Modular Homes

I have a plot of about 2 acres in NEPA....

Lookin to build a home after winter... right now i am looking into putting up a modular.

Anyone have any tips and things to look out for? Any companies to look at and any to avoid?

What should i expect to pay? i know its a tough question but i know they can get as expensive as you want but with the driveway, septic, well, basement and modular ( around 1,100 sf) any help would be appreciated

I lived in one modular. The ex-wife still lives there. We looked at many companies and the differences in quality was obvious. You basically want to go with whoever uses the beefiest building materials to get a more solid home. Then look at quality of insulation, windows and doors. The rest is just fluff. We settled on All-American Homes at the time as they were the best built in our area.

Cost will vary a good bit between builders as there will be differences in the quality of materials. I think we were around $70 per sq/ft. I might be totally wrong on that as it was a lot of beers ago.

This is about the best pic I still have of my ex's house.

Thanks for the reply... we were lookin at shorten and simplex but they were just the ones i knew of.... id love to be in the 70 dollar a foot range

Since you are looking at building very soon, I would look at used if you can.
If not, I would search much wider than you are willing to shop for a used one and check the resale on one ( one that needs to be moved ).
Check the price and what you can get out of it when you are done with it.
Quality isn't much of an issue if you are going to only be in it for such a short time.

When I built my first home, I lived in a 20 or 23 foot travel trailer for about three months while the house went up.
That was tight quarters!

Beyond quality of materials the next biggest factor when it comes to modulars is the amount if interior finish work that is done on site. I would make sure that all drywall, trim, and cabinets are done once the house in in place. Otherwise the drywall is prone to cracking (due to flexing during transport/install) and the trim and cabinets will have a lot of fit/finish issues.

If this is done quality can easily be on par with a built in place home.

I looked at some garage mods that had studio apartment type spaces above,... around 900 sq feet.... im hopin i can put one of those up plus a well and septic for around 50k.... live in that for a bit then add on when we need more space.... its only me and my gf right now.... even with a 10 year mortage for 50k it would prolly be less a month than my 900 dollar a month rent right now

Now you're talking.
You have something when you're done by building a garage with living quarters.
The modular is going to be money down the drain when you are done with it.

I just gotta convince my gf to go for it.... they are nice but they arent forever...


Why u say building a modular is money down the drain?

CliffMongoloid said:

I just gotta convince my gf to go for it.... they are nice but they arent forever...


Why u say building a modular is money down the drain?

Click to expand...

sounds like resale isn't as good with modular as with stick-built. Although there is some debate on that point (lead mostly by modular manufacturers, by the sounds of it).

broadbill said:

sounds like resale isn't as good with modular as with stick-built. Although there is some debate on that point (lead mostly by modular manufacturers, by the sounds of it).

Click to expand...

Going through an estate-sale iin Canada of a modular, the re-sale price is not that great.

MC

CliffMongoloid said:

I just gotta convince my gf to go for it.... they are nice but they arent forever...


Why u say building a modular is money down the drain?

Click to expand...

Two reasons.
First, like was said before the resale isn't as good. Don't listen to what people say, just check real estate prices.
Compare five year old, ten year old and twenty year old mobiles to stick built.
The mobile / modular will depreciate rather than go up in price. Consistently.

Second, since you are going to build on the same property you will have even less value in the mobile since it would have to be taken apart, moved, setup and trimmed out again. The garage with living space will be part of the property for you to use. It's just part of the cost of the new home and it will be done before you break ground on the main structure.

FWIW, mobiles and modulars are apples and oranges. Once a modular is on a foundation, it is listed the same as any home, at least in NC. ALso, once it's on foundation and finished, it cannot be moved like a mobile. Not gonna happen. The house I put up the pic of is a lot sturdier than 90% of the stick built homes in this area. I'd put the build quality of it up against just about any home I've ever stepped foot in. Like I said in the beginning, if the modular built with quality materials, it will be a solid house. In the 8 years I spent living in that house, not a single drywall repair was needed, or any other repair for that matter. My .02.

+1 with willness on mods vs. mobiles.. two different animals. Mods are stick built in sections offsite and pretty much a tilt ups. The walls are built in a clean factory to specs, much like your truss systems which are also built away from the job site. I am hoping to have a mod built for myself as a retirement home as the costs are much lower than onsite building. I like the flexibility to design and put up at a much lower cost.

We live in what is considered a "nice" modular. 2x6 construction, dual pane windows, extra insulation, plenty of other energy efficient doo-dads, solar lights, etc. At the time we bought our land, you could not get a stick built in the area for nothing less than a fortune.

Plan on:

Maintainance...lots of it, more so that what I faced in my old home (built in 1927) in Connecticut.

Checking the laws about real estate in the area you are looking, some require an affidavit of affixture for the home to be considered "real property" or "real estate. Without this you will end up with two tax bills in some areas.

Maintainance...Chances are, nothing will be sqaure, and they will cut corners. Problems may not show up for years, like us having to rip out a wall and part of a floor due to a poorly installed window leaking water INSIDE the wall.

Property vallue loss on the structure, anyone that tells you otherwise is full of bovine excriment.

Maintainance, most of the fixtures in our home have since been replaced. You can opt for better when they build it, but the cost will get rolled into your mortgage. consider the interest you will pay on nice faucets and toilets for 30 years.

Lastly, if you are going to fgo this route, make sure you get plaenty of land to go with it. the land we have has been the only thing that has saved our property from being a complete bust durring the bust. With land, you have investment potential seperate of the structure you live in...

Good luck, that is all for now...

well we visited simplex homes yesterday in scranton PA...

My gf is dead set on a two story but since it is only 2 of us i am reluctant on this... we dont need alot but i understand the arguement that if we dont build what we want now we probaly wont ever...

i would like to do a cape... with a unfinished upstairs... then in the future make that unfinished upstairs into a master bedroom and large bathroom... but she dosent like the slated ceilings.... imma go broke

I built modulars for about 8 years in New England for 2 different companies. One for about 7 1/2 the other for 6 months. My first suggestion would be to have it built in the winter. That's when the companies slow down and lay off all the guys that don't know what they are doing. They keep their good people through the winter and you will end up with a better quality home.
Look at how the different companies in the area do things the same/different. One may use 2x4 for the marriage wall the other 2x3. Stuff like that. On those types of things alone I wouldn't buy a home from one of the companies I worked for.
Modular companies will try to build their homes as cheap as possible. They will meet local codes but just barely so it's good to know code versus local practice.
They can be built really well or you could have a money pit so do a ton of research.