What is your real budget? Most of the critical differences are below that price point even when new. There is a lot of difference between $100,000 and $200,000, $400,000, $800,000 price points. You are looking for manufacturer names, but some, like Newmar, built to cover the whole range. And at Newmar, the line they sell in the 100-200k range is quite different in features from the one built to sell for $400,000, but will be built to the same quality using the same construction methods.
Similarly for Tiffin or Winnebago, same construction through a wide range of model lines, but they will be built differently from Newmar.
But over at Monaco Corp, after all their acquisitions, the lower price Monaco and Holiday Rambler lines built in the Holiday Rambler plant were built differently from Monaco, Safari, Holiday Rambler and Beaver model lines built in the Monaco and Beaver plants. Towards the end of Monaco Corp, after they bought R-Vision and shut down production at Holiday Rambler, they started selling R-Vision built product branded Monaco and H-R; you probably don't want those.
If you are wanting high-end product, on a budget, you can get it by shopping used, particularly for brands like Bluebird, Foretravel, Travel Supreme and Country Coach, which didn't survive the 2007 recession, but also those earlier high end Beaver, Safari, Holiday Rambler and Monaco model lines, or Newmar's high end lines, because you can get a not-to-old Mountainaire for the price of a newer Dutchstar. If under a million includes a figure like $800,000, you can get a used Newell from the factory, refurbished, or you can find used Prevost and MCI coach conversions in that range.
Can't say what would be my choice, or maybe can, but it is probably not what you are looking for. My choice would be a coach conversion built within the confines of an automobile grade 18-24 foot van, i.e. a class B. It is a matter of deciding whether Daimler or a lesser platform, and whose conversion: Winnebago, Airstream or Roadtrek, or to have a shop do a custom conversion. Thus if I were looking for something 20 tons and 45 feet, rather than 4-5 tons and 20-24 feet, I would lean stronly toward somebody's motorcoach conversion.
I suggest, since you are concerned about construction and quality, you visit some manufacturers before shopping. Three specifically: Winnebago, to see how motorhomes can be built using automobile style production techniques; Newmar, for craftsman style mass production and Newell, to see the production of very high end custom coaches that are not conversions. Most of the other Newell-like operations are now gone.
Tom Test
Itasca Spirit 29B
