How to Prepare a Site for a Manufactured Home in SC

To prepare a site for a manufactured home, confirm the county permits first, then build a route the delivery truck can use, clear the home site, and grade a firm, level pad that sheds water away from where the home will sit. The installer then sets the home on its foundation, so the ground work has to be done and drained before the home arrives.

Start with the county

Before any ground work, call the county or city office for your parcel. Ask whether a manufactured home can go there, what permits are needed to place it and what they need from you.

Zoning, setbacks and road access all come from that office. So do any land disturbance or erosion control rules for the ground work. In Greenville County, for example, the Land Development Division handles land disturbance. In Spartanburg, Anderson, Pickens and the other Upstate counties, ask the county office that covers your parcel.

Wastewater, wells and power are their own permits and their own trades. Find out early where those have to go, because they fix where the home and the drive can sit.

A route the delivery truck can use

A manufactured home arrives in one or more long sections on a truck. That truck needs a route it can actually drive: wide enough, with turns it can make, firm enough to carry the load, and clear of low branches.

On Upstate red clay, a dirt path that is fine in dry weather can stop a loaded truck after rain. A stone drive built early solves that, and it is the drive you will use afterward anyway.

Walk the route with your retailer or transporter before the ground work is priced. They know what their truck needs. We build the gravel drive to that, with a turnaround or set-up area where the sections will be staged.

Clearing the home site

Clear the area where the home will sit, 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 home's 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.

The rest of the lot does not have to be bare. Ground beyond the work area can often be mulched instead of fully cleared. See forestry mulching vs land clearing.

A firm, level pad

The home sits on piers or a foundation built by the installer. Those need firm ground under them. The federal installation standards call for footings on firm, undisturbed soil or on fill compacted to a set density, and for the soil's bearing capacity to be found before the foundation goes in.

On a sloping lot, the pad is built by cutting the high side and filling the low side. Fill goes in thin compacted layers, not dumped and leveled. On flat Upstate ground, the pad may be little more than stripped and shaped clay.

Your installer and the home's installation manual set the foundation details. Ask them what the pad needs before we start, and we build it to that.

Drainage under and around the home

Water under a manufactured home causes trouble: 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 the ground above.

So the pad is shaped to fall away on every side. A ditch or swale above the site turns uphill water around it. A culvert goes in where the drive crosses a low spot or a roadside ditch.

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

Who does what

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 installer's work. In South Carolina, the SC Manufactured Housing Board regulates installers, retailers and manufacturers. Plumbing, power and the wastewater system are done by those trades.

Line the steps up in the right order: permits, ground work, then delivery and set-up. A pad that is ready and dry on delivery day saves everyone time. Our site preparation checklist covers the same order for a site-built house.

Getting the ground ready

Send the address or a map pin, photos of the lot and the delivery route, 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. We can also time the work so the pad is ready and dry before your delivery date.

Call (828) 540-6856 or ask for a free estimate. M&S works across Spartanburg, Greenville, Anderson and the rest of the Upstate.

Quick Answers

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

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