Grouped by category. Click any question to expand the answer. If you don't see your question, send us a request — usually answered same business day.
The PFGMH certification is an engineering report stating the home's foundation meets HUD's Permanent Foundations Guide — a technical statement about structural permanence. The Affidavit of Affixation is a notarized sworn statement declaring the home is permanently affixed to the real estate, citing the state statute that effects the conversion.
You usually need both. PFGMH proves the foundation is permanent; the Affidavit declares the legal conversion. The recorder records the Affidavit; the title insurer relies on the PFGMH; the lender relies on both. Detail on both documents →
The Affidavit is the recorded document. Book and page numbers issue against it. The PFGMH cert lives in the closing file for the title insurer's underwriting and the lender's loan file — it doesn't get walked to the recorder.
This sometimes confuses first-time files because the PFGMH is the longer, more technical document. The technicality lives in the closing file; the public legal event lives in the Affidavit.
Yes. This comes up on refinances where the home was previously affixed and the title was already surrendered, but a fresh PFGMH is needed for refi underwriting. About 6% of our 2025 files were PFGMH-only.
Conversely, Affidavit-only orders are rare (~2% of 2025) — usually title-insurance corrections where the affixation already happened but the original Affidavit miscited the statute or got rejected for formatting and was never re-filed. Bundle detail →
Both, by default. Sealed PDFs delivered to the closing file carry digital PE seal with cryptographic signature. Wet-ink originals walked to the recorder carry the physical embossed seal plus signature.
Most counties accept digitally-sealed PDFs for recording — but a handful still require wet-ink originals. We default to producing both, so the original is always available if the recorder requires it.
The cert is current as of the inspection date. There's no formal expiration — but title insurers sometimes request a fresh PFGMH on a refi if the original is more than 3–5 years old, on the theory that foundations can deteriorate.
The Affidavit, by contrast, doesn't expire — once recorded, the legal conversion is permanent unless someone formally reverses it (extremely rare, requires physically removing the home from the foundation).
Five business days from intake to recorded instrument. One business day per stage: intake/quote → field visit → drafting → sealing/notarization → recording. Stages can overlap when scheduling permits; the timeline above is the worst-case standard.
Rush tier delivers in 3 business days for a 40% surcharge on the engineering fee. Full timeline detail →
Either way works. Default: sealed PDFs and wet-ink originals delivered to your office; your team walks them to the recorder. Concierge: we walk them ourselves and return recorded copies (book and page) to your file.
For flagship counties (those marked ★ on the coverage page) concierge is included at the standard fee — we're already walking files there multiple times per week. For non-flagship counties, concierge adds a small courier line item.
Recorded sealed PDF (with the recorder's stamp and book/page) lands in your file within 24 hours of recording via secure email or your closing-software portal. Wet-ink original with the recorder's stamp returns by mail within 24 hours of recording.
Email us directly. Same-day filings have happened — flagship-county, foundation already known to comply with PFGMH from prior inspection, all logistics pre-coordinated. The constraint is field-visit access; if the seller's agent can confirm same-day key access before noon, we can sometimes make it work.
Same-day rush carries a 100% surcharge and isn't guaranteed until field access is confirmed.
Seven active: Missouri (primary,, since 2019), Arkansas (№ 22-148-PE), Illinois (№ 062-071882), Kansas (№ 27815), Iowa, Nebraska, and Indiana.
If your county is in MO, AR, IL, KS, IA, NE, or IN — yes. Coverage is statewide across all seven active states. The flagship counties marked ★ on the coverage page are the ones where we file weekly; non-flagship counties add one extra day to the first-time filing timeline while we verify recorder formatting.
If your county is outside our active states, we can often refer you to a PE colleague in your state through a national engineering network. Email us directly with the property address.
Yes — Iowa licensed. Nebraska and Indiana are also active via NCEES comity. Iowa · Nebraska · Indiana active.
Submit the request form with the property address and recording county — we'll confirm coverage and return a quote same business day.
Depends on county (recording fees differ), bundle (PFGMH + Affidavit vs PFGMH alone), and turnaround (standard vs rush). Most standard MO / AR / IL / KS bundles fall within a typical PE structural pricing range — within the ballpark of what title companies budget for a structural engineering line item on the settlement statement.
Submit the request form with the property address and target close. Written quote returned same business day, with line-item breakdown of engineering fee, recording fee, and any courier or rush surcharges.
Three tiers based on rolling four-quarter file count: Standard (4–9 files/quarter, 10% off retail engineering fee), Preferred (10–24/qtr, 15% off), Enterprise (25+/qtr, 22% off plus operational concessions).
No application, no contract, no commitment. Tier qualification is automatic based on volume — you'll get a notification when your tier shifts up. Partner program detail →
By default, we invoice the closing — not your office. The fee rolls onto the settlement statement as a line item ("PE foundation cert & affixation affidavit") and gets paid out of escrow at closing. No separate invoice to your AP, no chasing payment after a recorded conversion.
For files where escrow billing isn't workable (cash sales, estate work, refi without escrow), we'll invoice the requesting party directly with standard net-30 terms.
Generally no — at least not for FHA, USDA, or most conventional financing. Pre-1976 homes (built before the HUD code took effect) typically can't satisfy the PFGMH requirement, which means the foundation cert fails, which means the affixation package isn't bankable for real-property financing.
For cash sales or estate work where the purpose is just real-property conversion (not financing), it's occasionally still feasible — county and statute dependent. Email us with particulars; we'll indicate feasibility before quoting.
The DMV title needs to be surrendered as part of the affixation — otherwise the home would carry both a chattel certificate and a real-property deed, which is what the recorder is trying to prevent. Our Affidavit references the surrender (or pending surrender). You or the borrower files the surrender separately with the DMV.
In Missouri, this is Form 5170. We can include the DMV cover sheet in the package if your office prefers to handle surrender simultaneously. Per-state surrender form references →
We tell you — in writing, with photos and specific findings — what would have to change to bring the foundation into compliance. Common deficiencies are addressable: insufficient pier footings can be re-poured, missing skirting can be added, drainage can be regraded.
Once remediation is done, we revisit and re-certify. About 8% of our 2025 foundations needed remediation before certifying; all of them ultimately certified after the corrections. Escalation detail →
Yes — and it's common. Heirs inheriting a manufactured home often need to convert it to real property before selling, both to broaden the buyer pool (real-property mortgages reach more buyers than chattel loans) and to clean up the title chain.
The mechanics are the same as any other affixation, but the requesting party is usually the estate attorney rather than a title officer. Quote billing goes through the estate; we work the file the same way.
Rare — but it does happen. Reversal (de-affixation) requires physically removing the home from the foundation, and filing a corrective instrument at the county. We can draft the corrective instrument if the home has been physically removed.
The much more common scenario is a corrective Affidavit on a previously-affixed home where the original Affidavit miscited the statute, omitted required information, or got rejected for formatting and was never re-filed. That's an Affidavit-only order (no new PFGMH needed unless the foundation has changed).
Our P.E. is a Professional Engineer licensed in Missouri with active reciprocal licensure in Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and Indiana. B.S. Civil Engineering from Missouri S&T (2008); P.E. since 2019; focused on manufactured housing since 2014.
Scapular Engineering, LLC was founded in 2018. Every PFGMH certification and every Affidavit of Affixation in this network is signed and sealed by our P.E. personally. Full credentials →
Related but distinct. The FHA structural inspection is the umbrella document for FHA underwriting on a manufactured home — covers six requirements including PFGMH. PFGMH certification alone is the foundation portion. Affidavit of Affixation is the legal-conversion document.
FHA file? Order the FHA structural inspection through Midwest FHA Inspect. Title conversion / real-property mortgage / refi? Order the PFGMH + Affidavit bundle here.
Send us a request — same-business-day response on every inbound. Or call the office line during business hours.
Submit the address, the recording county, the target close. Acknowledgment within an hour. Quote same business day. Recorded within five business days — and the title officer chases none of it.