show that homebuyers want a lot of choice, to be able to customize and to be guaranteed value whentheybuy. As a result, some companies offer chances to select from different floor plans in a single model group; most offer homebuyers opportunities to handpick options and upgrades, creating the home that is just right for their tastes. Champion Enterprises is going a step further, offering homebuyers a chance to design their own floor plans. “Champion’s Customer Design Series is unique, in that homebuyers actively participate in the layout and design of their homes,” said Grover Tarlton, vice president of marketing for Champion. “By offering customersthis opportunity, Champion is providing them with the design flexibility of a site-built home while continuing to offer cost- and time-savings.” Championretailers walk homebuyers through the process using Debbie Burton designs a homeby arranging the pieces on a “Customer Design Series” magnet board at the 2003 Manufactured Housing Showin Louisville, KY. magnetic boards and computer programs. The homebuyercanliterally “pick up” a room configured on the front of the home, move it to the rear and makea host of other changes, including increasing a room’s size. The program gives them a chance to create a home design that meets their individual needs. After a floor plan is finalized, the new customized homeis built indoors, in a quality- and climatecontrolled environment according to stringent federal building codes. It can usually be ready for move in—includinginstallation on a permanent foundation—within 90 daysorless. Financing options range from traditional 15- or 30-year mortgages to personal propertyloans. With the added benefit of homeowner-designed floor plans, factory-built homes are offering buyers a new way to live the American Dream.
