How to Prepare a Site for a Manufactured Home in Western NC

Start with the county permit office, then build a drive the delivery truck can climb, clear the home site, and set a level pad on firm ground with the water turned away from it. On a mountain lot, the slope and the delivery route usually decide more of the work than the pad does, so the ground work has to be done and drained before the home arrives.

Start with the county

Before any ground work, call the permit office for the county your lot is in. Ask whether a manufactured home can go there, what permits it needs and what they need from you.

In Buncombe County the manufactured home permit comes from Permits and Inspections. The county's development checklist asks for the home's manufacturer, year, model, box size and set-up contractor, along with sewage approval from MSD or Environmental Health.

Other counties run their own lists. Transylvania County's requirements include a building permit, written approval of the wastewater system for a new site, a site address, a floodplain permit where it applies and an erosion control plan for land disturbing of 4,000 square feet or more. In Henderson or Haywood County, call the county permit office.

The wastewater system matters early. Where it can go often fixes where the home and the drive can sit, so get that answer before the pad is laid out.

A drive the delivery truck can climb

A manufactured home arrives in long sections on a truck. On a mountain lot the drive is often the hardest part: steep pitches, tight turns, soft shoulders and low limbs can all stop a loaded truck.

Walk the route with your retailer or transporter before the ground work is priced. They know what their truck can climb and turn. We build the gravel drive to that, with a staging area where the sections can be set down.

A stone drive built early also serves the well rig, the wastewater installer and every truck after. Our steep gravel driveway guide covers grade, crown and drainage on a climb.

Clearing the home site

Clear the footprint, the drive, room around the home for the installer to work and the utility routes. Trees close to the home site are worth a second look, since roots and limbs can cause trouble later.

Stumps, roots and organic material come out where the footings and piers will go. The federal Model Manufactured Home Installation Standards say organic material has to be removed where footings are placed. Buried wood rots and the ground over it sinks.

On a slope, clear only what the work needs. Bare ground on a hillside sheds mud in the first hard rain, and it counts toward any land disturbance limit.

A pad on firm ground

On a sloping lot, the pad is usually built by cutting the high side and filling the low side, with fill placed in thin compacted layers. Where the piers will bear matters as much as how level it looks.

Check your county's rule on this. Transylvania County's requirements say no piers are allowed to bear on fill dirt, and its inspectors check for good soil bearing. The federal standards call for footings on firm, undisturbed soil or on fill compacted to a set density.

Steep ground can bring an engineer into it. Transylvania County requires the stabilizing system to be designed by a design professional holding a North Carolina license if more than 25 percent of the home's area sits more than three feet above the ground. Ask your county and installer what applies before the pad height is set.

Water above and below the home

Water under a manufactured home causes soft ground under the piers, damp and settling. The federal standards require the site to be graded so water drains away from the home and does not collect under it. On a slope, the home also has to be protected from water running down from above.

On a mountain lot that uphill water is the main event. A ditch or swale above the pad turns it around the site. Where a cut bank seeps, a French drain along the toe carries it off. A culvert goes where the drive crosses a draw.

Getting this right before the home arrives is much easier than fixing it with the home in place.

Who does what in North Carolina

The ground work, meaning clearing, the pad, the drive and the drainage, is the site contractor's part. That is what M&S does, as one crew.

Setting the home, the piers, the anchors and the skirting is the set-up contractor's work. Under G.S. 143-143.10, the North Carolina Manufactured Housing Board licenses manufacturers, dealers, salespersons and set-up contractors. The state's set-up rules are the State of North Carolina Regulations for Manufactured Homes, published by the Office of State Fire Marshal.

Plumbing, power and the wastewater system are done by those trades. Transylvania County, for example, requires a plumber with a state license for the sewer line and other plumbing beyond the edge of the home.

Getting the ground ready

Send the address or a map pin, photos of the lot and the route in, and the home's size if you know it. Tell us where you want it to sit and which trees stay.

Then we walk the lot. We check the route, the fall of the ground, the soft spots and where water runs. The estimate is free and covers clearing, pad, drive and drainage, and we can time the work so the pad is ready and dry before delivery.

Call (828) 540-6856 or ask for a free estimate. M&S works across Buncombe, Henderson, Haywood and Transylvania counties. In South Carolina? See site prep for a manufactured home in SC.

Quick Answers

See our building site preparation service or call (828) 540-6856.

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