Code & safety requirements

soren wrote:
I've done a few significant restoration and repair projects on towables. As a builder and electrician, I don't give much thought to the quality of my work, as compared to what I usually discover inside the structure of a typical unit. Doesn't matter if it's poorly supported gas piping, Romex that is tangled, poorly routed and pinched, or woodwork that looks like it was done as a craft project at a daycare. Without exception, I would never do work as poorly as much of the factory's "inspected and compliant" workmanship, and I would make any of my help tear it out, if they mistakenly believed that it was even close to acceptable.

As for the quality of on-site inspection in factories? A local inspector I do business with was recently offered a job in a manufactured housing plant. The "independent" inspection agency only inspects specific categories of progress on every SIXTH unit on the line, and puts an "approved" sticker on each one. Therefore it's literally possible to buy an inspected and approved unit that never had an inspector near it. I wasn't a bit surprised to learn this, but like an earlier poster stated, most consumers place way too much faith in the whole code process. I had competitors who build absolute trash, and managed to get every single home through the inspection process with little effort. It's a game. If you have integrity you build a quality product, regardless of who is (or isn't) stumbling around with a clipboard, reviewing your work.