Eric and Tonia Robison and their family were in a dilemma. They had a hard and fast deadline to meet. The family needed to be in their new home quickly. Eric worked for a national media company and after 20 years he had the opportunity to move back home but had a heart breaking decision to make.
Eric’s grandfather in 1976 had built a 976 square foot one bedroom, one bath vacation cottage on Lake Manitou in Rochester Indiana. Eric had many fond memories of his childhood spending summers there at the lake cottage with his grandparents. The home had become a little worn and was far too small for his family of five.
They played with the idea of adding on but that proved to be not an option. One reason was the state of the worn house and the other was its crumbling cinder block foundation. It became apparent that the old home place was not adequate for their family’s needs so Eric made the hard decision of tearing down and totally rebuilding. “Many tears were shed” exclaimed Eric.
Options of how to rebuild were debated. Time as mentioned was a major factor in their decision making. Fortunately and through happenstance Eric’s neighbor on Lake Manitou was Alex Berlin, VP of Sales of Rochester Homes, a local Modular Systems Homebuilder.
“What really impressed me was their emphasis quality control. Everything that was done in the home was inspected and double checked”
More than doubling the square footage of the vacation cottage, the Robison’s new floor plan boasted 2400 square feet, three bedrooms, two baths, and a gourmet kitchen. The home was built to a state of 80% in 10 short days inside of the Rochester Home’s the climate controlled production facility.
“It was crucial that we be in our home by April since the owners of our rental home needed us to be out their home by then,” Eric explained.
In November of 2015 the family vacation cottage was demolished. A permanent foundation was put in and on December 2nd the modular home sections were set by crane. An area building contractor oversaw the completion of all of the final finish construction of the home. Details that were executed on site was the finishing of the cathedral ceiling, mating wall completion, some dry wall finishing and painting, mechanical installation, hook up of septic and utilities to the home and landscaping.
The Robison’s were in their new home by the end of March well before their deadline. When asked what was one of the best things about being in there new home Eric quickly replied “being where we want to be, home here on the lake”.