In an August cease and desist letter to SnapSpace, Assistant Attorney General Christopher L. Mann said, “It has been alleged that your firm is attempting to site/locate a one or two family dwelling (manufactured by you) in the Bangor/Brewer area. Please be advised that manufacturing or selling a manufactured home is engaging in unlawful unlicensed practice.”
SnapSpace applied for a manufactured home license through the Maine Manufactured Housing Board in 2011, but never completed the application. SnapShot’s president, Chad Walton, said members of the board visited the headquarters and agreed that what the company was doing did not require a license.
However, Walton says whether he’s designing a storage space or a home from the containers, it is more like a stick-frame construction because the container is only a shell and not a prefabricated modular unit. He adds the state laws are aimed at manufacturing plants where cookie cutter-type homes are produced on an assembly line, whereas each of his buildings are custom made to order.
The letter from the attorney general’s office warns Walton that for every home he builds from the containers he may be subject to a $10,000 fine as well as criminal charges. Walton said all his projects are engineered to meet the International Building Code (IBC) standards in addition to local codes and ordinances.
The state has issued a notice asking communities if they have any of Snapshot’s homes in their area. ##
(Photo credit: huffingtonpost-Big Steel Box modular container homes)
