On Monday, a 1400 square-foot manufactured home arrived in two pieces at Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, Pennsylvania.
The occasion? The annual Erie Home & Garden Expo. But the real story is how quickly that manufactured home got put together.
With about three days of hard work, the home is ready for visitation as the centerpiece attraction for the event.
According to GoErie, Hawk Manufactured Homes, of Youngsville, is showcasing the 1,387-square-foot home, which is priced at $88,900. The home’s 27-foot-by-52-foot floor plan features three bedrooms, two full baths, a kitchen, dining nook, utility room and many other amenities.
“Manufactured homes are popular with young couples just starting out and with retirees who are looking to downsize,” said Hawk Manufactured Homes Manager Shawn Finefrock.
The Expo is expected to draw between 8,000 and 10,000 visitors, featuring more than 160 exhibitors.
With the showcase home, there’s a story behind the story… starting with when it arrived.
“It just barely squeaked past the doors inside here,” said Mark Concilla, of Erie Promotions & Expos.
“Watching them pull the two pieces together is quite an art because they have a lot of very sophisticated trucks and they can kind of shift it together.”
After the house was put together, crews got to work on the inside handling drywall, and installation of carpeting and flooring. Exterior work included installation of siding and roof shingles, ramps, steps and landscaping.
On Thursday morning, a truck containing all of the home’s furniture, art, lamps, window treatments and accessories arrived at the Convention Center. That’s when interior designer Randall Farabaugh, of Arthur F. Schultz Co., got busy.
A six-person crew had the home furnished in about four hours.
“The theme is rustic lodge,” said Farabaugh. “We have a lot of dark browns and leathers and animal heads. It’s just a very rustic look. We love doing this project. The majority of the people who walk through that door say, ‘I could live here.’ We get that all the time. We want it to look like you can actually move in. We don’t want it to look unfinished, we want it to feel like somebody actually lives here.”
If You’re Planning to Attend
The Erie Home & Garden Expo takes place at the Bayfront Convention Center, 1 Sassafras Pier, through Sunday, and hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Admission is $7 for adults. Children under 10 are free.
(Image credits are as shown above.)
Submitted by RC Williams to the Daily Business News for MHProNews.
