Hi JuliAnn,
Ask away. Happy to be of help if I can!

Hi Kathleen!

Were you happy with the process with them? What kind of upgrades did you choose? Did the house come on time, and were there any problems??? Can you tell it wasn't built on site?

Sorry for all the questions, but I don't know anyone who has used Excel, and we have had a few snags with them in the design process... Just a little bit nervous about the house!! Thanks!

JuliAnn

Hi JuliAnn,
We didn't deal directly with Excel, we had a local contractor who did that. They did resist some of the changes my husb wanted, but in the end gave in. For example, they kept insisting we couldn't have a window in a certain place. It is a long hall on the second floor and husb, who was in constr. said it could be done, and it could!
The house was delivered on time, but again the contractor took care of that. Does it look modular, I don't think so. No one ever thinks it is, and I could show you homes out here that we looked at before we decided, and you would never know. Again, it is what you add to it. We have a wrap around porch , and lots of Andersen windows.
I listed some of the upgrades in an answer to your other post, so scroll down.
Have you looked at other modular houses that your contractor did? I wouldn't have gone ahead if I hadn't seen what they looked like. It is a big investment!!!
Set up a free email address that you can give me and I will send pics. That way you will only use it to correspond with me so you won't have to worry about your privacy.
I would like to ease your nerves!!
Please feel free to ask anything. As I may have mentioned when we were doing our house I corresponded on the Building a house forum with a woman in Va who was doing a modular then too. It was a great help to have her input! So don't be afraid to ask. Ours is about 2800sq ft. 4 beds, 3 and 1/2 baths. full basement, living rm, dining rm, kitchen, pantry/laundry and big den with fireplace. About a year after we had the house there was a leak. A nail had been driven into a pipe and it took that long to leak. They (Excel)paid for the plumber and the repair of drywall, etc. with no problem

Hi Kathleen,

I have a free email account at thirtygirl74@yahoo.com. I would like to see pictures, and I can show you the elevation of what ours will look like too.

We too are using a GC, and he is very experienced in building, but we are only the 2nd Excel home he will have done. That was one reason why I asked about the quality of the house that was delivered. How much of the quality depends on the GC, and how much depends on the house built by Excel?

As for upgrades, we decided to go with mostly standard faucets and lighting... We will change them ourselves later (think we could get them cheaper with a better selection from a home improvement store).

Next week we are supposed to be getting our last set of changeable drawings back. Then they want us to pick out outlet locations, lighting location changes, etc. Did you find there wasn't enough stock outlets or lights that came standard?

Thanks for all your time and help!

I never check that email account, so if you could let me know when you send me a note, I will know to look for it!

I will try to do it now. You can let me know if you get them.
The quality of the building from Excel was fine. The most trouble we had was with the GC who subcontracted the floors, spackle, building of the cathed ceil, tiling, wood floors etc. He just couldn't seem to get contractors to show up. He only does modulars.
Yes, look carefully where the outlets are. NY code provides plenty, but try to think where you will want others/ Ex. I have a hall table and would like a lamp there, but no outlet. There are plenty of outlets, just not exactly where I want them!!
I will email you more at the other address.
Kathleen

Thanks Kathleen! I got your email and sent you a reply.

JuliAnn

I got your email and sent you a reply.

JuliAnn

sounds really gorgeous......can I see too!

Juliann,,,, is your house on it's way? Here is a slideshow of our "construction phase" in 2004! We used Nation Wide homes and alot of it was a nightmare!

personal email: mnvallee@msn.com

Michele

ps I would love to see your photos, both of you!

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Modular Building Slideshow