A Typical Cape Cod Set

Many of our young couples buy cape cods.  The reason is that the downstairs comes completely finished from the factory and can be moved into as soon as the finish work is complete, while the upstairs comes unfinished and can be built out later as time and budget allows. 

This enables them to economically increase the finished square footage and hence the value of the home immensly.  Since so much of the second floor is constructed when we set the home, the cost of materials to finish it out later is relatively small.  Since they can do most of their own labor on weekends and summers, their home becomes very valuable in the equity they build.

We set this home in Ivor.  Here the two modular units have been delivered and placed on each side of the foundation.  Then the crane is set up between them and the boxes are lifted onto the foundation. In this case the back of the house is set first, then the front half. Look how stiff this house is in the harness - no sagging, even with a 16 foot wide, 64 foot long section. This is a great indication of how sturdy your home will be built.

Now we are lifting the collar ties up onto the second floor.  They will be attached to either side of the roof and will eventually form the ceiling of the second floor.  

See how much room this second floor has available to finish out over time?  This home has over 1200 square feet unfinished up stairs.  If the homeowner can finish it at a cost of $25 per square foot and if the square footage in his area is only worth $100 per square foot, that is a lot of value built in when finished out and a lot of money in his pocket when he sells this home and builds another.

Next we set into position the gable ends and are then ready to lift the roof flips into place.