Modular or stick built?

[HybridVigor]

At age 28 you have a lot of living ahead of you, opportunities, careers, changes in outlook, events you cannot control or predict. It could become hard to chose between your bank barn and a great career opportunity beyond commuting distance.

This is why I still want to pay attention to resale value and more importantly a modest budget. My job is good, but it's so specific that finding one exactly like it at just the next company would be challenging. Moving is out of the question as the wife is tied to the family business.

Too bad wisdom and discernment don't come easy! Haha!

 

[tman1020]

Manufactured homes are built to HUD code(federal). They are basically a double wide trailer. They are not all bad but they are not a true modular home. A true modular home is built to BOCA code(additional state or local). From my experience the modular home manufacturers that also produced Hud product or used to produce Hud product we're often of lower quality. There would be a lot of transition of the lower-cost Hud fixtures in their Mod line. The modular manufactures that seem to be of the best quality in my opinion were the ones that specialized in true modular homes only. Their savings came in from minimizing labor costs buying in bulk and minimizing weather delays from building inside a factory, not from cutting corners and using inferior material

 

[Cat_Driver]

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."

Here if you want to think outside the box

Monolithic Dome Institute | Monolithic Dome Institute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyyUZDAC3W0

Build for 65K.

Fire proof, Hurricane proof, termite proof etc. LOW electric bill

 

[buckeyefarmer]

my neighbors modular is from your area, somewhere off of rt30. Don't talk to him to often, since he's up and across the road some, but think he is happy with it. I tried to upload a couple pics but TBN wouldn't upload right now..
This modular is not one of the older 2 part home modulars, but appears like a stick built from the outside. They added a full porch, and it sits on a walkout poured basement. It came with unfinished 2nd floor rooms.

 

[dave1949]

This is why I still want to pay attention to resale value and more importantly a modest budget. My job is good, but it's so specific that finding one exactly like it at just the next company would be challenging. Moving is out of the question as the wife is tied to the family business.

Too bad wisdom and discernment don't come easy! Haha!

You are in for it. :laughing:

I was once in a position that you may find yourself in someday. I had good skills and experience in something no one needed in the state we live in. I had already done over three years of weekly commuting out of state, that gets old. My wife had a good position and really needed to nail down some pension plan years in one state or another (public school system). Stay I lose, move she loses. I was near enough a doable retirement that we stayed, but not an easy choice--and I didn't have a bank barn either.

 

[doxford jim]

yes, that is what we had as a second choice for new construction. The modular home came first as it was the closest to conventional looking homes.
No doubt about it, the dome home (monolithic for us) is superior construction and performance, but the appeal to the public may not be too good if one was to try and sell (for whatever reason). They also are relatively fast construction. Once the shell is constructed, everything else is built under controlled conditions - inside and out of the weather. Prices are comparable to conventional homes - but can be real expensive depending on what is involved with finishes etc.

 

[flusher]

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."

In 2005 I had a manufactured house installed on my 10 acre place in Northern CA (Tehama County). Double wide, 1800 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, 8-1/2 ft ceilings, 5:12 roof pitch. Building code required a poured concrete base with 24" tall stub walls to form the crawl space. Manufacturer was the Golden West Homes division of Clayton Homes, Portland OR.



Cost: $135K for the building and the foundation. Best home I ever had.

It took about 5 months to get the job done. The three fake dormers had to be stick built on side as well as the front porch columns and deck. The roof trusses were truncated to fit under the overpasses on I5. So the trusses and the top part of the roof had to be completed on site.

The work was done in late 2005 when the building boom was still going hot. The installer only had about 15 workers and about 5 jobs going simultaneously. I had to fight to get a 3 to 4 man crew to show up 3-4 days a week to work my job, which is why it took so long. But I finally got what I wanted and never looked back.

Good luck

 

[truckdiagnostics]

Build the barn first and/or a garage. Your young even if you have young kids, you can live in an open floor plan for a while. It is nice to be able to be right on top of things when they are building the house. That was our original plan, however wife got the house first. Shop didn't happen for 10 years latter. Having a shop available will save you money with the ability to fix your own equipment. Think of it as camping in your garage for a year. Looking back on it should have stuck with original plan. At the time we sold the house paid cash for the land, moved into a duplex, minute they set the house, chances are going to have the two payment thing. That eats up a lot of cash right when you need it most. No matter how you slice it, if you taking a loan out your going to have to pay for it eventually, the key is keeping it so you can make payments on one income.
You have, road, well, septic, power, gas?, foundation, then set the house. The big ones are the house and the land. The quicker you get out of current mortgage, that is money in the bank. Once you have the well, septic and power you can live in a trailer for that matter. Just something to kick around.
We set the house in February, crane set, that way you can confirm a schedule, ground frozen. You can swipe snow off. Even though money is cheap still have to pay it off. We built when I was 35 taken us twenty years to get to the point where we have disposable income, with a lot of stress along the way.

 

[Country Geek]

One of my neighbors did a modular a few yrs back, nice house. I'd consider either if it has a good floor plan.

New framed house going up down the road from me, basement done late last week.1st deck thursday, walls friday/sat, trusses and roof sheathing sunday, and had paper on it monday morning before a small rain/snow came. Went up quick, but is a small house.

Appearances can be deceiving. During the framing stage a house always seems to go up quickly because you can see so much visible progress each day. Then it seems to slow to a crawl because things like wiring, plumbing, finish work, etc., don't show as much visible progress day to day.

 

[Country Geek]

Here if you want to think outside the box

Monolithic Dome Institute | Monolithic Dome Institute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyyUZDAC3W0

Build for 65K.

Fire proof, Hurricane proof, termite proof etc. LOW electric bill

May have all those virtues but too much like a bunker for my tastes, and I suspect most other people. Where are the windows?