MobileTrailerHouseStillCreditCBSNews-SunshineHomeModernManufacturedHomeManufacturedHomeLivingNews-InsideMHVideo-575x278
Becki Jackson, lower right. Still of old mobile home/trailer house in top left corner - credit - CBS News. The living room and kitchen shown are of a contemporary, residential style manufactured home.

State Inspector Becki Jackson – Safety & Quality of Manufactured Homes

Quality affordable living. It’s a hot-button topic across much of the United States. Reporters, public officials, housing advocates, educators, experts, lenders, investors and the home shopping public are all looking for common-sense solutions. Inspector Becki Jackson says it’s a matter of education, because the solution is available right now, today.

It used to be that manufactured homes were just for temporary living. Now it is a home — it’s a place where people stay and live.

— Becki Jackson, Alabama Manufactured Housing Commission

More people are discovering one of the best-kept secrets in housing: Modern factory-built homes are vastly different from mobile homes of old, says Jackson. They’re extraordinarily well-built, energy efficient and affordable.

LATonyKovach-BeckiJacksonALManufacturedHousingCommissionInspector-InsideMHRoadShow_ManufacturedHomeLivingNews-VideoStill-575x317
Becki Jackson was touring the model home that you see in this video, where the Inside MH team was wrapping up another interview. Tony spotted the state seal on Becki’s jacket, and asked Jackson if she would be willing to sit down for a video interview to share her professional insights. Every still image on this page is from the video. Similar topics: Housing inspector Tim Bunch video interview, linked here. Bill Matchneer video interview, linked hereComparing Entry Level to residential style manufactured home, click here.

Jackson should know. She has lived in manufactured homes most of her life and came up in her dad’s MH business.

The state agency she now works for is charged with regulating Alabama’s manufactured housing industry, ensuring compliance with state and federal requirements — most notably the standards set forth by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that have governed these homes since 1976.

StarHomesCulmanALManufacturedModularHomeRetailCenter-credit-MHLivingNews
Still from video – Star Homes, Culman AL, manufactured and modular home retail center. As MHLivingNews has often noted, manufactured homes are built to federally pre-emptive construction and safety standards, while modular homes – which are also factory built – are constructed to the same conventional housing standards as a site built home (example, IRC code).  To see a video on that manufactured and modular home comparison topic, click here.

As the state administrative agency (SAA) for HUD, Jackson’s agency inspects factories, retail operations and the installation of all new manufactured homes.

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but when the cover is as gorgeous as the modern manufactured homes that you’ll see in this video, you’ve just got to wonder what’s under all that skin.

Inside MH Road Show talks to Jackson about her experiences with MH and takes you inside the factories where modern manufactured homes are born.

InspectingManufacturedHomesInProduction-SunshineHomesRedBayAL-ManufacturedHomeLivingNews
Fact: manufactured homes today are far more closely inspected than their conventional site-built housing counterparts typically are.  Time saved in the factory-building process, plus bulk purchases of materials are some of the ways that savings of some 50 percent over conventional construction are achieved.

To see the process and how they do it — it’s very impressive,” she says.

RobertGannDeerValleyHomebuilders-InsideMH-ManufacturedHomeLivingNews
Robert Gann, inside Deer Valley Homebuilders’ (DVLY) plant, pointing out aspects of the durable materials used during construction inside the controlled environment of the factory.

So are the well-appointed, modestly priced homes you see during this fast paced, under 9 minute video. As the behind-the-scenes factory tour clips revealed in this episode of Inside MH, beneath all of those good looks is a structural wonder – it’s not just another pretty face. ##

(Image credits: All of the photos above are stills from the video, with credits at the end of the production).

LATonyKovach-Louisville-2015-mhpronews-com-275x156-11
L. A. “Tony” Kovach at an MH educational session . Tony is one of the most recognized experts on MH today.

By L. A. “Tony” Kovach.

Check Also

WereAbeLincolnAndFrankRolfeCorrectFederalAgencyToPresentSpeakersInsightsOnWhyAffordableHousingAndManufacturedHomesStruggleDuringAffordableHousingCrisisMMHLivingNews

Were Abe Lincoln and Frank Rolfe Correct? Federal Agency to Present Speaker’s Insights on Why Affordable Housing and Manufactured Homes Struggle During Affordable Housing Crisis

The following are remarks as prepared for a federal agency who is once more thoughtfully …