The dream began more than three years ago, when Vince and Stephanie Scuderi wanted to build their ideal house on the 12 acres in Gaithersburg that Stephanie’s parents had purchased in 1985.
Housing construction was hot three years ago. Like so many other families in 2004, they planned to sell their home in Derwood to help finance the dream house. The Scuderis were eager for a spacious home to raise their 2-year-old daughter, Olivia, and for space for their yellow Labrador and Great Pyrenees dogs, five sheep, 40 goats, 20 chickens, one ‘‘retired” horse, two Shetland ponies they board and tropical fish.
Stephanie asked her father if they could carve out a second home site on the vacant land where they already kept some farm animals, in addition to one home site her parents had there. Vince said he was not comfortable asking for his in-laws’ home site, and so the two proceeded with permitting, testing and surveying a second site. But planning, engineering and selecting a house design lasted into the recent housing market collapse.
Like other home dreamers, they adjusted.
Then last month, their modular home was delivered and assembled. Suddenly, the Scuderis could visualize their homestead. Like Old West pioneers, facing tough odds, they had persevered.
The Scuderis purchased a 3,200-square-foot modular house from North American Housing Corp. of Frederick for $300,000. The entire price tag, with driveway, water and septic service, out-buildings for their farm animals and more, is running about $560,000. They couldn’t sell their current house in today’s market, and have rented it to help pay for the construction. Vince’s job as an electrician for the Architect of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., is paying the bills, while the family stays with his mother.
Stephanie runs the family’s gift and collectibles store, Mixed Emotions, in nearby Redland. She drives over to the homestead twice a day, including an early morning run with Olivia before school to feed their animals. Vince summed up the extended homestead experience simply: ‘‘My wife is the backbone.”
It’s all taken much longer than they expected. But with modular home construction, they expect to move in by May 1, compared with six months to a year that a conventional stick house would have taken to build.
‘‘The housing market is bad, so I’m on a real tight budget, because we can’t sell the house. I’m squeezed tight as a bone, but I’m gonna make it,” Scuderi said. ‘‘Even the finance guy said, ‘You’re crazy,’ as we kept working on this project.” They have financing from Benning & Associates in Gaithersburg.
The Scuderis insist on local companies for everything.
‘‘I wanted local contractors even though I had cheaper prices [from others]. But if problems come up later, they are 20 minutes away. And we want people shopping at our store. I should put money into the contractors that are close. Contractors are starving right now,” Scuderi said. He said two or three people visit the site each day, trying to sell their services or products, such as windows, shower doors and roofing.
The Scuderis selected their home design in a North American catalog and paid 20 percent down to get the blueprints. The house is customized to their specifications, including a large garage and spacious porches.
As an electrician, Scuderi said he could have acted as the general contractor. Instead he hired Jimmy Dean of Unique Construction, a hometown company in Derwood.
‘‘I went into this project very strapped for money, yes. But would I do it again? In a heart beat. The joy I see in Stephanie and Olivia, the bond they have with the animals, is great. I feel kids are being lost these days in front of the TV.”
