Modular or stick built?

[HybridVigor]

Since this forum is such a wealth of knowledge I figured I'd ask about home building. Wife and I are ready to build on the farm we bought and I'd be curious what other folk's experiences were.

Should we consider a modular? In poking around for pricing they don't seem any cheaper than stick built but likely they could be done quicker.

How did you pick a builder? Currently we're getting prices on similarly specced homes from 3-4 builders...some big...some small.

Any other advise?

The double wide that was there when we bought is gone (that was an adventure!). It could have been on an episode of "Hoarders."

 

[snowbelt geauga]

Consider the modular. We went with a modular only problem was builder new to module homes. He was high dollar home build hard to deal with. We have been in our home 14 years no regrets. If you deside on a modular tour the factory you will be amazed on how well built they are.

 

[Country Geek]

I agree with snowbelt, modulars are very well built. They have to be, to make the trip to your site on trucks intact. Plus they are built at the factory in controlled conditions under close supervision. By comparison every stick built house is basically a one-off.

The main drawback with modulars, and the reason we didn't go with one, is that there isn't as much design flexibility. Whatever you can design from putting together the modules they offer is what you can do. There are a lot of choices, but none for what we wanted. But if what I wanted could be done modular, I'd have no hesitation about going with one.

 

[jeff9366]

We built a custom home for retirement. Our first experience dealing with a builder. As we wanted an over-spec home as we had enjoyed before, we shopped carefully for builders. The local builders all wanted to talk price, then talk price some more. Not what we were interested in.

Finally found an upscale builder who had built for friends of friends. Looked at two of his homes in progress. Fit, finsih and quality of components what we were looking for. Everything exactly plumb and level. So for 50% more than local builders, we got the beautiful, over-spec home we desired. As one example, our electric bill average $160 per month. Our neighbors, with the same square footage, run $300 - $450 per month.

The builder was pleasant all the way through construction.

The thing that bothered me during construction was the dumpster, in which the subs tossed remnants of expensive building material promiscuously. Unavoidable but it killed me.

With modular construction there is practically no waste in the factory.

 

[NorTracNY]

For us the cost of modular was about 60% of stick built. We found a GC that delta only with modulars. Ours ended up being from Ritz-craft in PA. I was happy with the GC, but VERY impressed with Ritz-craft. Their after the sale support was amazing. They have a guy drive around to all their newly installed houses to make sure they are good. The GC first pointed out a few problems, then the Ritz-craft guy found several others which he fixed.

The one thing we found was that many GCs that work with modular also work on manufactured. They are use to low quality and that's their mindset. Our GC only dealt with modular and they offered lots of options to upgrade.

 

[gregfender]

+1 on the modular. We built ours in 2010 and love it. The finish is superb, the builder was great, and everything worked out wonderfully. Our builder does both modular and stick built houses and told us had we done the same plan as a stick built, he couldn't have come anywhere close in cost per sq, foot; in fact he figured it would have been 20-25% higher.

 

[BWSSR]

MODULAR IS BUILT INSIDE..IN MOST CASES....SO THE DRY WALL FOLKS DON'T ATTACH TO WET STUDS, AS WELL AS THE OUTSIDE SHEETING AND ROOF SHEETING...THESE CAN BE RE-LEVELED EASIER THAN A SLAB BUILT HOME AS WELL.

 

[teg]

What size house are you looking at? We are building a modular now, 1500 sqft. After a rough start with a builder that went out of business. How is the road getting into your place... We had a ***** of a time getting the house onto our property. Tight narrow turns...

 

[hutchman]

We are looking at modular's for the new land we bought. Carolina Building Solutions and Commodore are the two we've pretty much settled on with CBS being the top pick so far.

 

[hutchman]

What size house are you looking at? We are building a modular now, 1500 sqft. After a rough start with a builder that went out of business. How is the road getting into your place... We had a ***** of a time getting the house onto our property. Tight narrow turns...

Nice! Beautiful view!