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MODULAR HOUSING - IS IT RIGHT FOR YOU?
Filed Under:
Catskill Farms Vacation Homes
Written By: Charles Petersheim
Modular - kit house - pre-fab - dwell house--whatever you want to call it, the factory-built house has been getting serious attention from professional designers and a second look from homeowners who once considered them a step beneath the traditional hand-built, stick-framed house we all know and love.
Let's face it--building a house hasn't changed much in the last 70 years. Sure, the codes have gotten stronger and stricter, and we use better, safer materials, but the whole idea of 16-inch-on-center, stud-by-stud, rafter-by-rafter construction is not a new idea, or a very progressive one. One could argue a kitchen steak knife has seen more structural advances over the past half century than most of the houses being built today.
But, as they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Is the stick-built house broke? In need of replacement? Is modular better, faster and easier?
Design
To take full advantage of modular construction, most home buyers will choose a modular model within the current selection being offered by the chosen modular retailer. The options will include a collection of different designs, and a host of different finishes and fixtures. A bit of research will reveal what design best suits your taste and budget.
To venture into truly custom design within the modular world is to eliminate the main advantages of modular - speed and price. For the most part, modular retailers are not custom home builders. In modular design, the houses are broken down into ‘boxes', and the boxes are limited in size to what can fit on a truck. The boxes can fit together endlessly to create infinite room sizes and variations, but each connection limits and constricts the design freedoms.
A traditional home can adopt a lot of variations from any number of existing designs – incorporating what is liked, changing other items, and eliminating or expanding walls and rooms without much issue.
Construction
It's fairly obvious that a home built in a climate-controlled environment, with the wood and materials protected from the elements, is a superior method of construction. As David Goodstein of Brookside Homes likes to say. “Show me a traditional house that goes down the highway at 70 miles a hour.†For the most part, the days of modular homes being of inferior quality is past (regardless of what the tax assessor says). Of all the arguments for modular housing, certainly this protection from the elements, and lack of delay that the elements can cause on site, are foremost.
Site Preparation
The trees aren't cleared in a factory, a well isn't drilled indoors - you still need your electric, foundation, septic and driveway installed - so, regardless of where the house is built, a large amount of work is still required on site. The professional management of the site development is probably the biggest hurdle to consistently making modular a quicker method of construction. While a traditional home can be built anywhere--cliffside, nestled in the trees, high on a mountain - a modular homesite is more limited: the site needs to be open and flat enough for a crane and a tractor trailer to access and unload.
Cost
Though prices range wildly, a standard model modular home with some bells and whistles is probably less expensive than the traditionally built home. It's reasonable to assume that the site development costs are the same either way. Customization of the factory modular model can lessen the cost advantages.
Final Analysis
When the rubber meets the road, new modular construction offers a great option for homebuyers, especially in a region where construction labor is scarce. If the homebuyer favors a showroom floor model or catalog model, and the retailer offers assistance with the site work, choosing modular can pay off in many ways, including speed of construction, overall price and, most importantly, lessening the stress of coordinating a builder and his 35 subcontractors.
Design-wise, modular construction comes with one major drawback: the inability to make changes and improvise once plans are finalized and in motion. With a modular, all your decisions are made in the factory, and since the house is delivered nearly finished, any changes - such as bumping out the bedroom wall an extra foot, adding a window or cabinets or extra electrical outlets, could be prohibitively expensive. The methodical nature of traditional construction reduces missed opportunities, and allows time for the house to “speak to you†architecturally about what it wants to become.
Which way you go depends on what you want, need and can afford out of the home construction experience. Either way, you end up with a house - to care for, maintain and love.
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