With there being literally 1000′s of different modular home designs from well over 150 different modular home manufacturers on the market today it can be almost impossible to compare two different modular home manufacturers properly -  side by side in a true features and benefits comparison. This post explores some of the comparison criteria that you might consider in your review process.

Lets being by looking at some of the major “components” that are going to be common to all modular homes and explore the various options for each.

Available Floorplans

Most new home buyers would consider the “floorplan” as the first and perhaps most important factor when comparing homes, but somewhat counter intuitively it is just not that big an issue with today’s modular construction.

Most established modular home manufacturers will have literally hundreds of standard floorplan for you to choose from and if you decide that you really like a particular manufacturer but they dont offer a floorplan you like they can usually have a custom plan designed specifically for your needs.

And keep in mind that general contractor will be able to perform some complimentary site built construction eg add a garage or porch if it is not included with the modular home.

Modular Home Foundation Requirements

Every home needs good foundation, modular homes are no exception. The foundation for your modular home will generally be constructed by the builder you select as your general contractor and may be of the following configurations – crawl space, full basement, or raft raft slab

As a general rule of thumb a finished full basement will significantly increase your available square footage and therefore your final appraisal value.

The Roof

The first step in roof selection is to determine the roof pitch you require.  The roof pitch will affect many aspects of the house design – If you plan to use the roof area for storage, then you will need to specify that to the manufacturer who will in all likelyhood use a special storage truss configuration as opposed to the standard web truss which does not lend itself to usable storage space.

Modular Home Walls

Most modular home manufacturers use wooden 2  x 6  studs in the wall construction.  2 x6 studs are quickly becoming an unofficial industry standard as they are significantly stronger than 2 x 4 studs.

These larger stud sizes also provide for more room to include extra insulation and allow the use of thicker drywall used generally it ranges from 1/2 inch to 7/8 inches.

Many modular manufacturers have also recently switched to a relatively new “manufactured” wood product called  OSB (oriented strand board) in place of plywood.

OSB is similar to plywood in that is uses alternating wood veeners but it is formed under high pressure and used a waterproof glue adhesive to create a durable and cost effective product.

Modular Home Floors

Most modular home manufacturers use wooden 2 x 8 or 2 x 10 studs for floor construction. The floors can be created using traditional floor joists or more recently we have been seeing an increase in the construction of floor “trusses”

These floor trusses are not only cheaper to build but with the associated increase in strength are able to provide for larger room sizes.

Windows

There are four main options when it comes to house windows for you to consider –   they are aluminum framed, vinyl framed, wooden framed and the new “energy efficient” windows.

Wooden window frames are generally considered more attractive by home owners however using either aluminum or vinyl windows provides you with the advantage that the window frames are effectively maintenance free over the life of the building – ie they will never need painting.

The top of the line in windows today are offering a dual pane of glass ( similar to double glassing ) but the space in between the panes is filled with argon gas ( or similar ) these windows are know as low e – for their energy efficient properties.

Energy Efficiency

Building an energy efficient home will increase the cost of your home. There is no denying that. It will also more than cover the expense in a few years with its cost savings. Be smart and make sure your builder offers all of these upgrades. The attic should be very well insulated with R-38 insulation or better. It is also very useful to install an attic fan. The attic fan will help remove the hot air that is trapped in the attic during summer, greatly reducing your air conditioning costs. The exterior walls should have R-19 or higher insulation and be surrounded by a housewrap. The housewrap will protect the home from rainwater leaking through the siding. More importantly, it will prevent air infiltration. The type of housewrap is not very significant; don’t worry about the brand. Worry about making sure they use a housewrap. Reducing air infiltration will make it easier to keep the warmth inside during cold winters and keep the air conditioning inside during hot summers. The interior walls do not need insulation, but premium modular builders add it to help soundproof the rooms. This is very useful if you have small children that you want to be asleep as you are downstairs entertaining in the dining room. It is even more important if you have noisy teenagers and you want to watch tv undisturbed in your room. The windows should be the new low ?e? windows. These windows are double paned to provide energy efficiency. They are more expensive but well worth it. Another good treat for you is a tankless water heater. A tankless water heater uses electricity to instantly heat the water on demand to the exact temperature desired. You no longer need to heat a 20 gallon tank of water 24 hours a day. You can better control the water temperature with a tankless system.

Guarantees and Warranties

Since you are making one of the biggest investments of your life, it is very reassuring to know it comes with a solid warranty. Many of the individual products such as shingles, siding and faucets will have warranties from their manufacturers. But what you want is a warranty on the workmanship and structural stability of the home. This is commonly provided by modular manufacturers because it is a very safe bet by the manufacturer. Since the home was constructed in a factory with quality control teams making sure it was built properly, the modular home manufacturer feels very comfortable offering warranties. Not all warranties are the same. Some are offered directly by the manufacturer. This is acceptable if the manufacturer is backed by a large corporation that is not likely to go out of business. But if the manufacturer is a smaller, family-owned business, it is safer to have a third party back the warranty. Also, find out how many years the workmanship is covered (usually 1-5 years) and how long the structural warranty is (usually 5-10 years). This will help you be able to sleep better.

Transportation Requirements

An often overlooked consideration is the distance from the factory to the building site that your modular home must be transported.

All modular home components will be placed under stressed during this  transportation, and despite being “overengineered” to account for these stresses it is best to minimize the travel distance.

Minimal Use of Skilled Resources

Following on from our previous post about the the convergence of advantages of constructing a modular home this post explores how building a modular home supports the minimal use of valuable resources.

Resources have always been finite and so naturally as thier availability  declines it is expected that costs associated with their consumption rise.

It has been demonstrated that modular homes are very efficient in the use of all of the  various resources that are need to build a home including skilled labor, actual construction materials, the conversation of “energy” as well as perhaps the most valuable of all resources our time.

The construction business is a business sector and with all business sectors the world is moving towards greater and greater level of specialization. In order to meet ever growing demands of new technologies, design, building codes etc there is an ever growing need for specialist sub-contractors.  Unfortunately the growing demand for expert subcontractors is outpacing their supply.  This causes many problems for site built construction both in delays in the project that occur due to waiting for a subcontractor to become available and in the increased costs these skilled personal command.

And whilst it is true that the costs associated with the engagement of these skilled tradesmen and contractors is the same for modular home construction on a per hour basis significant efficiencies can  be gained by having electricians, carpenters, plumbers,etc. engaged at the production facility on a full time basis.  Additional efficiencies are gained from construction in a factory since it is protected from the weather and elements allowing work to continue 7 days even 24 hours a day in some production environments.

Next post – Modular Homes are Environmental Responsible

Modular Home construction increased by almost 48% between 1992 and 2002 – An obvious question is why ? What events led to this explosive growth in popularity ?

This is a series of posts designed to explore the factors influencing the rapid growth of the Modular Home Industry today.

The housing market is an extremely complex and difficult to observe ecosystem and whenever significant change occurs, as in this case of rapid growth in the construction of  modular homes during this period, it is always because many factors converged in a complex series of relationships changing and influencing the “incumbent market”. ie there is never a “simple answer” to change like we are seeing in the market – no single event is ever totally responsible.

It does seem however rather fortuitously for the modular home industry that many factors influencing the housing market are currently point in a direction that favor its acceptance and continued growth.  Here are a few of the factors that are positively influencing the Industry:

1, Speed of Construction

It seems that society is becoming increasingly focused on speed, getting as much done in the shortest time possible, and a natural extension of this conversation is the efficient use of ones time.

As one would expect this obsession has carried across to the construction business after all time is money here too right and the faster a project can be finished and handed over the better for everyone involved, the owners and the builders.

Speed of construction is one area where modular homes have a huge advantage over traditional stick built homes. A Californian experiment pitted two home construction projects against each other, both similar designs one was to be stick built and the other as a modular home.

The modular home took 4 months to construct compared to 14 months for the traditional stick built home.

Of course this the time taken for the actual construction phase when we look at the total project time which includes design, engineering, and approval it took 10 months for the modular home and 21 months for the traditionally built home.

These types of performance figures seem to be supported by other reports and anecdotal evidence drawn from Industry websites supporting the claims of efficiency with which one can build using the modular home technique.

It is important to factor in the effect that this improvement in construction time has on the owners of the house in terms of the money saved with regard to finding temporaryt accomdation during the construction process.

Next post – Minimal use of Skilled Resources

Generally people first considering a Modular Home will begin their journey either by reviewing a specific home design that they have seen that that they like, or by starting at the other end of the process identifying a particular “Manufacturer” of Modular Homes and review their portfolio of designs looking for a design that may suit.

An alternative starting point for Modular Home Owners is to start with the Modular Home ” Builder” -  and even if you don’t start your journey here it is sound advice to at least be researching potential builders as early in the process as possible.

Now when we use the term Modular Home Builder, we are not referring to the Factory that will Manufacture the home but rather to the general building contractor that will be responsible for the installation of the home at your site.

The builder you choose will be the “co-ordinator” of your modular home building project. Ideally he will be helping you through the design stage, the assembly of the home, the finish work, and the post completion process.

In many regards this will be no different than if you where building a stick built home and as such it stands to reason that your builder needs to be someone you “trust” and are very comfortable working with.

Considering the actual modular home builder is very important in the selection because there are many specialist requirements to modular homes that your average general contractor may not have be exposed to if his focus is on typical “stick built” home construction.

One of the most demanding of these requirements is that of creating the footings and foundations of your new Modular Home. Some Modular Homes actually have quite specific requirements with regards to very accurate measurement and leveling to ensure that the design works as it was  intended – even small variations may result in an improper alignment of the individual modules and significant settling problems later on.

Another benefit of including the Modular Home Builder in your early review is that if you select a builder that is is very experienced in Modular Home construction they may have be able to introduce you to several additional  manufacturers that they that can recommend that you may not have been considering.

Choosing a Reputable Modular Home Builder

Whenever you engage a builder, you must ensure that you check out at least a handful of references. Many excited home buyers seem to get swept up in the excitement of the process and sometime forget to check references diligently. If I had to pick a single task that I would deem important in this whole process and was often over looked it would be this . . . .

Check his client references !

In the Modular Home Building Industry you should be looking for longevity and experience specifically with modular home construction. .

Asking for commercial referees is just common sense when choosing a builder, any builder but this is may be even more important if your considering building a modular home.

The terms ‘pre-fab homes’ and ‘modular homes’ are the cause of some confusion  – what exactly do they mean ?

What’s the Difference? Prefab versus Modular Homes

When talking about prefab versus modular homes, it’s not always an easy case of either/or. Both have the advantage of having the main home construction occurring in an indoor environment, out of the weather, and with labor-saving tools always at hand. This means no delays due to inclement weather, and no damage to materials from wind, rain or snow. Today there are also options for “green” building materials and features. But there are important differences also; some serious homework is in order when choosing from prefab versus modular homes.

A prefab home is any home built in an offsite factory, which is then delivered by truck to the home site, and assembled by a construction crew. The sort of prefab home known as a “manufactured home” (e.g., the “double-wide”) might share some similarities to mobile homes in construction and materials. Caution may be in order here, for these homes can lose value rapidly and financing can be a problem as well.

Prefab Home Versus Modular Home Construction

A modular home, on the other hand, is a type of prefab home which consists of a number of pieces which are transported to the building site, where they are then assembled. A crane might be required to lift pieces into place. A modular home is often hard to distinguish from a site-built home, and might receive the same treatment for financing.
Construction methods are on a par with those for site-built homes, but the assembly time will be much faster, saving time and money.

Whatever you choose, when considering prefab versus modular homes, be sure to check out your local zoning regulations first. Some communities may not allow all types of manufactured housing.