What brands to look at!
Which ones to avoid?
Construction, quality of materials, etc?

Some more details:
I own 55 acres. I have been living in a 60x40 Metal Bldg on this place for 20 years. The metal Bldg isn’t in BAD shape, but the floor plan was always a “make do” situation. It started out as 800sq ft and the rest was shop. It has a shed down on 60’ side.

In 2004, with one child on the ground and another on the way, we added on in the shop area.
Two small bedrooms, another full bath, and a laundry room.

Again, the floor plan is a mess. The kids (two girls left at home) have to go through my room to get to theirs. Not much privacy.
The AC is marginal for the footage. And there are a couple of other issues I have held off on fixing or adding on since this was only supposed to be a 3-5 year plan. The divorce forced the extended stay.
I’m bouncing back & forth between just fixing and upgrading this place, or building something else on the place and having a kick ass shop and man cave.
My finances are shaping up. I’m finally climbing out of the hole I dug during the divorce. But of course I don’t want to spend too much money unnecessarily.
And there is a lady friend in the picture now, so....

This message has been edited. Last edited by: hudr,

Before getting too deep into the buying process, I suggest you call your insurance agent to get some estimates on homeowner's coverage. I am looking at inexpensive options for a second home and while the modulars are less costly, insurance can be a real shock that makes it worth considering a block house.

hudr - when you ask about modular homes, are you asking about trailers (single/double-wide) or the homes that are pre-fabricated in sections in a manufacturing facility?

If it's the latter, my father looked into them some years ago. He had built the house our family lived in for years from the ground up so he had some familiarity with home construction, wiring, plumbing, etc. He was impressed enough to want to buy a smaller plot of land and have a modular home set up on it. My mother did not want to downsize, though, so it never came to pass.

I can't speak to insurance costs for such a structure, nor can I speak firsthand about their build quality. My father told me all the things he liked about their quality of construction but all I retained was that he had a positive opinion about them. I, too, am interested to hear what some of the construction and remodeling professionals here have to say.

Marksman41: pre fab modular home. Not really interested in mobile homes. From what I have seen, the lines can blur between them at times. I have walked around in a few and even with my cowboy boots on, they don’t seem any worse than a lot of pier & beam homes. Better than some, even.
Chp37: insurance is something to consider. I’ll be taking notes throughout this thread.

Another consideration might be financing. At one point, it was a bit harder to finance modular.

Lived in (rented) one for about a year in MO. We had no issues. It stayed warm and cool enough. I don't recall the age or manufacturer though. It seemed a bit less sturdy than a stick house, but not drastically less sturdy. The interior was panneling or wall paper, but maybe that was desired at purchase.

I was just at a friend's house down in PA last week. It is a prefab, and I must say, the build quality is there. If you want I can ask him who the manufacturer was. I do know they are located in NW PA

Update with more info in OP.

Prefab homes come in all shapes and sizes. We have two and sold a third last year.

One is a Wausau Home. The walls are prebuilt, with windows, doors, sheathing, and vapor barrier installed. They show up on a semi-trailer, the builder lifts them into place with a crane, and they are assembled. It takes a few days to get dried in. This home is in Northern Michigan where the building season is short. It's a 1,750sqft, 3 BR, 2 BA, 2 story with a full length porch facing Lake Huron.

The second is in a 130mph wind zone in Florida. It's built with 6" thick prefab poured concrete walls. Again, they show up on a semi-trailer, builder uses a crane to place the walls and trusses. Windows are preinstalled. This home is 3,500sqft under air with 9' ceilings, 4 BR, 4 BA, and 3 car garage.

The third was a rental cabin in Gatlinburg. This was a 1 BR, 1 BA, log cabin with a loft. The 12"-14" logs were precut in Sweden, put in a container and shipped here. The assembled like giant Lincoln Logs.

All of these are quality homes, met or exceeded local building codes, and no issues with insurance. None were cheaper to build than straight on site stick built homes would have been. We purchased the one in Gatlinburg and the one in Florida during the real estate crash in 2009/10. The original owners took quite a hit.

I know mobile homes don't. But do modulars appreciate like a stick-built? Might be a consideration.

A mortgage is an issue when you are placing it on an owned property, but can be done.

quote:

Originally posted by IntrepidTraveler:
I know mobile homes don't. But do modulars appreciate like a stick-built? Might be a consideration.

Appreciation is not high on my list. Mom still lives in the house I grew up in, and I bought property right across the county road from her. I share a fencerow with my sister & BIL.
Never say never, but I don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.

A mortgage shouldn’t be an issue. There might not even be one.

No where near your location. However, I was considering the same questions a few years ago.

Made the purchase and been very happy. Very solidly built. Had hurricane force wind gusts during one tropical system that tracked over us one summer/fall.

No issues.

Since I didn’t have a broad knowledge of modular construction, I hired a private inspector to evaluate the home. He recommended two things be done. The seller disagreed but relented and completed the tasks before we made our final offer.

Well pleased. YMMV.

P.S. Our home has gained value based on tax values and a refinance appraisal for a lower interest rate.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Prefab homes come in all shapes and sizes. We have two and sold a third last year.

One is a Wausau Home. The walls are prebuilt, with windows, doors, sheathing, and vapor barrier installed. They show up on a semi-trailer, the builder lifts them into place with a crane, and they are assembled. It takes a few days to get dried in. This home is in Northern Michigan where the building season is short. It's a 1,750sqft, 3 BR, 2 BA, 2 story with a full length porch facing Lake Huron.

The second is in a 130mph wind zone in Florida. It's built with 6" thick prefab poured concrete walls. Again, they show up on a semi-trailer, builder uses a crane to place the walls and trusses. Windows are preinstalled. This home is 3,500sqft under air with 9' ceilings, 4 BR, 4 BA, and 3 car garage.

The third was a rental cabin in Gatlinburg. This was a 1 BR, 1 BA, log cabin with a loft. The 12"-14" logs were precut in Sweden, put in a container and shipped here. The assembled like giant Lincoln Logs.

All of these are quality homes, met or exceeded local building codes, and no issues with insurance. None were cheaper to build than straight on site stick built homes would have been. We purchased the one in Gatlinburg and the one in Florida during the real estate crash in 2009/10. The original owners took quite a hit.

What company made the second, Florida home?

My friend builds them to rent. He's doing all prefab now, or flips. Guess he's happy with them, not seen any of them in person. I've plugged in a few and installed the service for them before, super easy on the electrical side.

My current home is some kind of weird mutant 1960's combination of pre-fab, stick construction, and steel construction. Running wires is a nightmare; insulation sucks; and all kinds of oddities.

Basement is normal construction. Poured slab, Cinder block, 2x10 floor joists for second level. 2nd level pre-fab steel exterior walls. Wood main stack between bathroom and kitchen that contains all plumbing for house, return duct, and furnace chimney.

They built bottom level. Exterior walls were then set on CMU and bolted together from outside with drywall prehung. Standard roof trusses. Then they hung drywall ceilings and laid hardwoods; then they installed steel stud interior walls and drywalled.

Sucks because I don't have any visible top plates in attic which tell you where to drill to down to outlets and switches. I need carbide bits to drill between levels or from the attic on exterior walls. I've rewired half the top floor and all of kitchen at this point, plus added cable, cat5e, and smoke detectors to all rooms. I couldn't vacuum with the lights on without tripping breaker. I had to upgrade electrical service due to being undersized. I could not add gas stove due to good old boys agreement between gas and electric companies to make house 1/2 gas 1/2 electric.

House is a complete nightmare, I'm just venting (middle of kitchen remodel from hell). My 1960's house has nothing to do with new ones. Just been nothing but a pain and makes me never want to own one again. Repairs, renovations, and add ons are a nightmare. I've spent enough on repairs, maintenance, and upgrades to buy a new home in Florida and still lost money not even counting the money spend on upkeep.

/Rant off

My mom n dad have one in the mountains of NC. Dad made them build it of 2x6 walls and floors and they added extra insulation in the Attic and under the main floor. They built it on concrete blocks and piers..they’ve been it at least ten years and have no complaints. The floors don’t squeak and only problem I can see is adding electrical. Dad had to run some lines under the house to get more exterior outlets after the fact...there is a gap in the flooring between two rooms because one of their dogs ate the transition piece but my dad just hasn’t replaced it.

They drove the pieces to nearby and then a crane flew the rooms into place. It took about a week to get them into it after the first swing. There was some serious planning before hand with concrete, electrical delivery and the crane.

This is all good stuff.
Looks like I won’t save much money, but could save a lot of time.