A modular home is constructed in a factory using conventional home floor joists and delivered to a site on a trailer or flat bed truck. The delivered home may be in the form of panels that are assembled at the site, may be precut and assembled on site, or may be pre-built and delivered in one piece. The home, panels or precut panels are lifted from the trailer and attached to a foundation. A modular home may be single or multistory. Modular homes are not subject to HUD standards, but must be built to state and local Uniform Building Codes.
Why Choose a Modular Home Over A Stick Built House?
There are many reasons why the best built modular homes are considered superior to the vast majority of "stick built" homes (that is, homes built entirely on-site). Modular housing offers many advantages over traditional building techniques. One of the most important advantages is the high level of quality assured by modular construction. The precision construction and effective process control during factory construction results in a better built home.
Quality:
The best built modular homes offer better quality for less money. The structural integrity of a modular home is its main claim to superior quality. Here are some of the factors that produce superior quality:
Better Equipment: By design, modular factories are able to use larger, more powerful, and more sophisticated equipment. Because all main components are assembled with jigs, precision control is ensured. This means that every home is built exactly as it was designed, with all corners square and all walls plumb. In stick building, the carpenters often have to use "creative" techniques to make things fit because measurements are seldom exact.
Climate Control: Building in a modern modular home factory means building under climate controlled conditions. This enables manufacturers to eliminate two problems, which plague stick builders, particularly in the Northeast. First, it allows them to avoid weather-related defects: moisture saturation by the lumber, drywall and insulation; warping of walls and doors; freezing and cracking of brittle materials; and other ravages of the elements. Secondly, a factory environment enables modular companies to avoid weather-related delays that prevent the Customer from keeping his or her move-in date on schedule.
Materials: Only the highest quality, kiln dried lumber can be used, because warped, badly knotted or splintered pieces would jam the finely tuned assembly line jigs. This means that better materials, applied with tighter specifications, go into modular homes.
Better Construction: Because modular homes have to be shipped over the road, they are built stronger than more conventionally built homes. Major components, such as walls, floors, and ceilings, are not only nailed together but often screwed and lag bolted together also, and they are bonded with a special adhesive. This double fastening enables modular homes to be sturdy enough to withstand miles of travel, something no stick built house could survive without serious structural damage. Another advantage of using adhesive to secure walls and ceilings is that they are less likely to be plagued by annoying nail pops.
Tighter Construction: The tighter construction of modular homes greatly improves their energy efficiency. For example, hand packed insulation around electrical fixtures and caulking along exterior sheathing seams helps to eliminate infiltration of cold air in the winter and hot air in the summer.
Quality Control: Superior quality in modular construction is first ensured by the manufacturer's compliance with national, state, and local building codes. To verify this compliance, each building plan is inspected by a state-approved third party inspection agency, which certifies that the house will meet the most stringent state construction standards. Sticks built plans rarely receive this much expert review.
Once construction begins, modular homes are subjected to far more inspections than stick built homes. At each stage from framing to finishing, there are quality control stations set up to monitor the quality of the workmanship. A full-time, seasoned quality control inspector travels from station to station with extensive checklists of performance standards. In addition, a specially trained inspector form the state-approved third party inspection agency inspects every home as it moves down the line. The additional costs incurred by this system are more than compensated for by the reduction in service work in the field.
Amenities:
Manufacturers can customize a home's interiors as well as exteriors, according to the Customer's needs. Open floor plans, steeply pitched roofs, bay and bow windows, curved stairways, vaulted and cathedral ceilings, skylights, reversed gables, angle bay towers, central vacuum cleaners, central air condition, whirlpool tubs, and vertical cedar siding are just a few of the many, many options that Customers routinely add to the standard floor plans. After a Customer's house is set on the foundation, the Customer can add still more of his or her own personal touches by customizing it with porches, balconies, decks, sun rooms, garages, etc. Modular manufacturers can also take the Customer's own plans and build him or her an entirely new design at the factory.
Time:
Typically, modular homes are delivered to the site in 8 to 10 weeks, and they are ready to "move into" in another 4 to 10 weeks, depending on the size of the home and amount of required on-site finish. This means that the Customer can usually move into his or her home in about 3-5 months. Today, it is fairly common for an anxious buyer to wait 6 months to a year for a stick built house. Even the most efficient stick builder is significantly limited by a 3 to 5 man crew, which must travel from job to job, rather than the modular manufacturer's 150-man crew, which always works at the same location. Furthermore, delays due to material back orders, no-show subcontractors, poor weather, etc. make it hard even for the most conscientious stick builder to keep the Customer on schedule. This often presents a serious problem, especially to a buyer who has already sold his or her old house and is pressured for early occupancy by the new buyers. Absorbing the costs of a motel or a rental property or coping with the stress of a few months in a relative's home is something most people prefer to avoid.
Cost:
The purchase price of a modular home is less than that of a conventionally built home because the factory is able to reduce its costs. The savings come from volume purchases of materials directly from the manufacturer (eliminating middleman markups), lower assembly line wages, and a reduction in lost and damaged materials caused by on-site weather conditions, pilferage, and vandalism. Imagine what an automobile would cost if it were built from scratch in a mechanic's garage. The only way a stick builder can match the cost of a modular home is by building with less expensive, inferior materials, by employing unskilled labor, or by paying for fewer man-hours. This of course results in poorer construction, craftsmanship, and service.
