Pre-built cabin advice

[mitchb]

I'd like some advice regarding the following scenario.
I have a wooded one acre lot in an unincorporated township in southwest lower Michigan. Currently, there is a mobile home there which was built in around 1967 and has an addition as wide and as long as the mobile home attached to the front of it. Being over 40 years old, it is on it's way out as I believe that these weren't designed to last nearly as long. I use it as a 3 season getaway as it is only under a 2 hour drive from my home. There is a well that serves the mobile as well as electric and a septic. It is up on cinder blocks. My family has owned this since 1975. I am handy, but not handy enough to build my own cabin as well as not having the time it would take. I would like to have this structure removed and have another put in it's place on a cement slab. I have been interested in Zook  pre-built Cabins in PA. They have a lot of cool plans. The cabins are delivered fully assembled to your site. My initial idea was a 12X30 or 14X30 or there about. There are maybe 4 other houses on the small road and are fairly well spaced apart. Certainly, no one would mind seeing the current eye sore removed and a nice new little cabin taking it's place. Does anyone have any advice regarding zoning, permits or other possible problems I may run into?

[firefox]

I would take the literature from the company, which should contain
all the details of the structure to the local building department and
very politely ask them what you would need to do to have it approved.

In the long run this will be the cheapest route.
Bruce

[poppy]

Don't know anything about Zook, but PA sounds far away from your location compared to some possible Amish builders in Ohio or Indiana.

[Beavers]

Started off in the same place as you...piece of land with a mobile home on it.  Mobile Homes are a bitch to get rid of.  I started off checking the volunteer fire department, they don't want to use then for practice, too unsafe to send guys into.  Checked with the metal recyclers, they don't want them, to much other crap than metal in them.  The one I had was junk, couldn't give away to anyone to haul away if I wanted to.

In the end I ended up having to take it down piece by piece.  I burned what I could, salvaged the frame to build a trailer out of, and some of the lumber for building concrete forms, ect, and actually got some cash for recycling the aluminum siding and copper, and hauled the rest to the dump.
Turned out to be one of the dirtiest, nastiest jobs I've ever done!  

Never did price what it would cost to pay some one to haul it away, I'm guessing it wouldn't of been cheap.  

IMO getting rid of the mobile home was way more work than actually building my house.


Oh yeah,
Be careful putting it on Craigslist for "free scrap" or something like that.  I've heard of people getting burned big time.   People will show up and strip all the stuff that's worth $$$ and leaves the rest of the crap for you to clean up.

Once you get rid of that mobile home the real fun can start...actually building your house!  

AND  

[zion-diy]

Oh yeah,
Be careful putting it on Craigslist for "free scrap" or something like that.  I've heard of people getting burned big time.   People will show up and strip all the stuff that's worth $$$ and leaves the rest of the crap for you to clean up.

Once you get rid of that mobile home the real fun can start...actually building your house!  



Not too long ago, I saw an add in craigslist to remove an old trailer. The poster charged a refundable fee of 350 or 450 dollars to prevent that exact problem.