Skirting alternative

[Jennifer Bayhi Gennaro]

Happy New Year, everyone. My husband and I are fairly new to the mobile home realm, but bought six trailers in the last half of 2014. We are almost at full occupancy, but ran into an unforeseen startup cost. We had a trailer moved to a park, then found out we had to have the trailer raised to comply with new floodplain regulations (all but one other trailer in the park were "grandfathered in," so it's not something that would have been easily noticed). We spent $1500 more (after moving costs!) to have it elevated, and it's now about five feet off the ground. Now we have to install stairs and skirting, and the skirting cost is double what we encountered on a previous fix. Which brings me to my question(s): does anyone know of a more cost-effective solution to common vinyl skirting, and is it necessary to build a wood frame around the trailer then install the skirting to it? We got a quote from a highly qualified mobile home repairman for $3100 for skirting and stairs, and he planned to build a fence around the perimeter then install the skirting to it. Thanks for your advice.