Barry and I were excited to be staying at CVR to become part of the community while we awaited the arrival of our house from the factory in Phoenix. We looked forward to the ability to document the various steps of the entire in-park build process via photos and drone footage. It is amazing how much there is to do from the time the two halves arrive on wheels till it is ready for occupancy as one home!
THE PROCESS DETAILS –October 2020 – March 11, 2021
October 22, 2020 was the original delivery date for our home. Due to Covid-19 issues, Cavco Durango of Phoenix pushed out the “coming off line” to November 26 (Thanksgiving). No biggie. We can handle not moving in till mid-January, even though it meant we would likely miss documenting additional progress while in California for Christmas.
As Thanksgiving was approaching, we expected to see our lot prepared to receive the home. The home will be “pit-set”. Thanksgiving arrived with no work regarding lot prep. The house came off-line on November 25 – the day before Thanksgiving! No word on when the pit will be dug, or when the house is scheduled for delivery to CVR. The pit can be about a four-day process.
Below is a narrated timeline that shows the many parts of the process. It has been fascinating to watch albeit frustrating at times.
December 1, 2020:
A crew came out to the site and broke up the cement pad that all lots have to accommodate RVs. Finally–a sign that things will be happening! Gravel was removed from the site and they lightly scraped/dug the top ground surface. Then due to the hardness of the ground they began watering the lot. Water went continuously for a day and a half, but no one showed up to actually dig the pit.
December 2, 2020:
I was excited to hear and then see a big truck coming down the street in front of our motorhome. Yea! It’s the digging crew! What the heck!?!? It was NOT a digging apparatus of any kind! Our house just went by!!! How exciting!!! BUT–but-there’s no hole/pit to put it into. Dang it. So the drivers set each half on the lot across the street from ours.
I GOT MY BOTTOM FREEZER!!!!!
December 6 and 7, 2020:
I was concerned since it had been about 4 or 5 days since the watering was done that they might have to do it again. I kidded with Kelly Robinson a day or two ago, saying, “If I had a shovel, I’d start digging our pit myself”. LOL
Luckily the digging crew showed up with a Bobcat on December 6th, and started the pit. They had a shovel nearby, so we couldn’t resist staging a couple of pictures for fun. At one point there were two guys and two dump trucks (not typical)!
December 9, 2020:
A topping of some sort of small rock was put in the pit and smoothed out. Supposedly this will become rock hard. Waiting now for some heavy vibration plate apparatus to arrive to get it all packed down hard. We left, on December 14th. Nothing more had been done. No word.
Another home was delivered to the park that first week of December. I had a hunch that our house would not be going into the pit till that one was also ready, so they could have the same drivers deal with both homes on the same day. December 18th, Cheryl confirmed that. The Projected date to move the houses is the Friday or Monday AFTER Christmas. Seriously!?! That is a MONTH after the home initially arrived at CVR. This is not a good start. I don’t understand why there isn’t better planning and coordinating for a more efficient timeline.
December 21, 2020:
Well, SURPRISE! Drivers showed up today to put our house into the pit! We, of course are in Chula Vista for Christmas. So cool to see -via videos and pictures from friends in the park. I guess the correct information was the Friday or Monday BEFORE Christmas. We’re just glad it is in sooner than later. Communication is really poor with all involved. Supposedly, they are to make our house a priority.
A HUGE thank you to Marilyn Petitjean, Kelly Robinson, and Jerry Cross for the pictures you see below!!
Right side-half master and master bath entrance
December 22:
Marilyn sent an update today! The crew came out right away today. They took the left side off the wheels, and cinched both halves together!
ALL wheels off! Getting cinched together! WooHoo!
Here are some pictures we clicked off while FaceTiming with Marilyn, so please excuse the lesser quality of them (and that we are also in each picture. Others are from Jerry. So glad we have homeowner friends to keep us informed and help us document progress till we get back next week!
Elevation from the front curb to porch looks good. (Not too steep) We had been noticing some homes already in the park that have an uncomfortably steep grade to the front porch and carport. I think ours will be minimal. Thank goodness!
No additional progress since we returned to the park. However, we did get to look around inside today. Then we had the side door locked. The matching of the two separate halves is pretty incredible. The pictures below are prior to the flooring installation, and other inside finishing work that will occur.
F
January 7, 2021:
Today 3D Communications installed the cable throughout the house. The barrier boards should be going up.
January 11, 2021:
Not sure why the boards got started, and abruptly stopped. Barry and I noticed that the other house that came in after ours has the barrier boards completed on it. What the heck!?! I went to the office to ask about it. Hmm–seems neither Cheryl nor Vicky were aware of this. Vicky said our home is supposed to be the #1 priority! Somehow the workers had been pulled off our house to put the barrier boards in place on that other house, which has no homeowner. No more shenanigans like that are going to happen. Vicky directed all workers to work on our house till completed!
January 14, 2021:
Barrier boards are finally all in place and are ready for inspection.
January 18, 2021:
Barrier boards did not pass inspection. They spray painted the sections that needed to be redone to be more vertical. Being more vertical is critical so that when the dirt gets packed back in, and the cement gets poured, the boards don’t collapse inward. Although it is frustrating to have another delay, it is nice to know the inspection caught work that was not meeting the quality standard.
January 20, 2021:
The trough was dug deeper to allow the barrier boards to sit vertically upright, and thus passed the re-inspection.
January 21, 2021:
The backfill of dirt was accomplished on the 21st. The preparation for the pouring of the cement has begun.
January 22, 2021:
Additional prep for cement took place today. Uh Oh!…We saw that the hole for the air conditioner was going to put the unit right up against one of the master bedroom windows. It was supposed to go all the way to the back left corner of the house. We called Cheryl to let her know right away. She told us she would meet with those involved on Saturday or Monday. So glad we caught this prior to the cement pour! The home plans had the unit where we wanted it, but somehow someone else gave the workers something different. Communication issues, and others stepping in without knowledge or conferring with us are really frustrating us.
Uh oh! This needs to go to the left corner of the house NOT the window!
January 27, 2021
The A/C prep hole got moved yesterday, and the concrete was poured today! OMG–we are getting so close!!
January 30, 2021
The last couple days Ray of Ray’s Flooring has been working on the flooring throughout the house. Paul and Renee have painted the floor molding and will be installing it probably tomorrow.
February 3-5, 2021:
Concrete cured for a few days–then the AC went in.
Once the concrete carport cured for a full week, the carport awning was started. It took 3 days to complete.
February 8-10, 2021:
I had an ortho appointment on Feb 9. Since we had already gone over with Cheryl that the shed would be a 10 x 10 with the door three feet in from the northeast corner of the shed, that it wouldn’t be a big deal if we were gone during the shed construction. Therefore, instead of driving directly to the appointment on the 9th, and returning to Yuma immediately afterwards, we decided to head to Chula Vista on the 8th, go to my appointment in Escondido on the 9th, and then head back to Yuma the afternoon of the 10th. This would break up the drive, as well as, allow us some quality time with our grandkids. Boy, were we wrong! When we returned on the 10th, we immediately saw that the door was in the wrong place! Dang it! We were SO close to be all done and ready for closing next week. The good news is that we can agree to close and move in before the shed is corrected, and finished including wiring, but the water softener and RO (reverse osmosis) system will have to go in prior to us moving in. “Industrial cleaners” are scheduled for Monday, Feb 15.
Door is in the wrong location! 
February 17, 2021:
This afternoon we went to Pioneer Title to sign closing papers! The house will be officially ours tomorrow once the money transfers in the morning. We are so excited!! Kinetico came out to do the prep for the installation of the water softener and the reverse osmosis system that will occur on Friday, the 19th.
February 18, 2021:
Today most of our household furniture from Mor Furniture was delivered. They even came an hour early! Getting our adjustable bed frame set inside the wood bedroom set frame took some work, but with help from friends, we got it. As much as I’d love to spend the night in the house, we are going to wait a few days, till we have the place stocked with at least some food and necessities.
Feb 19, 2021:
Kinetico arrived to install the water softener and RO system. Fortunately, one of the guys noticed a hairline crack in our garbage disposal! We put a bucket under it to catch leaking water till we let the sales office know. That evening I checked the amount of water after doing dishes and then decided to see what happens when I turn the disposal on for a brief test. OMG…yes, it is leaking and putting a substantial amount of water in the bucket. I took a short video clip to show the water running down the disposal and sent it to Cheryl.
Water softener w/chlorine filters -in shed 
RO system under kitchen sink. 
RO Tank under kitchen sink
Feb 20, 2021:
Cheryl viewed the video I sent and took action immediately. She shared the video with Vicky which got Donnie over right away. He ended up pulling a new one out of one of the models in the park. Whew! He had never seen something like this on a new delivery.
February 21, 2021:
CVR’s “WELCOME WAGON”
This morning, we had two lovely visitors out to the house! It was Jeanne & Sandy coming out to welcome us on behalf of the CVR Homeowners. How sweet! We received a “Welcome” banner and a choice of a painted rock, and local information/resources. Homeowners here have been fantastic. They’ve all been very friendly and extremely helpful. We’ve really appreciated getting to know Virgie & John, Marilyn, Ron & Judy, and Jerry & Belinda through this journey. Each of them personally welcomed us as official homeowners. We look forward to having fellow homeowners over once we are settled in and have the carport patio set up. The homeowners here are what confirmed our purchase decision last May!
Tonight we spent our first night in our new bed-in our new home! It was awesome! In the morning we enjoyed our coffee out on the front porch with the sunshine. It is so nice and quiet out here! It feels SO GOOD in our home! We are very happy with our decision to do this and with the choices we made within the house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The SHED is COMPLETE! It took a while, but the door got moved, and the re-constructed wall painted. The electrician came out on Tuesday, the Feb 23rd to meet with us. We went over the placement of the shed outlets/switches for both interior and exterior, the wiring for a ceiling fan on our carport, and two additional outlets in the house. He told us if we have the fan by Thursday, they would install it for us! Sweet! So off we went to get a fan.
10 x 10 shed 
Love the look of the fan
New outlet for the bidet 
New closet outlet for DeeDee our DeeBot.
February 26, 2021:
I enjoyed preparing our first dinner in our home. And how perfect it was to have such beautiful flowers welcoming us from Virgie and John! They really brighten up the place.
Final Thoughts and Summary
Luckily, residing in the park in Vinny throughout this time, we were able to catch a couple of snafus before it was either too late, or it became a bigger hassle to fix them. The in-park build process took two and a half months to complete. This was significantly longer than the 6 weeks we were originally told. Hitting the Christmas holidays didn’t help. It was frustrating to watch nothing happening for periods of time and repeatedly being told, “You have to understand–it is a process.” We know it is “a process”, but a more efficient project management system is definitely needed. I can’t figure any reason why the pits cannot be ready by the time the house comes off line at the factory. Cavco has a date that each house is due to “come offline”. Be proactive. Schedule a pit crew to have the pit completed by the offline date. This should run like clockwork. It isn’t their first rodeo.
The best thing is that “the process” of the build is behind us now. However, a new process of “the punch list” begins. We will be having a walk through soon to officially document everything that is not up to par, and anything we are still waiting for from our original contract. Some items will be handled in the near future by local crews, while other items will wait till after our return next fall/winter. I believe those are any items that Cavco is responsible for. This also allows time to note changes as the house settles within the first year.
We are still very happy with the decision we made last May to buy this new manufactured home. Thrilled that we are finally in it and able to really start making it our home base. It fits us perfectly.
NOTE:
Because we changed our minds regarding the living room furniture, and shipment has been delayed a few more weeks, I am not including any updated room pictures at this time. I will create a future blog for the inside set-up of each room. 🙂
What fun to read your detailed descriptions of the everyday processes! It all turned out beautifully. May you love living in your new place and creating lots of new, happy memories. ❤
Thank you, both! We are really happy with the home and look forward to many winters here. Come down and visit. 🙂
That was really awesome to read. But the frustrations that you guys went through…made this All worthwhile, I’m sure! It’s Super Cute! I’ve been trying to talk D into getting one of these, even before I seen this post. Fingers crossed! Beautiful home now! Congratulations!! ❤️
Thanks, Tee! We are truly loving it and life here. I play pickleball just about every day.