Modular or stick built?

[s219]

Worked on several modular homes in the 80s and 90s, and was always impressed with the construction and finished product. Some company's homes look better than others (you can tell who has an actual designer on staff). Some look like they were drawn up with no concept of balance or aesthetics -- they will have crowded windows and tight spacing above windows/doors. So my only suggestion would be to make sure you take the time to choose a good design.

We installed one modular up in the Berkshire mountains in southwest Mass, and it was gorgeous tucked in the trees. Was a contemporary design, and just looked great. Only problem was one of the roof sections had too shallow of a pitch, and ice backed up under the shingles the first winter. We had to tear off the roof and add underlayment. The factory probably should have known better sending a home to that location with a shallow roof pitch.

 

[HybridVigor]

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...

We're looking at around 2000 sq ft give or take. I can see that if you wanted something really custom you would want to go stick built. Luckily, the wife and I want a pretty boxy look anyway since we would like to imitate the pretty ubiquitous two story 19th century farm houses that accompany the farm steads in this part of PA. The only thing fancy we really want on the outside is a full porch. From talking to the modular folks they seem to be pretty flexible as far as floor plans within that basic footprint. Our site has easy access. The better insulation values and less construction waste appeals to my crunchy hippie side. Our lender thinks a modular will appraise the same as a stick built so we are leaning that way.

I should be getting three quotes next week, one from a modular and two stick built to get an idea on price. Anyone care to offer what they think a good price per sq ft is?

I've wanted my own German style bank barn since I was 7 years old. I figured I'd be lucky to have it by the time I retired. Farm ground is not cheap around this area. Then last year a 20 acre piece came up as a foreclosure less than half a mile from the inlaw's farm. Because the house was in such bad shape it was actually affordable. The barns and the land itself were actually pretty nice and I think we got a good deal. It seemed like an opportunity too good to pass up at 27 years old. As you can imagine though, buying even a small farm at 20% down has put a dent in the "forever home" budget.

So for those of you that had to build on a budget, especially earlier in life, did you put emphasis on sq footage or nice finishes? How did you decide how much home to buy? I have a great job now, but a long time left to work. I'd prefer to keep things modest and do some compromising and would like to know where folks feel like they get the best bang for their buck? I'd like to build this year so all my stuff isn't on two properties and mortgage rates are still historically low, but we aren't rushed either.

 

[tman1020]

I have built many homes stick built and modular. You are bringing up many good points. Remember this, not all modular home manufacturers are the created equal nor are stick builders. Modular can be fantastic or your worst nightmare as well as stick built. Everyone is going to say they have the best quality and for a amateur consumer it will be very difficult to truly tell what will be best for you. Many times modulars are sold by sales people with no construction experience. Many times stick built homes are sold by builders with no sales experience. This will put you in a difficult situation best thing to do is educate yourself as much as possible and quality of construction and what's important to you.

 

[teg]

I'll send you a link to our build, we don't have kids and will not worry about re-sale. So we looked at what we do in the current house and built the new one to be an improvement for what WE do... we spend very little time in the bedrooms and we entertain maybe a little too much. Wanted an open, living room / area type floor plan with a large mudroom. Both the kitchen and mudroom will have access to gardens...

Bottom line, we didn't find any layout that I liked so I drew up what I thought was good. Very basic... mainly because we plan to put many solar panels up on the roof. We put the house in with a N/S/E/W aspect.

I plan to follow up with the finish product but a lot of that depends on the builder... we have a 16' by 28' deck on one side and a 8' by 56' across the front. These still need to be built to plan...

Bottom line is that you have to build a house for YOU! Doesn't matter what we say you should do

 

[tman1020]

As far as your specific questions here are some things I feel are important. The line can often be blurred between modular and manufactured homes they are two very different products and are financed differently educate yourself on the difference. As far as finishes versus square footage. Finishes wear out and styles come and go. It's easier to change your floor covering or light fixtures in 10 years that it is make a bigger kitchen or bedroom. I like to focus on putting my money on things that are difficult to change later. Such as a basement versus a crawl. Or a roof with a good pitch. Focus on the basics first and then if you have room in your budget start upgrading the quality of products.

 

[SPIKER]

Having done drywall on top of line homes and remodels as well as have family in the Mod Home market I can say that SOME if not a good part of the modular homes are hard to resell and can be pretty low quality. Now I have been out of it for a while but recently been inside a couple mid range cost modular homes and noticed the poor workmanship in them. 3/8" drywall with no fire stops or taping just cover strips or sagging walls no where to nail up pictures etc. people out front 10 years ago put in a double wide style modular on a real nice basement. 140K into it and ended up getting foreclosed a few years back. I went into look at auction & passed as the place after 10 years was falling apart...

Mark

 

[HybridVigor]

Bottom line is that you have to build a house for YOU! Doesn't matter what we say you should do

Ha! Too bad we're not sure what we want!!

We definitely intend to do modular not manufactured if we don't do stick. My understanding is that manufactured comes with a trailer frame underneath. It's pretty much a trailer that looks bigger. Modular is built to relevant stick built code and is lifted off a flat bed and set in place.

The modular builder we're talking to is a dealer for three different modular companies. He only does mods. I have an acquaintance who is happy with his from this guy two years later.

 

[TomSeller]

I wil say that modulars have come a long way in the last few years. Some very impressive. However, I would still go with stick to gain architectural features

 

[HybridVigor]

As far as finishes versus square footage. Finishes wear out and styles come and go. It's easier to change your floor covering or light fixtures in 10 years that it is make a bigger kitchen or bedroom. I like to focus on putting my money on things that are difficult to change later. Such as a basement versus a crawl. Or a roof with a good pitch. Focus on the basics first and then if you have room in your budget start upgrading the quality of products.

This is my thinking too. It's so hard to plan for styles and needs 30-40 years out so why spend it on high dollar finishes now? My one exception to that might be hardwood floors.

We are going to do a full basement for sure.

 

[dave1949]

As far as your specific questions here are some things I feel are important. The line can often be blurred between modular and manufactured homes they are two very different products and are financed differently educate yourself on the difference. As far as finishes versus square footage. Finishes wear out and styles come and go. It's easier to change your floor covering or light fixtures in 10 years that it is make a bigger kitchen or bedroom. I like to focus on putting my money on things that are difficult to change later. Such as a basement versus a crawl. Or a roof with a good pitch. Focus on the basics first and then if you have room in your budget start upgrading the quality of products.

I think this is good advice. You can leave a room or two undone, basement unfinished, use average quality cabinets and other interior finishes without a lot of gewgaws, etc., and you are still on the path to your eventual goal. You don't want to build with junk, but don't get carried away either because as said, all that stuff will change anyways down the road.

Since you love your bank barn, it may work to keep you in one place a lot longer than otherwise is normal. 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.

 

[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?