The following description is intended to provide you with a general overview of the process Michelle Kaufmann Designs (MKD) follows to build your modern modular home. For particular customers, there may be slight variations to this process, depending on if you customize one of the standard floor plans, or which factory builds your MKD modular home. If you have any questions about the process of building your own MKD modern modular home, please contact Marshall Mayer, marketing and sales representative for Michelle Kaufmann Designs.

Note: Marshall Mayer at LiveModern is the marketing and sales representative for Michelle Kaufmann Designs, and handles all customer inquiries. Essentially, Marshall's job is to qualify all customers, to get them ready to start working directly with Michelle Kaufmann Designs in an Introductory Contract (see Step 3 below). As such, Marshall can help you with all aspects of finding appropriate land and financing for your project, as well as answer all of your questions about MKD modern modular homes and the MKD Process. When you are ready to start working with MKD, and have land and financing, Marshall will forward your project information to Michelle Kaufmann Designs so that you can personally work with Michelle and her team to design and build your own MKD modern modular home.

Step 1—Obtain Land

Purchase land, or be in escrow on land. The minimum building envelope dimensions (these are the dimensions inside of the setbacks or easements) are 50' x 52' for a standard Sunset Breezehouse home. If your land has a smaller buildable envelope than this, please consider the Side Breeze or Glidehouse modular home. Or we can work with you to design a custom clean and green modular home.

In order for us to better expedite the process of building your MKD modular home, we need you to assemble some information about your land:

• Obtain a surveyed site plan (sometimes called a site survey, please obtain a digital copy of it preferably in .dwg or .dwf AutoCAD formats). The surveyed site plan is produced by a licensed surveyor or civil engineer and needs to include the property line, overall site dimensions, setbacks, grading contours, existing trees, and street locations with North indication. This surveyed site plan is required before any design work with MKD begins. See Site Survey and Soils Report for more information.
  
• Obtain site photographs (preferably in .jpg emailable format) of the property, access to the property, images taken from the property of neighboring buildings, and the primary views from the building.
• Obtain Planning Department regulations regarding setbacks, rooflines, garages, driveways, etc.
• Confirm that your property is not under the control of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC+Rs) that do not allow modular construction. (These would be quite rare but described on your papers of ownership.)
• Does your jurisdiction require Design Review? If so, obtain a list of requirements for the submittal. The building department should have a list to give to you.
• Confirm that there are sewer and water lines adjacent to the site, or that you are approved for a septic and/or well system by the local building and health department.
• Obtain a soils report. This does not need to be completed until just prior to the Engineering phase, and will be required to start engineering. See Site Survey and Soils Report for more information.

Step 2—Obtain Financing

Of course, you can use your own lender for construction financing, but we can also recommend lenders who are competitive, informed, and modular-friendly. At this point, you won't be able to get approval of your loan (not until the drawings and budget are completed in the next step, as required by your lender), but you can determine the amount that you will be pre-approved to borrow based on your credit report and credit score. Be sure this amount is consistent with the preliminary budget figures you develop using the MKD Budget Builder. Please note that some clients may be required to submit their completed budget template as part of the client qualification process.

Once you have land and financing, contact Marshall Mayer, marketing and sales representative for MKD, to start your MKD modern modular home project. I will be in contact with you about your project, and if you meet all of the requirements I will recommend you to MKD as a fully qualified customer to continue the MKD Process.

Step 3—Discuss and Decide

• Contact MKD to begin purchasing your MKD modular home. Based on your land and space desires, we can help you choose one of the two following methods for schematic design of your MKD modern modular home:
  

1. STANDARD Glidehouse or Sunset Breezehouse process—This is for standard 1-story floor plans (they are published on the internet) on flat sites (sites with less than 1:10 grade change).
2. CUSTOMIZED and/or SLOPED SITE Glidehouse or Sunset Breezehouse process—This is for homes with a sloped site (sites with more than 1:10 grade change) and/or homes with any customization to a standard floor plan.
   

At the building pad area, check the height difference over a 10’ length. If there is less than 1’ height change, we can use the standard process. If there is more than 1’ height change, we will use the sloped site process. See this guide for assistance.


Any variations from the standard module floor plans, however large or small, will result in higher fees, time and costs. If you would like to modify anything on the module designs, we can do so using a custom process.

• Fill out an order form. After a conversation with you, you will be recommended as a qualified MKD modular home customer. As a qualified MKD home buyer, we will send you a contract for the Introduction Phase.
• The Introductory Phase contract fee is a time and expense contract, billed on an hourly basis, initiated with a $5,000 deposit. For standard floor plans on level building pads (a floor plan is considered standard if it is published on the MKD website), this deposit will normally be sufficient to conduct all of the design and vet it with your local contractor, a local civil engineer, the local permit offices, etc. If all work on a standard plan is completed for under $5,000, the balance will be applied to the next Step (or refunded if you decide not to proceed). Any change to a standard floor plan, however large or small, will be considered a custom floor plan. Custom floor plans, or projects on a sloped lot, also require a $5,000 deposit, and will also be billed on an hourly basis. If the customization is based on a standard floor plan, your Introductory Phase contract fee will usually range between $5,000 and $7,500, depending on the degree of customization. If your floor plan is completely custom, your fee will usually range from $7,500 to $12,500, depending on the complexity of the design. Design fees for external, site-built structures, such as garages, carports, decks, etc., are not included in the above numbers, and will be billed on an hourly basis.
  
• MKD will send you an Information Package about your MKD modern modular home, which you should review before a meeting with MKD.
• You will have a meeting with MKD in their Oakland, CA office to design your MKD modern modular home, including selecting your interior/exterior finish options.
• MKD will conduct a Delivery Assessment. This can be done now, if you think access to your site is questionable, or during the Engineering phase (either way billed on a time/expense basis). In fact, if we think access for our very large trucks to your site is a question, MKD will do this before the Introductory Phase contract.
  
• MKD prepares schematic design documents and preliminary pricing for your MKD modern modular home. This is to ensure that your budget and the projected costs are balanced before moving forward.

At the end of this Introductory Phase contract, which usually takes 8-10 weeks to complete (longer for custom floor plans), you will have complete schematic floor plans and elevations and an architectural site plan, as well as budget estimates for all modular and site construction. If you are financing your MKD Home, these documents will usually suffice for your lender's requirements. You will know that a MKD modern modular home designed specifically for you is within your budget.

Step 4—Engineering and Permits

• Send signed contract with payment for engineering/construction documents. A $10,000 deposit will be required to commence work on engineering. The fee for this phase will vary based on project size and complexity. For standard Glidehouse and Sunset Breezehouse homes, the fee for construction documents and structural/mechanical/electrical engineering is around $18,000. Civil engineering fees (and septic engineering fees, if required) are in addition to this. Customized and/or sloped MKD home engineering fees are typically $20,000 to $30,000. You will be provided an estimate of engineering and construction document fees at the end of the Introductory Phase. Engineering fees for external, site-built structures, such as garages, carports, decks, etc., are not included in the above numbers, and will be billed on an hourly basis.
• Delivery Assessment (if not done earlier). We will send one of our experts to your site to determine the transport and setting strategy (billed on a time/expense basis).
• MKD will prepare engineering drawings for your MKD modular home. The civil engineer, hired by you in your location or hired for you by MKD, will prepare drawings for the site grading, drainage, driveway and retaining walls as needed.
  
• Drawings are submitted for Permits. MKD will submit the stamped engineered drawings for the modular portion of the project, while your local site contractor will submit the same drawings for permitting of all site-specific building construction by your local building department.
  
• MKD will prepare final pricing for the modular scope of the project (factory production, and transportation and installation of the modules).
• Your local builder will use engineered drawings to prepare final pricing for the site built portions.

All engineering and construction documents for standard floor plans can usually be completed in 8-12 weeks (customized floor plans will take longer). Permits may take only a few weeks to obtain, or many months, depending on your local jurisdiction. At the end of the Engineering and Permits step, you will have stamped engineering plans for your entire building, as well as building permits for both the modular construction and the site-specific construction. Finally, you will have bids from both the factory and your local site contractor on all construction costs. No construction will begin (Step 5) until you accept any bid and all permits are let.

Step 5—Production and Site Prep

• Once permits are approved, MKD will provide you a contract for production of your MKD modern modular home.
• Site construction begins.
• During production of your home, status photos will be accessible from your account on the MKD internet site.

Step 6—Delivery and Button Up

• When your foundation and modules are completed, your home is shipped to your site.
• Your MKD modern modular home is attached to the foundation by our installers.
• The garage, decks and other external structures are constructed by your local builder.
• Enjoy your MKD modern modular home!
  

Project Timeline

Depending on permitting, site construction and the number of orders ahead of your at the factory, the entire MKD process for all standard Glidehouse and Sunset Breezehouse floor plans, from the point that you enter into an MKD Introductory Contract (Step 3) through the completion of installation of your modules (Step 6), will generally take from 8-14 months on a standard floor plan (custom homes will generally take 14-24 months, but could be a bit less depending on the level of modification). This compares quite favorably with most site-built construction (click on the image below to enlarge the timeline). Please note that MKD prices are subject to change without notice.

To start the process of building your MKD modern modular home, contact Marshall Mayer, marketing and sales representative for Michelle Kaufmann Designs, by providing details about your project (the inquiry form is on the MKD website, but your inquiry will be received and reviewed by LiveModern).