Modular Homes - Good/Bad experiences... I am considering this pretty seriously...

[workinonit]

Well, you are very uninformed

Here you go...

Modular vs. Manufactured vs. Site-Built Homes: An Honest Comparison

Read this article to find out which home type is right for you!

www.middletownhomeswv.com

There's a good source to get your "informed" comparison. From the people that build manufactured homes. Not worth the time to read it. If a custom built "on site" home is built properly you can't build a better home. If it's not then you may have an argument. Other than that it's not even an argument, period.

 

[Yander]

There's a good source to get your "informed" comparison. From the people that build manufactured homes. Not worth the time to read it. If a custom built "on site" home is built properly you can't build a better home. If it's not then you may have an argument. Other than that it's not even an argument, period.

I guess we will just have to live with disagreeing on this one. That isn't the only site you will read that on and if you cared to open your mind a bit you could easily find this out with about 5 minutes of research. You can stay uninformed, I really don't care. I would go find you a non-biased link but, what would be the point, you prefer to stay uninformed and wouldn't read it.

@Torvy I'm guessing it was a regional thing. The banks I dealt with were some of the largest, one was Chase. There is a lot of ignorance about them. I'm just going off of my personal experience with having owned one.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I can say, when reselling, a modular does not command the same $$ as a stick built home. Right or wrong, it’s true.

 

[stumblinhorse]

I am just gonna put in my experience in this. And a similarity that most of course won’t agree with. But it all depends on the area and availability of builders/contractors. In my area almost all middle income homes are Modular’s. You can’t match the quality of a modular for the same price in my area. You also can’t touch the timelines either. A stick built home take 3-5 times as long to complete. Contractors here don’t want to be bothered with anything under $500-750/sqft. So if you are building a normal house you will get sub standard work and many times not have anyone to work on your project. So I’ll take modular every time, and it is not even close.

My similarity is that when I buy a vehicle I want the factory to build it not the local dealer. The factory has many iso standards and processes to follow. It has QA and inspectors. The local dealer is trying to get done as fast as it can to make money…

 

[MossRoad]

I have a friend that bought a modular house. She said it cost the exact same as a stick built house. She bought all the upgrades like 2x6, steeper roof pitch, more insulation, etc. that she would have gotten had she had it stick built. The only difference, according to her, was that they came out, dug a basement and poured the walls with notches for a steel beam that ran down the center of the basement lengthwise. Her boyfriend, now husband, is an engineer and figured the beam size needed. On house arrival day, a crane showed up, set the steel beam, then set both halves of the house and left. The entire thing took weeks, not months, and they were in their house.

It's a pretty nice house with a full sized clear span basement with NO posts anywhere. Huge space.

If I were to build a new house, I'd surely consider it.

 

[paulsharvey]

For anything outside of a new residential development, it's hard to have a 'normal' house site built. Sure, custom, $750+, they won't be a problem, but a 1500-2500 sq ft, 3-4 bed, 2-3 bath house, not many builders do 'scatter lot' building. It's a big pain in the butt for them, compared to a development, where you move from house 84 to house 87, or whatever, and the price will reflect that. Mobile and modular are a good option. They aren't really cheaper, compared to a new development, and frankly, aren't That much faster, if you order it, but on the plus side, there are way less Unknowns, material increases, subcontractor delays, change orders, ect.

Wife and I have been casually looking for probably 3 or 4 years now; and although we like the idea of a site built on property we haven't found yet, every single step is more hassle. Need a land loan, with Large % down, then you need a builder and home plan to even talk about a construction loan. Lot of chicken-egg kind of problems; because you really want to have a pretty locked down loan, before you pick a plan/builder.

Now, Modular is kinda a big category. Many are no different then a manufactured home, other then local code vs HUD codes. Frame, skirting, ect; there of coarse also off frame modular, tilt up roofs, ones built with a dozen small "modules" and just a "doublewide". Some look no different than a "trailer"; others; you would never know its not site built.

Some cities don't allow manufactured, so first thing to do is see if modular are allowed; same with insurance; ect.

Will add, some manufactured homes, really its hard to tell if it's site built or not; take the Deer Valley Briar Ritz. It really looks site built, costs like one, and is also available as a manufactured or modular.

 

[japody]

I will speak from our experience. We have a 4300 sq ft two story cape cod style house. There is no way to tell from the outside that it is a modular home. The house is solid as a rock. 2 x 6 outer walls, 9 ft ceilings, and almost every extra offered by the factory. It's almost 12 years old and we have not had any cracks in the sheetrock. It is well insulated, and coupled with the geothermal system, results in very low energy bills. I doubt that if and when I ever sell, the price will be affected by the method of construction. These are the facts.

 

[Sigarms]

I have a friend that bought a modular house. She said it cost the exact same as a stick built house. She bought all the upgrades like 2x6, steeper roof pitch, more insulation, etc. that she would have gotten had she had it stick built. The only difference, according to her, was that they came out, dug a basement and poured the walls with notches for a steel beam that ran down the center of the basement lengthwise. Her boyfriend, now husband, is an engineer and figured the beam size needed. On house arrival day, a crane showed up, set the steel beam, then set both halves of the house and left. The entire thing took weeks, not months, and they were in their house.

It's a pretty nice house with a full sized clear span basement with NO posts anywhere. Huge space.

If I were to build a new house, I'd surely consider it.

I can think of 3 or 4 modular homes that have gone up in our local area. The went up fast, and at least from the oustide, actually nice looking homes.

 

[MossRoad]

Gee... it looks just like they built a house.

(no rain or weather damage during construction, either. We have friends whose sub-floor was ruined by rain during construction)

 

[paulsharvey]

I jokingly tell people, everyone of those $5m beach homes; some one has pee'd in your dish washer, pooped in your bath tub, and I will about garrantee there is a Gatorade bottle or big gulp soda pull of pee still in your walls. That kinda stuff can be much closer monitored in an assembly plant. Also, for plain construction quality, it's much easier to QC 6 or 8 modular or manufactured homes at the end of a plant shift, then relay on scheduled building inspections. Don't think I have ever had a building inspector actually walk into every room during an inspection. It's a general quick walk though, and looking for JDLR (Just Don't Look Right), then closer examination when you see something that catches your eye.

Some examples I personally know of from years ago, (mind you, I take pride in every building I was part of, but there are things that you know where not fatal, but too expensive to fix, unless cought by owners walk); Hot water hose bibs; hot water toilets; missing attic access; caught and fixed drywall over ac outlet; apartment with exterior lights all on one units panel instead of the "house" panel (so one tenant is paying for the apartments outside lights); electrician investigating short, and just pulling the drywall screw out, and leaving wire with damaged insulation in place, roof sheathing where 90% of the deck nails missed the truss, metal exterior door dents repaired with drywall mud, and painted over,

Some examples I've been told that people I know where part of; forgot to insulate walls in an entire home; drywallers where scheduled, and insulation sub didn't show, so guess what, drywaller installed drywall. Concrete contractor moving the visqueen, WWF, and rebar 'forwards' to the next home after passing home 1's pre-pour inspection, and pouring without rebar/wire/visqueen. Mad plumber putting steel nails up against copper shower riser, so it fails in about 10 years from galvic reaction.

Now; imagine the work some people let pass, that they know about. Minor underslab plumbing leaks, that will turn into Major problems, roofs with no paper under shingles,