In the winter of 2000, Jack and Maria Lynch of Haverhill asked us to build a two-family home in Salisbury, MA. The Lynch family owned two cottages, which had been moved to their current location and placed on pilings in the 1950’s. Over the years, the summer cottages, owned by Jack’s parents, had been used by the entire Lynch family. As the Lynch children, Jack included, grew older and started their own families, the cottages became crowded.

The family decided to demolish the two cottages and build a new two-family home. When we met with Jack to discuss the project, we examined two options: building a new house from the ground up or purchasing a modular home and modifying the floor plan to suit the family’s needs. After some discussion, we decided to choose the modular approach for one important reason–time restraints.

To stick-build a house the size they needed (2108 squre feet per unit or 4216 square feet total) would have taken four to five months. The modular approach cut the time frame of the project in half!

Over the winter, Jack met with Salisbury town officials to secure the necessary permits for a building variance and we put together an acceptable modular building plan. We chose New England Homes to build the modular home; we had set two of their homes in the 1980’s and we felt the quality of construction was excellent. In addition to providing solid construction and high-quality building materials, New England Homes was also very flexible with varying floor plans and design. We modified their design to add a screened-in porch, a first-floor bedroom, and a walk-up attic. The first-floor bedroom was essential for the senior Mr. & Mrs. Lynch and the walk-up attic would accomodate extra overnight guests.

We began construction when the variance waiting period expired. As soon as the water and sewer lines were installed, Ed Boyle of Landing Pile Driving Company in Newbury installed the pilings. The house was built on southern yellow-pine, pressure-treated pilings, as required on the Salisbury Beach flood plain. They were driven to resistance, twenty feet into the ground. Once the pilings were set, we installed a steel frame around the entire perimeter and down the center of the building. We attached our pressure-treated sill to the steel frame. At this point, we were ready for delivery of the modular home.

The house was delivered on May 25th in five sections and set with a crane in just one day. In the following weeks, we made the building weathertight by installing the siding missing at the connections of the modules. We built the screen porches and decks, finished the attic, and completed the interior stairs and trim. While we put the finishing touches on the house, our electrician, Steve Juba, finished the electrical connections and wired the attic. John Bartlett, our plumber, installed the heating and hot water systems and completed the connections in the forced hot water heating system. The Lynches did the interior painting.

The modular home from New England Homes was a very good choice for Home Energy, Inc. and for the Lynch family. It allowed us the luxury of having the house built at the factory, while we waited the required 40 days after approval of the variance. The two-month project fit much better into our schedule, as we had remodeling work to complete. It allowed the Lynches to move in shortly after the fourth of July and enjoy the rest of the summer at the beach.