HUD Foundation Inspections

[dowengr]

Hello All,

I’ve been receiving frequent requests to provide HUD Certification Letters for manufactured home foundations. The initial projects were manageable, as clients provided drawings, specifications, and previously stamped engineering documents. I inspected the foundations and structures, verified no modifications had been made, and confirmed their good condition.

However, I’m facing a new challenge with a potential client. They lack drawings, specifications, or original build documents and have requested I complete the certification letter within a few days. Additionally, they proposed deferring payment until the house closes escrow, which I declined.

Does anyone have advice on how to approach this situation, particularly regarding the lack of documentation and tight timeline? Any insights or best practices would be greatly appreciated.

Leaning towards declining this project.

 

[XR250]

Don't you just check to see if it meets HUD guidelines? i.e. pier and strap spacing etc.
I get paid from escrow at closing frequently and it is never been an issue.

 

[JAE]

Can you clarify? If there's no drawings/specs to review are you physically visiting the site and climbing underneath the home to verify how the thing was installed?

 

[gte447f]

Can you clarify? If there's no drawings/specs to review are you physically visiting the site and climbing underneath the home to verify how the thing was installed?

I did a couple of these years ago and quickly decided that it wasn't worth the hassle, meaning that there wasn't enough money in the meager fees to cover the effort required, including crawling around underneath these things. I found that there was a good chance that the manufactured home foundation would probably not meet the HUD guidelines, often times not even close, meaning that a design plan for modifications would be needed, and I often felt that there was little chance that the required modifications would be realistically accomplished. So I chose not to get involved in these. I still occasionally get phone requests to inspect and certify these for HUD compliance. I decline.

FYI to the OP, last time I checked there were a few nation wide operators that compete in this space for a few hundred dollars per assignment, so that is what you are up against.

 

[XR250]

Can you clarify? If there's no drawings/specs to review are you physically visiting the site and climbing underneath the home to verify how the thing was installed?

I have done one of these and decided it was not for me. But, yeah, go to the site, check pier spacing and straps and whatever else HUD guidelines there are.

 

[Ron247]

I did a few of these that were supposed to meet HUD's, "Permanent Foundations Guide for Manufactured Housing 1996 [PFGMH]". Absolutely #1, get paid in advance of even going out. I go out, they have drystack block and screw in soil anchors about 95% of the time, neither of which are allowed in the 1996 version. Then no one wants to pay since I will not OK it. I quit doing them altogether. I have even told owners on the phone, to go look under the house because they are both easily detected. If they are present, I can't help them.

Later someone else goes out, Oks it, get cheerfully paid and provides some documents that are accepted by whoever. I can't find one statement in their documentation that says the setup meets PFGMH. There is a lot of double talk and word salads, but nothing we would call definitive. Those people are the ones GTE is referring to. Basically, the bank or whoever is accepting non-committal garbage. What they are generally saying is that it meets the minimum requirements of the state mobile home commission and in most cases, they do. But that is not PFGMH requirements. State mobile home commission allows drystack block and soil anchors.

Some have mentioned a newer version of PFGMH that is more lenient, problem is, it was never adopted as of the last time I looked into it. Even the copy I was given said "Preliminary Draft". That was in about 2017. I also heard the new version was actually created by suppliers and presented to HUD to confirm, not that HUD authorized it. They do present it as if HUD created it.

 

[engineer_123]

Hello All,

I’ve been receiving frequent requests to provide HUD Certification Letters for manufactured home foundations. The initial projects were manageable, as clients provided drawings, specifications, and previously stamped engineering documents. I inspected the foundations and structures, verified no modifications had been made, and confirmed their good condition.

However, I’m facing a new challenge with a potential client. They lack drawings, specifications, or original build documents and have requested I complete the certification letter within a few days. Additionally, they proposed deferring payment until the house closes escrow, which I declined.

Does anyone have advice on how to approach this situation, particularly regarding the lack of documentation and tight timeline? Any insights or best practices would be greatly appreciated.

Leaning towards declining this project.

I do these all the time. You don't need to overcomplicate it. You need to crawl underneath, and confirm the piers and strapping are in good shape, measure the abs foundation pads, measure pier distances at the I-beams, measure the transverse and longitudinal strapping distances, confirm strapping connections, evaluate top of anchors, if possible, see if Oliver-tech v-braces are installed. You gather your values and compare to the PFGMH manual. Either the values you measured will be passing or not, if not you tell them to correct from a qualified manufactured home installer.

 

[Ron247]

You gather your values and compare to the PFGMH manual.

I have not looked into the PFGMH requirements for about 8-10 years. Have they finally adopted a newer version than the 1996 one that more aligns with products on the market? It would be good if they have. The 1996 version had some outright restrictions such as "Screw-in soil anchors are not considered a permanent anchorage" that I could find no way around but felt soil anchors can work if designed and installed properly.

Also, I do not think the 1996 even mentions Oliver-Tech. I called Oliver years ago when I first encountered one with their system. They said they meet HUD but would never commit they met PFGMH 1996. I got a noncommittal "okey dokey". I also asked how their slide prevention system overcomes uplift. They answer was that stopping sliding means that uplift cannot happen. I disagreed.