"Dragging a 40,000-pound, 16-foot wide mobile home through mud is like
dragging a wet mule," says Betty Donoho of Kentucky. "You have to be totally
focused on what you are doing."
Donoho and a friend started a mobile home transporting business many years
ago. "I knew nothing about mobile home installation," she laughs. "I learned
quickly because I had to."
When Donoho took over the business, people predicted she would fail. "That
made me more determined," she says.
In addition to driving the truck, Donoho supervised the three- to four-member
crew. Installing a mobile home involves installing axles and tires, putting
the hitch on, tying the home down, blocking and leveling the unit and connecting
utilities.
"You are lifting heavy concrete blocks. Installers crawl under the homes
to do hookups. You deal with all the muck and yuck that goes with that," says
Donoho. "I put my workboots on and get muddy and crawl around."
Summer is the busiest time of year. In the winter, installers fight ice
and snow. In spring, rain often delays schedules.
Nowadays, Donovan drives the truck to fill in for a sick or absent crewmember.
However, she goes to the sites every day to see that the crews have everything
they need.
"I hire people who are physically fit and are willing to work and learn,"
she says.
Claude Mailhot oversees modular home installation. Mailhot dispatches crews,
talks to clients, schedules deliveries and often goes out on the work crews
to assist with the installation.
He started out working in the factory. In time, his employer asked him
to be in charge of the installation department.
"I said 'yes,' if I could go out on site and learn the job properly," says
Mailhot. "Now I have been up to my knees in installing these buildings."
The crews install modular homes ranging from two to 15 sections. One crew
looks after the foundation. Another transports the modules to the site and
assembles the home on the foundation. A third crew looks after finishing touches,
such as plumbing and wiring and finishing the shingling on the roof.
Each crew needs different skills. The finishing crew includes qualified
electricians and plumbers. The installers must know carpentry.
Basic homes are not complicated to install. The crews go on site with trucks
and unwrap the factory-wrapped modules. Some houses are put on the foundation
with a crane. Others are rolled onto the foundation with tracks.
First, they raise the roof with a crane and align it on the foundation.
"Next, we do the same thing with the other boxes. We nail the roofs together,
and then add the floors and level them."
Mailhot's crews travel. Sometimes they work in winter weather that is -22
F. A day lasts from five to 12 hours.
"We can put a house on a foundation in one day," Mailhot says. "Then we
go back and get ready to go out somewhere else the next day."
It can be stressful when he cannot get on a site as contracted. "Sometimes
we don't know what the site is like until we get there," he says. "There could
be a tree or some other complication."
When Mailhot's employer hires installers, they look for qualified people
who have a driver's license, are in good physical condition and are bilingual.
Dee Vanderpool installs mobile homes in Kentucky. She learned on the job
and then took a short training course.
Vanderpool works on a crew with two other people. She is paid by the job.
She gets work from finance companies and from mobile home lots.
The crew tears down mobile homes and readies them for transport. When tearing
down a single mobile, they remove the skirt, which is the "wall" that is built
around the bottom of the unit. They unhook the utilities, replace the axles
and the wheels and get the unit ready.
Setting up a double-wide mobile home is more complicated. Double mobiles
have two separate pieces that fit together along the length of the units.
When setting it up, you set one side, then back the other half in, sliding
both sides together. Then you bolt the units to hold them in place.
Some days last 10 or 12 hours. Once a double-wide mobile has been opened
up, you cannot leave it open. That would expose the interior
to damage by weather conditions or vandalism.
"We have to keep working to get it so we can leave it," she says. "Sometimes
that means covering it up, then spending the night in a hotel.
"It's a good occupation and a good living. Active people will like this
kind of work."