Karsten Company

Put Together a great home but Put in the wrong FIREPLACE AND NOT HOOKED UP CORRECTLY WOULD LIKE SOME HELP BUT CANNOT GET HELP

Bought our Karsten home about 13 years ago. After one year, shingles on the roof started flying off. I looked at the shingles, and saw that they weren't installed correctly. They were put on as if the workers were in a rush to complete the work. I have been replacing shingles every year ever since. I tried to get a hold of the company, but I never got a response. The house also seems to not be completely level. Several cracks in the house on walls, and on the marriage line. Also, the foundation needs more work.

Bought the Karsten Model 262Asn from the dealer in Dennison, TX in 2008. We bought the high roof, which meant that traveling from the plant in Breckenridge, TX, the hinged roof halves were flat and covered with plastic, held down with furring strips nailed to the roof. Our bigest problem was the nail holes in the roof which were not patched when the house was set up. Leaking caused some ceiling damage before we found all the hail holes,. Now, 10 years later, the house is still beautiful, A/C, appliances and water heater are free of trouble. This is a vacation home so we do not live in it but stay for a total of two months a year, with time dispersed over the year.

Our Karsten home (2011) is perfect for our needs. Problems have been minimal and our dealer ( MHS) has been responsive to our needs. The quality of components is not top end but they are functional and look fine. We have little issues like corrosion on the kitchen faucet and a window which lost its seal. All in All, we are very satisfied.

2005 build, 1357 sq. foot. THANKFULLY, we must have had a quality and knowledgeable builders. We have high winds, about 90" of rain per year and very minor issues so far. One thing, after reading all the above complaints, may be do to the foundation the home was put on. we surveyed the placement of our home first and had quality contractors pour a thick solid cement foundation. We also had "tie downs" put on our home. The "skirting" is decorative cinder blocks with well made vents all around the house. 10 years now and no breaches from animals (we live in rural area). Our "pad" is like brand new and the heavy plastic? lining the bottom of our home is like new as well. I am grateful. I imagine having a contractor that put in the correct foundation for our home, as well as the other above mentioned items/details, has prevented many of the above mentioned issues. On that note, I do want to say, the windows are not the best of quality, but are still working well and our home is very energy efficient. As to the carpet, we had bamboo (real) wood flooring and quality baseboards to match, put in everywhere, except for the 2 bedrooms. The carpet is cheap, but lasted about 9 years.

I am re sending this as I should have proofread my prior opinion!I cannot begin to tell you the nightmare Karsten has been. I guess I can't say much right now until the attorney advises me but when a home inspector tells me it's a good thing I never tried to turn on my fireplace because it was never hooked up - in other words should I have tried to start it the inspector said I'd have blown the place up or asphyxiated myself /-written report sent and numerous calls to Karsten yet they refuse to fix it - That and numerous severe problems / the home inspector shocked at this safety issue among other things yet Karsten won't even call me back -and won't come out- I bought this place 1 year ago/ one of the biggest mistakes in my life- anyone else have severe pest damage from Karsten's failure to fumigate? I'dsure like to know- what huge disappointment and major stressor - never would have believed anyone could get away with this and refuse to respond when calling for help-I would give Karsten negative stars but that isn't an option so I'm saying one star - I was so excited to buy my brand new mobile home/ way a. sad story this is- more than I can even say right now. There must be a support group for people who have bought a mobile home from Karsten- let me know if there is!

Not happy ! We purchased our home in May 2015 and their service is horrible new home not lived in doors won't open properly , bubbles under the flooring , counter tops have bubbles . my shower isn't even finished many appointments with no shows , call after call no return calls and many complaints . Attorney time !

We were very excited when we purchased our home. Watching the process it seemed everyone knew there stuff Then problems with the house. Many problems. Start with the roof. All the dormers leaked including my ceiling caving in. Rick Torgerson set someone out to fix it and admitted there was a problem but it was never fixed properly. When i asked when they were going to fix it correctly he said I was on my own the warranty has expired. They admitted something was wrong, sent someone out to fix it, while still under warranty, didn't fix it properly, and I'm stuck with the problem. Many switches have been replaced, rotted floors fixed, doors rehung to square. I had 2 broken/defective windows that have been looked at to be bad no one wants to fix. And to top it all Rick is just down right rude. Its to bad. it is a nice home to look at, has a great floor plan and the price was right. But Rick will not see through fixing problems and doesn't care if its right or wrong to do so. I suggest you shop homes very closely when purchasing. If you go with Karsten put $10,000 aside for repairs. there not going to do.

We bought our home in 2005. As far as the workmanship we love our home. But for the customer service we have had it is very poor. We have been trying to get some help with our cabinet hinges. We have had to purchase replacement hinges because the doors are too heavy for the factory installed ones. We have talked to Rick serveral times, sent him pictures and no response from him or anyone in customer service.

Don't trust Karsten Homes. Once they have your money, you will never hear from them again. They sell Clayton Homes under their brand name "Karsten" (which are junk). We spent $100,000 on ours, and it's nothing more than an over-priced packing crate. It's filled with issues they will not address. Charged for things we did not receive. Total waste of money.

Honestly I could have built a better home in the dark. It is a 2005 villa double wide 1735 sqft. Most of the plastic plumbing fittings have started leaking, major job replacing them. Major damage to kitchen sub-floor from leaking fitting in the wall. Found 2x6 floor joist on 21" centers running parallel with side rails, they should be transverse on 16" centers, particleboard sub-floor not good. Light switches locate in strange places not easy to find near the doors. The frames around the windows started rotting the balusters around the deck have also started rotting even two of the rails have split. The shelf in the closet in the master bedroom came crashing down at night scaring the hell out of my wife. The brackets the used to hold the shelf are ok but they missed every stud in the wall for installation. Karsten said we are on our own because we are not the original owners, the second owners. We joke this must have been built on a Friday night and the crew was in a hurry to go to a party. Oh-yea we have found out that several Karsten homes in this park have had same type of problems. We are in the market for new home and will not be a Karsten aka Claayton, also we are going to demand some input during the construction.

2002 McKenzie model. Generally good quality, but had to replace the roof after five years. HUD spec needs to be changed so that real roofing underlayment is used in all areas. I sent them (now Clayton) a note, and got a nice understanding reply, but that was all. Oh yeah, forgot... they roofed right over a plumbing stack vent (which, then, vented into the attic).

we bought our home in 2004 winter and it was completed in Jan 2005 and had to wait a month for someone to do inspection no one ever came we final had move in or live on the street the house was not level and were told someone would come out and 8 years later still not level and no one ever contacted us. No SERVICE IF ITS BROKE YOU HAVW TO FIX IT THERE IS NO WARANTEe

We have had problems from day one, it took longer than it was supposed to, to get into our home, when we finally moved in everything began to break, windows were leaking, my faucets fell apart, etc.. by the time the repairman would get out to fix these things, there excuse was the warranty was out, when all these problems were reported before the warranty. The manager was very hateful and rude. Our home leaks between the doorway where the home is put together, there is a big crack in the middle of my cieling. Another thing they didn't do was connect the vents in the living area, but there excuse is the warranty is out, I believe that was part of building the home, where was the inspector? I have been asked by many people about the quality and service and I tell people the truth because I don't want them to go through what my husband and I are going through, we are having a hard time repairing all these problems that "Karstens" should have taken care of.

We purchased a Karsten Home 2 years ago and have had nothing but difficulty with having repairs made. Shoddy workmanship and lack of customer service. Do not buy a Karsten home as they do not back their claim as providing excellent customer service and materials.

Our 2005 Karsten 28x60 double with 14x26 pod all on solid 4" pad has leaked through all valleys causing mold in walls, had to leave home, and also needs complete new roof 2005 Karsten Home falls completly apart with no help from Karsten, and never received $1500.00 refund for upgrade carpet never put in. Lots of nice pictures of home falling apart but nothing nice to show. What is with the 10 tear warrenty, They estimate this 2005 has been leaking about 2 years, so wow it lasted 5 whole years.

Picking the model was easy. Picking the colors and options was fun. The service department from Karsten Homes in Albany, Oregon was incredibly nice, easy to deal with and highly expertised. We absolutely love it inside and out, and our new home is where we now hold all of our family gatherings.

I bought the McKenzie model because the floor plan was the best I could find in the manufatured home market. I had a good experience with the dealer that sold me my unit. They sold their dealership not long after I bought my home so some of the promises made were not followed through with but that does not reflect on Karsten. I have built homes before so I know that the quality of construction in the Karsten home is better than what you will typically find in stick -built homes. I have never had a new home where there weren't problems of some kind and that includes this home. Unlike with a stick-built home Karsten provides a service center to help with hard-to-find parts and they are helpful. I think I will purchase more Karsten homes in the future.

Wow after reading some of these reviews I had to post my experience with our Karsten home. We bought it the summer of 06. There was no way we could afford to build 2080 sq ft. of house stick built. For the same money it would have been 1200 if we were lucky and it would have been a cookie cutter type home at that. Also it was only a couple of months from demo of old house to moving into our new one. We only had a couple minor warranty issues that were taken care of timely. The drywall hasn't had any cracking. The cabinetry hardware is a bit subpar, but once realized I made a permanent repair myself. The issues that some have had could have been experienced with "stick built" buiders also. We were impressed with the open floor plans and the large master suite. Over all we have been happy with our Karsten home.

Very unhappy. From Day 1. Nothing but problems. The carpeting I loved - a light silver grey - BUT it evidently was not layed right as it is "bubbling" all over. If I spot clean and after "rubbing" in the cleaner, when it dries it is bubbled more. It lookes terrible. Dealer refused to do anything since it had been a year at the time I first notified them, and it is 2-1/2 years now and it looks horrid. Where do you get your employees? I think a person off the street could have layed it better. Very, very disappointed. Since I am on SS there is no way I could afford someone to come in and replace the carpet. Might just have to cut the "bubble" area and hand stitch it back together to lay flat. It is the entire home that is this way and only my husband & I living in it and we are nigh into our 80s. Is this typical of your homes and your employees??

After the set up of the Home our contractor was let go by Karsten.. the repair guy showed up over a year later and left. Never to comlete the work.. Not Happy with the Home

Love the home... but, we have argued for a year to fix issues, the carpet padding sat for 2 years or so and so it cracks all over and no one will fix it. Tim at Karsten in Stayton is inconsiderate and does not care once you have purchased the home. They got their money so who cares. It takes moving heaven and earth to accomplish anything. So much for quality promise. The drawers in the kitchen are made with plastic parts and continually break.. they just keep giving us parts, paint is water based you cant wash walls, the tile falls off the edge of the counters, the lenolium has cracks in it they cant fix, the outside paint has major flaws and originaly was promised they would fix it when the house was repainted to cover up the ends where the house came together and yet they only pained the ends and gave us the paint to do the rest ourselves. Beware.

I moved into a 2 year old Karsten home in 2002 when I bought a small ranch with the home already in place. Let it be said I didn't buy the property for the house that came with it.
I give Karsten a 1-star rating because zero stars wasn't an option. Being in the construction and design profession for 30 some years, I consider Karsten homes to be built by unqualified workers, of substandard methods and materials, for unwary consumers. Everything about it screams "CHEAP"!
Outlet boxes, can lights and HVAC registers look like they were cut in with dynamite, floors squeak, walls crack (I don't think there's a straight stud in the house), windows and doors leak. Drywall fit and finish were of the lowest quality. Roof shingles were improperly installed (exposed staples). Had to replace half the siding and trim because of waterproofing issues (and we're talking central coast of California. We don't get huge amounts of rain here.) I think the unit is more caulk than lumber or drywall.
Bottom line: I wouldn't take another Karsten home if you paid me.
There are plenty of other manufacturers out there who build a decent home. Do some homework before you buy.

I love the floorplan of my home...and that's where it ends. We bought our Karsten modular home in 2005 and have been greatly disappointed in the quality of our home. Despite a 10 year warranty, our roof leak is a "maintenance issue" and "no longer under warranty". This, despite the fact that these leaks have been ongoing since we moved in and was reported long before this "warranty" was up. After multiple attempts to get repairs completed, Karsten sent guys up to do a "quick fix" patch job, only to have the leaks start up yet again with the next heavy rain or snow.

The last time they sent out their repairmen was in 2007...their best patch-job yet! However, with the heavy rains this weekend (September 2010) the roof is again leaking! Not in one place either, over every window/light fixture/ceiling that has the drains where the water from the roof drains after running along the parapit wall! Horrible roof design.

Each time repairmen were supposed to come, they were hours late or didn't call or show up. Not to mention that it took considerable effort to actually get in touch with somebody that could arrange for repairmen to come out. We missed tons of work and wasted a great deal of our own paid leave to sit at home waiting for workers that didn't have the courtesy to show up or call!

The roof is just the most pressing issue. The seam lines are extremely visible and you can feel the "splitting" of the floor at the seam under your feet when you walk across the house. The house does not sit level. The doors are not square and have significant air leaks. (You can clearly see light through ALL of my exterior doors because they don't seal/close properly.) The interior seams on the sheetrock/tape & texture has peeled/cracked in several places requiring repair. I had to replace the water heater immediately following the 1 year warranty period. The windows are of a very poor quality. The floor squeaks and the carpet is also lifting where it wasn't laid well at all seams.

Although the floor plan was great and it is very spacious the quality of the materials and the poor workmanship leave much to be desired. Karsten doesn't seem to back their product or to "make things right" when these problems are brought to light. I am absolutely disgusted with this company and their utterly pathetic claims to offer any type of customer service.

I will never purchase a Karsten home again and I will try to save anyone I can from making the same mistake that we did.

I bought my MH Karsten in 2005 but didn't move in until 2006 (had to work another year) I was in CA and the home was in OR. There was one major problem that I had a difficult time getting fixed. After sending a letter to the Prez of the company with pics and a threat of legal action, it was finally done to my satisfaction. Most things were no problem. However, moving in after a year cut down on repairs that were "no longer covered". This is my first MH and overall I am satisfied with it. For the price, Karsten is very good and I would buy another

Karsten Home have a 10 year warranty. Sounds great until you try to get something fixed. We had a stream of water coming in one window when ever it rained. The floor also had a terrible squeaked. We were told that someone would call within 2 weeks to set up an appointment to come fix it. 3 month later and a letter to the BBB they finally called and set up an appointment. The day of the appointment they called and can celled due to weather. Said they would call within 2 weeks to set up another appointment. After another month and another letter to the BBB they came out. They fixed the leak but said they needed parts to fix the floor. They'd call within 2 weeks. No sup rise - they never called. I then started leaving voice mail to Mr. Karsten who finally came through and sent someone out to fix the floor - no parts were needed - they simply went in the crawl space and tightened the bolts. That was 5 years ago and the floor hasn't squeaked since.
First wind we had some shingles came off the roof. Called Karsten - they sent me a copy of the warrant for the shingles. I called a roofer who came out and said that it wasn't the shingles, it was the installation. I called Karsten and told them what the roofer said - never heard back from them.
The outside doors are NOT weather tight - you can see daylight around the edges. Had to install storm doors to keep the weather out. This was a trick since the door frames weren't square.
The walls are wavy - found this out when installing shelves. Stud on the interior walls are 24 in apart.
No toilet paper holder or towel rods - told they were an option - we had an option list - they weren't on the list.
The office has an entry from the foyer and one from the bedroom. This was the standard configuration. Only one light switch. If you enter from the bedroom you have to walk across the room to the other door and flip the switch.
Minimum number of outlets. Average one per wall. The office has 4 walls and 4 outlets. I need to pug in my computer, monitor, printer, phone, fax, table lamp, etc....
The family room - one outlet per wall. I have a TV, satellite, DVD and Wii on one wall - but only one outlet.
There are 24 windows and the hardware in them is breaking making it impossible to open and close them - cheapest things on the market.

Bought a Mackenzie floor plan (mfg home)in 2007.Opted to stretch 8' instead of an 8'porch.Love the floor plan, hate the house. Nothing but problems since day 1.Supposed to be EnergyStar rated, but the energy star paperwork in my folder was for the ORIGINAL (unstretched floor plan), and NOT for MY floorplan. All electric, power bills have been consistently well over $300/mo (only 2 of us in the house, and we are only home nights/wknds!)Warping wall studs (several which were bad enough that they had to remove sheetrock/exterior siding, cut the studs out and replace them), cracks too numerous to mention (several have been "patched" by their contractors, but have cracked out again in the same spots!Customer service is horrible, and the QC leaves alot to be desired.We have filed formal complaints with our state Building/Safety, and have just had the state out to do an energy audit (the factory wanted a second opinion: we already had one done by power company contractor. House leaks air horribly. Should have went with a Fleetwood

My wife and i bought our Karsten almost ten years ago. We love our home and at the price we paid for 2018 sq. ft. of energy star rated home, we could not stick built 1000 sq.ft. We had very little problems with it and the few we did were repaired very fast!

We have had our Karsten Home for over 5 years in Western WA -we have rain, snow, and cold temps. Our home is warm, dry, attractive and receives compliments from local construction experts. We love our home. The Karsten factory in OR provided us with helpful information when we wanted to add a skylight and they have been honest all along the path. I would recommend this home to anyone!

me and my wife spent at least 2 years if not more looking for a modeler home in new mexico. after looking at 4 of the top modeler builders in abq,nm. we found the karsten to be the top. there model home's where all mobile and not modeler ,which meant lower steel frame rating then the modeler one. i am 300 lbs. and my wife is over 200,with both of us jumping up and down hard there was no give in the floor and the house was not even tied down like it would be on your lot.the bass price was 110k for the home delivered on are lot. the sell person was very nice and helpful, he add all of the upgrade we wanted and work with us to get some upgrade they did not offer,we are talking about adding french doors ,extra walk in closet,two jacuzzi tubs, all wold floor,and a kitchen that could have been in a 1million $ home. we both cook. 2 ac and heating units for the house .the walk in panther was the size of a reg bathroom . we where given the ability to visit the build at any time ,it was built in abq,nm.at there plant there . the other Mobil home builder we look at where not as finished in side and the floor would flex as you walk on them. the total for the home was much higher then the bass but we had a lot of upgrade. they wanted 240k.but after looking at the cost of the upgrade we cut the price down by having then leave some thing out and we jobbed them out are self. the kitchen being jobbed out saved 40k,the flooring saved 25k,cant remember the ac&heating price but we saved a lot.the counter top where changed from solid granite to 12x12 tile of granite do to lay out was 8k.we saved 90k off the cost that way.it made it harder to do and if we did not look at the price of every thing then they would have made a nice profit ,but they did not hide any thing up front all they .nothing wrong with making $you have to look out your self. every thing they had a high mark up on was time we add that was not on there regular build,so you pay for it. but they only charged 100$ to add a 10' by 30'finshed walk in closet to a room that is cheap.so the price want from 110 to 150. it was a very nice home wish we still had it .

I live in a Karsten home that was built in the New Mexico factory. I searched for 2 years before I bought. On a cost per sq foot basis the house is unbeatable. Stick built quality, trailer pricing. I'm very happy with my choice. (I own a MHP, so I know trailers.) Karsten = 5*

Warranty work took to long to set up, and some repairs were not what you would expect after paying 95,000 for a house,I could go on but there isn't room. not a happy camper

after 6 months of research we thought karsten was the right choise then we went to nelmstar to start buying one got no responce with them went to clayton and got lied and mislead for 3 months now we are back to looking again but we will never deal with clayton again thanxs karsten for getting our hopes up to send us to the wolfs