Go Modern, Go Modular
You’ve just bought your fabulous new property. The mountain range that you love is behind you, the ocean is on the horizon, and golfing and fishing are nearby. All you need now is a house. If thoughts of a year or more of construction, detailed-decision making and high building costs dismay you, why not go modern and purchase a modular home? Before you roll your eyes up and say, “Modular? No way!” it might be useful to look at what has happened in the modular home market.
As early as 1908, Sears was selling pre-fabricated homes to cut the costs of home building. The principle behind modular homes hasn’t changed since: if the building can be pre-built in a factory, the money-saving advantages of mass production is available to home buyers. What has changed is that modular homes no longer need to look like cereal boxes lacking all aesthetic value. Indeed, you would be hard pressed to recognize many modular homes just by being inside them.
For starters, modular is not the same as mobile. A mobile home is just what it says: something that can be moved around from place to place. Also called trailers, they are built long, narrow, and inexpensive. Most locations have particular zoning for mobile homes. While many mobile homes are placed in a more or less permanent setting, they don’t have a true foundation, and can still be moved.
Modular is also not a simply manufactured or pre-fabricated home (pre-fab). Pre-fabs range from 800 to 1500 square feet, and generally look quite similar on the outside, with consumer choices on the number of rooms and interior finishing touches. They are shipped to your destination in two halves, and installed on a permanent foundation. Their starting cost is about $60,000 and may go up to about $500,000.
Modular homes are an entirely different category, more innovative and modern in their approach. Modular homes are homes constructed out of well-defined modules which are pre-built and shipped to be assembled on the site. This saves the costly labor intensive effort of hand-crafting every wall and board in the house. This does not mean that quality has been sacrificed, however.
Most of the current modular home companies specialize in architect-designed modules. Working with the designer, you create something which suits your needs precisely. You decide whether you want fireplaces, vaulted ceilings, extra windows, or spiral staircases—any amenity you can name can be yours. Most of all, you decide the price range. Modular homes can start as low as $150,000 (not including installation, septic, etc), and can go as high as $1 million, depending on the size and design.
A variation on modular homes are custom-designed “kit” houses, where all the pieces are pre-cut, pre-designed, and shipped for assembly on site. These may be bit more expensive than the modular homes because of the assembly costs. However, as a home buyer, you still get far more value for your money than building that same home from scratch.
How to proceed? You can use the web to research some of the leading companies in the market. For modular and kit housing, check out www.modern-modular.com or www.haikuhouses.com. For manufactured homes, you can contact the manufactured housing office in your state via the Manufactured Housing Institute, www.manufacturedhousing.org.
Remember, the “M” in modular means modern, not mediocre. Don’t settle for less when building your dream home.