Modular Homes
Have you ever imagined your house being built in a factory? Modular homes are the latest construction fad to catch the fancies of home owners. Modular homes not only save money, they save time as well as the hassle of construction. Modular homes are in many ways superior to traditional built homes, and, once assembled, cannot be distinguished from their traditionally built counterpart.
What exactly is a modular home? In simple terms, a modular home is built in a factory, usually in assembly-line fashion, and then transported to the site in large units. These units are then lifted from the transport by crane and rested on a pre-built foundation and fastened together. The entire process takes a fraction of the time it takes to build a house on-site, and the finished product can cost a good deal less.
Modular homes today can be built to any specification and size. They could be as simple as a one-and-a-half split-level ranch to a grand, three-bath, 4000 square foot two-storey mansion. Even in terms of comfort and amenities, they are no different than their traditional counterparts. Although most modular home companies use the same product for each component of each house on the assembly line, it is still possible to substitute another brand to suit a home builder's desires.
Once the home builder has decided in favor of a modular home, the next obvious step comes in the form of selecting the right manufacturer. The manufacturer offers the homeowner a range of floor plans to choose from. When these decisions have been made and an initial contract is signed, the manufacturer's engineering staff overlooks the plans and the factory starts work on constructing the home. The plans could also be customized in accordance with the personal needs of the home builder.
After the manufacturer has begun building the modular home in the factory, it is usually just a matter of weeks before the units are ready for transport. As the work in the factory is taking place, on-site construction of the home's foundation by the local builder is being done to ready the site for the arrival of the home. As the foundation is being laid on-site as the home is being built in the factory, the overall construction time is dramatically reduced.
The modular home is then shipped to the site on flatbed trucks. The units are then placed by crane onto the foundation, and the entire home is fastened together. Generally the completion time after the units have been placed can be anywhere from a couple of weeks for simple designs, to 90 days for complex custom jobs. The average completion time from the initial order to move-in is roughly three months, compared to an average completion time of about six months to a year for a site-built home.
