Modular homes - is quality an issue?

[The Sauce]

My wife and I are thinking about rebuilding. There seems to be significant cost savings to going modular or custom-modular. It seems that quality has really come around and the only down-side tha I can see is that you sacrifice some customizability. However, there are now custom-modular companies that have dozens of modular plans that you can customize to your liking.

Is it a bad idea to go modular to save a few bucks? Will the house fall apart in a few years?

 

[OutHouse]

my modular is 11 years old and is fine. they have to meet the same building codes as a regular house.

 

[nakedfrog]

I don't have a very good impression of them. They seem to be marginally better than mobile homes. I certainly wouldn't buy one.

 

[getbush]

resale is worse than stick built

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: getbush
resale is worse than stick built

wrong

1997 i bought mine brand new for 105K

todays appraised value is 150K.

 

[amdskip]

It really depends on who you have make it. I'm a fan of panelized houses which are built on site but the panels are framed in a factory. Other modular not so much. They use cheaper materials a lot of the time and it still feels like a trailer to me.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
I don't have a very good impression of them. They seem to be marginally better than mobile homes. I certainly wouldn't buy one.

humm, have you ever been in one? lets see i have 2X6 framing, R40 insulation. 1/4 drywall, sits on a concrete foundation. its just as good quality as a cookie cutter home but about 100K cheaper.

 

[Capt Caveman]

As with a lot of things, it comes down to the company. I own'd a $500k modular townhouse in a development of around 30. At 20 years, some folks were replacing their roofs. Nowadays, you are correct that the quality is now even better and more options.

Honesty, if you're building from scratch and you can design a house the way you want with modular units, I would say go for it. Just get references and do your usual due diligence, if you were to have someone else build it. Good luck!

 

[AUMM]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
I don't have a very good impression of them. They seem to be marginally better than mobile homes. I certainly wouldn't buy one.

while I wouldnt buy one either, the quality of them has improved dramatically from what they used to be...

 

[funboy6942]

If I had gotten more on my settlement my wife and I picked one out we had wanted. 4 bedroom, 5 bathroom, one for each room and an extra one for general use by all, 2000+ SQFT, for $53K though I believe Champion builders.

they are all made to house specs, just as you would building a home on site, true to house specs down to the wood, insulation, and shingles used. Only diff is they build the home in a factory, and truck it to your site and put it down on the foundation. Other then that I was told if it went on a concrete foundation, and not concrete blocks like a trailer setting, but an actual home type foundation, it could be considered an actual house and not a manufactured or modular. At least thats what I was told and going to do was have a basement set up for the one we picked out, just didnt get as much as we had planed and didn't get it.

Back in the mid 90's and earlier modular and manufactured homes sucked, were built poorly, out of half ass specs, 2x2 wood for walls, hardly any insulations, and tar for a roof, todays manufactured homes are just as good inside, outside, wiring, plumbing, and so forth, then any other home and in some cases better then having one built on site for these homes are the built the same way buy the same workers, like planes would be built, so now the quality of the homes have gone way up, then those of yesteryear.

OP take a look at the link I gave you for Champion, that is the place we were going to go through, they have some of the most beautiful manufactured homes I have ever seen, and the ultimate kitchen is to die for, I wish I had the money to get one of their homes. They have some good ones on there. Hmmmm tornado takes my house I could get one then

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
I don't have a very good impression of them. They seem to be marginally better than mobile homes. I certainly wouldn't buy one.

humm, have you ever been in one? lets see i have 2X6 framing, R40 insulation. 1/4 drywall, sits on a concrete foundation. its just as good quality as a cookie cutter home but about 100K cheaper.

Yes, I have.
I wouldn't buy a cookie cutter home, either

 

[slsmnaz]

Originally posted by: amdskip
It really depends on who you have make it. I'm a fan of panelized houses which are built on site but the panels are framed in a factory. Other modular not so much. They use cheaper materials a lot of the time and it still feels like a trailer to me.

Modular home builders buy the same material that the other builders do. (I had both as customers)

 

[jdini76]

I think Modular homes have to be built stronger becasue they need to be able to handle the delivery process. In no way would I compare a modular home to a mobile home. Thats just dumb.

 

[vi edit]

People seem to get held up on the word "modular" and confuse it with a mobile home. That's not what they are at all. If you walked through my parents home you would never know that it was built in a factory and brought in on a flatbed truck.

It's a 2000 sq/ft ranch with a full basement with 9' walls. It's a BIG ranch home. My Dad bricked up the entire exterior and added on a 1500 sq/ft garage to it. It's a nice home. They contracted out most of the flooring and put in their own tile and hardwood. My Dad and I did most of the basement/foundation ourselves.

It's a much nicer place than most stick builds you find. Houses built today are disposable. You buy them new, live in them for 5-10 years and then dump them. They are built as cheap and fast as possible. Just because they were built on location doesn't mean any more attention to detail or quality was put into them than one put together in a warehouse.

 

[DougK62]

Well the homes are ugly and cookie-cutter but if you go with a reputable place the quality can be very good.

 

[j00fek]

dont they tend to loose their value over time, compared with traditional stick built?

 

[ViviTheMage]

how much are these modular homes ?

 

[tw1164]

How do the line up the wiring and pipes in a two story home? I always wondered that.

 

[waggy]

my dad lives in one here
and they are great. they look like classic modular homes but are made great. thick walls, great windows etc. very nice places.

the wife and I thought about getting one. $80k for a 1600sq/ft is good.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: j00fek
dont they tend to loose their value over time, compared with traditional stick built?

I sold my modular townhouse after three years for 20% profit.

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
how much are these modular homes ?

How much money you want to spend? Do these look cookie cutter? - http://www.modularhomes.net/

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: j00fek
dont they tend to loose their value over time, compared with traditional stick built?

No. Not in my parent's case anyway. Their appraisal value (for tax purposes) goes up every year. Local real estate markets are much more of a factor than where/how/by who a home was built.

Obviously there are some exceptions here, but most modular homes use the same building materials that a stick built does (if not better) and offer the same ammenities as conventional home. It's just that they have a marriage wall(s) that hold the two halves of the home together. If you walked through the home you would never be able to spot them.

 

[Kaido]

Wow, check out this modular house:

http://www.altamonthomes.com/

I wouldn't complain...

 

[funboy6942]

In that link I gave you for Champion homes, I dont know why this matters but I get offered totally different homes using my zip code for here where I am at, and from where I moved from back up in Indiana. Different style homes and makes as well from 38330-46327. I called the one back up north in Indiana and they told me they will ship the house where ever I wanted to, so you may want to try different zip codes as well and see what other homes are offered to you as well.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: j00fek
dont they tend to loose their value over time, compared with traditional stick built?

No. Not in my parent's case anyway. Their appraisal value (for tax purposes) goes up every year. Local real estate markets are much more of a factor than where/how/by who a home was built.

Obviously there are some exceptions here, but most modular homes use the same building materials that a stick built does (if not better) and offer the same ammenities as conventional home. It's just that they have a marriage wall(s) that hold the two halves of the home together. If you walked through the home you would never be able to spot them.

the smaller ones come in halves. the larger ones have all the walls, floor, roof etc pre-made. they are then assembled on site like a puzzle.

many times they are better made because they are done indoors etc.

 

[vi edit]

Here's the builder my parents used: http://www.allamericanhomes.com/Gallery/photo.php

Check out their floor plans. They have some very nice looking homes. Again, you would never know they were modular. The prices are around 20% less than a stick built.

With a $300,000 home that's $60,000. That is a lot of very nice upgrades you can put back into the home or into a much nicer lot to build on.