Prefab Housing

Increasingly, Americans are finding their dream homes among an ever-widening selection of prefab housing. These are typically built in a factory and then shipped to their ultimate destinations, assembled, and finished.

I recently read an article about the Freeman family, who wanted to build a home in the far west wilderness of Texas - about 25 miles from the closest small town, and over 150 miles from a recognizable city (Austin). You might ask WHY? Ours is not to reason why....

The point is that these folks, and I'm sure many like them, had very little choice about how to get a house built. Neighbors had horror stories about local contractors; they had no construction skills of their own; and suppliers for various types of materials were scarce.

They ultimately decided to order a prefab home. I should point out that most people do have other convenient options and choose prefab housing anyway. There are some significant advantages.

Factory-built homes, including mobile homes, modular homes, and specialty homes, typically go for much less than site-built homes. On a national average, it's $41 per square foot for prefab housing vs. $93 per square foot for conventional construction, based on 2007 statistics.

However, this doesn't mean that you can load a prefab home with luxurious options and still pay less than a site-built home without the options. The devil is in the details.

Some of the savings come because building a house in an indoor environment wastes less time and materials than building in the elements. But the appeal of prefab isn't just price. You can also achieve striking designs that don't resemble the cookie-cutter models offered by most developers.

There are lots of people approaching retirement that wish to downsize and have smaller mortgage payments (or none). Maybe people are looking for a no-hassle way to had a small cottage or other structure to property they already own. Maybe they want a "greener", more energy-efficient house.

It could be that people want a house which is easier to live in. Or maybe they just want to have input into designing their home, but don't want to start from scratch with an architect.

Several companies throughout the United States sell prefab housing with distinct, unconventional designs. Hundreds more sell conventional homes that offer less customization.

It's not a new idea. Sears Roebuck, Montgomery Ward and others sold more than 100,000 such houses before World War II. Today, rather than thumbing through a catalog the size of a phone book, prospective buyers compare models and costs on line.

Those who go forward then work with a designer online and over the phone to complete the plans and details. What you get for your money varies, but generally it works like this - the prefab housing company supplies the house with a fully finished interior (includes kitchen, bath, heating and air conditioning systems). There are an endless array of options.

The fee includes design service, general contracting, assembly at the site, and construction work at the factory. The buyer is responsible for ordering site surveys and soil tests, getting permits, laying foundations and running utilities to the house.

The degree of customization however, will impact the price. Upgrades in materials, fixtures, finishes and appliances can send the per-square-foot- price skyrocketing.

The Freeman's house ended up costing nearly $400,000 (nearly $200 per square foot) because they were building on rough and remote terrain, with no utility hookups or services in place, and because they used high quality materials, hardware, and appliances. It would have cost about $100,000 more using conventional methods and would have taken 2 months longer to complete.

So if you're thinking of building a new home, look into modular or prefab housing. If you want help, visit these sites.

Here you can access over 850 floor plans for homes. Don Gardner and his people seem to have a real talent for this.

For more information about modular homes, go to my page about modular homes.

Any questions or comments about this page, contact me about prefab housing here.

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