Building a home versus buying?

[Stimw]

As has been said, you need to look at Modular Homes, or Manufactured Homes (used to be called Mobile Homes).
I purchased a Manufactured Home last summer, totally custom ordered and built the way I wanted it for under $37. a sq.ft. delivered and set up!
I went to dealers web site and found a floor plan that was close to what I wanted then I printed two copies of it. I cut up one copy and put the rooms on top of the other copy the way I wanted it, made a copy of that and sent it to the dealer who sent it to the factory. They put it into CAD and I had my custom home! NO extra charge either because it was basically the same house, different plan.
I ordered Vaulted Ceiling, insulation package upgrade and upgraded kitchen cabinets for the under $37. sqft. price.
In your area you can probably even have it set on a basement.
They still do make the cheap looking MH's but my dealer has a much better product that looks like a real home with the higher quality. I bought a Jacobsen, they are made in Clearwater Fl. It has a Zone 2 Wind rating.

 

[David Devuono]

Interesting thread. I am planning the same thing. Heck I helped my Grandfather build a sleep camp and many addition's on the "cottage that jack build". He was 80 yrs old. I plan to retire on my 195 acres. Been living in homes that others have built all my life. Back in the mid 70s I started working nights and weekends after school and college with a custom home builder. Back then he was doing double 2x4 walls and triple pane windows. My plan is to build an strong energy efficient home into a hill side. It will be two storey Plus basement. Will have a master suite on the main floor for my Mom (and later on for DW and I). I am over 50 yrs old and go to the gym 3 days a week. I plan to build this home myself with a helper or two. Plan B is, the Daughter decides she wants to be a doctor and we buy a Modular home and put it on a basement foundation. Plan C is she drops out of University and I buy a bulldozer. Me bad.

 

[Fixemall]

I was in the same dilemma 3 years ago and hated the construction of every home I looked at(2x4) walls, cheap OSB roofs etc so I designed my home and built it to last forever but spent more money than I'll ever get out of it, no matter because I plan to be carried out in a bag.

 

[Stimw]

I will add that on the day that I gave the deposit my home was put into the factory schedule and 4 days later it was ready for delivery! It took me a month longer to get my stupid permits in place. They delivered the home the next day after I got the permits.
The new home also has 2" X 6" exterior walls and 2" X 4" interior walls.
I did keep the price down by pulling the electrical and plumbing permits and doing that work myself. Also brought in 10 loads of dirt for the pad which kept price down.

 

[Pete Judd]

I pit sunk a 66x28 "modular" home back in 97, and sometimes it can be a pain in the butt. I used 50 CY of concrete to set it on, and used cinder blocks for the skirting. The reason I did it over building a "stick built" home was the septic rules. The rules here are different for a stick built, vs modular are quite different. To change out a working septic system would have cost me another 20 grand.

 

[NorTracNY]

As has been said, you need to look at Modular Homes, or Manufactured Homes (used to be called Mobile Homes).
I purchased a Manufactured Home last summer, totally custom ordered and built the way I wanted it for under $37. a sq.ft. delivered and set up!
I went to dealers web site and found a floor plan that was close to what I wanted then I printed two copies of it. I cut up one copy and put the rooms on top of the other copy the way I wanted it, made a copy of that and sent it to the dealer who sent it to the factory. They put it into CAD and I had my custom home! NO extra charge either because it was basically the same house, different plan.
I ordered Vaulted Ceiling, insulation package upgrade and upgraded kitchen cabinets for the under $37. sqft. price.
In your area you can probably even have it set on a basement.
They still do make the cheap looking MH's but my dealer has a much better product that looks like a real home with the higher quality. I bought a Jacobsen, they are made in Clearwater Fl. It has a Zone 2 Wind rating.

OK, I'm actually glad you posted this. There is a big difference between a modular home and a manufactured (moble) home! I modular home can be built anywhere that the codes allow for stick built. They are built to the same codes and actually are often stronger since they need to handle the travel to the location. Modular homes can be two story and sit on a basement. I've never had anyone come into my home and know it was "delivered."

The advantages are that the workers show up every day at the factory to work. They don't have to travel to each job site and you never have to worry about them starting a job and then not coming back to finish for 3 weeks. The construction is done inside so you don't have to worry about 12" of snow or rain on your subfloor until your roof is put on.

The disadvantages are 2 that I came across. The shape of your house will be somewhat limited. Each "box" is transported separately. If you want a layout that has lots of bumps, you won't save money. The other limitation is that if you want a kitchen that goes across two "boxes" it would need to be installed onsite, therefore not saving you as much money.

 

[scoutcub]

OK, I'm actually glad you posted this. There is a big difference between a modular home and a manufactured (moble) home! I modular home can be built anywhere that the codes allow for stick built. They are built to the same codes and actually are often stronger since they need to handle the travel to the location. Modular homes can be two story and sit on a basement. I've never had anyone come into my home and know it was "delivered."

The advantages are that the workers show up every day at the factory to work. They don't have to travel to each job site and you never have to worry about them starting a job and then not coming back to finish for 3 weeks. The construction is done inside so you don't have to worry about 12" of snow or rain on your subfloor until your roof is put on.

The disadvantages are 2 that I came across. The shape of your house will be somewhat limited. Each "box" is transported separately. If you want a layout that has lots of bumps, you won't save money. The other limitation is that if you want a kitchen that goes across two "boxes" it would need to be installed onsite, therefore not saving you as much money.

I've given some thought to modulars, and will continue to consider them for the future. Seen some vey nice ones.

 

[Obed]

If your largest investment in your life decreases in value over time, your financial situation is in trouble.

I had a friend who had a 1 1/2 storey modular home. I had no idea his house was modular until he sold it and told me it was modular. I had visited the house many times and could not tell any difference between it and a stick built house.

When building our stick built house, I discovered that very few of our subs knew the building codes. None of them owned the building codes book and I doubt any of them had ever read a line out of the building codes book. We bought a building codes book and learned more about the building codes than the subs and probably more than the county inspector.

I now have a new respect for modular houses. A modular home has a better chance of being built to code than a stick built home in my opinion because the modular house workers are building the same building over and over and learn how to know how to handle the issues surrounding that particular house design.

On the other hand, there is the "perception" of quality of stick built vs. everything else. The cheap double-wides that are built with the same materials and standards of single-wide trailers hurts people's "perception" of the modulars. The differences between a modular home, manufactured home, double-wide, and a "trailer" are very fuzzy. There seems to be no established, agreed upon standards that define which is which.

Trailers ALL depreciate in value. A modular home will depreciate in value if potential buyers "perceive" it to be a double-wide, whether or not it really is a double-wide (whatever a double-wide is).

Because of the depreciation factor, if I were to build/buy a modular home, it would have to look nothing like a double-wide. Inside and out, the house would have to be indistinguishable from a stick-built house. The only way you could know it was a modular house would be if you looked at the land deed.

 

[Western]

There are, (or was) a few national home builders that would also just build a "Shell" home the the buyer could finish out. From just dried in, to as far as you wanted. I looked at one of these in 2008 when prices where still high and it was up for 60k for 2000 sq ft. Was built with concrete siding and the inside was finished to sheet rock taped and bedded. Exterior looked like a finished home. It was a "Jim Walters" built I believe. May be an option if you willing to finish one out and is still done.

 

[Mousefield]

I was in the same dilemma 3 years ago and hated the construction of every home I looked at(2x4) walls, cheap OSB roofs etc so I designed my home and built it to last forever but spent more money than I'll ever get out of it, no matter because I plan to be carried out in a bag.

Things can happen. We built our first house in 1980 on 10 1/2 acres, lots of extras and upgrades, thermo wood frame windows, upgraded cabinets etc. We were going to live in it for the rest of our lives.
Sold it 5 years later for a good loss.
Once that money was gone, well it's gone.