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Empty Interiors?

Discussion in 'Main Forum' started by caaron, Jan 26, 2016.

  1. caaron

    caaron New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2016
    Do manufacturers offer prefabricated homes that have an empty interior? For example, I would be interested in purchasing a prefabricated home that has a finished exterior with no interior finishes. If my question is unclear, please let me know. Thank you.
  2. jake

    jake Owner Staff Member

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2014
    Hi caaron,

    With most custom modular home builders, the key word is custom. Builders pride themselves on giving the customer exactly what they want, even if what they want is 'nothing!'

    That being said, there are some things that need to be in the home for it to make sense to build. Would you be planning to do the interior finishing yourself? If you're thinking of hiring a site-builder to do the interior work, I would caution that it would likely be much more expensive to do that than to have that work done in the factory. Things like installing cabinets, finishing the floors, etc are all part of the normal process at a factory and can be completed much faster, for much less money, and often at a higher quality when they're done there rather than on the job site.

    What was the reason for wanting an unfinished interior? That may shed some new insight into the situation.
  3. caaron

    caaron New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2016
    Hi Jake,

    Thank you for your reply. I recently worked on a project with my GC crew and the process was rather inexpensive (complete gut renovation). Although, I'm not sure if this would be a cheaper alternative to getting all customizations done during the manufacturing process, I thought I'd explore the solo route as well. Any advice is always welcomed.

    Aaron
  4. jake

    jake Owner Staff Member

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2014
    Aaron,

    It really depends on what sort of customization you're looking to do. Lets take the bathroom for example. A modular home factory will have a relationship with companies that sell them sinks, toilets, showers, etc. in bulk for prices that are much lower than you or most site-builders would pay. So if you want a nice bathroom with normal finishes, it would be less expensive to have the manufacturer do that work because both the raw materials and the labor are less expensive.

    If however you wanted very high end or custom fixtures, the manufacturer wouldn't have those on hand and they would need to be special ordered - at that point, it's probably just as expensive as if you went and bought what you were looking for at the Home Depot. Unless you're doing the labor yourself though, the labor will still be more expensive using a GC crew since site-building crews are generally paid more per hour of work than crews working in a modular home factory. This is due to site-building crews needing to be compensated for travel time, having less frequent work, and often needing to be proficient in multiple different aspects of home building. By contrast, a modular home factory worker doesn't need to travel to a job site, works normal hours every day, and specializes in only the one task that they perform.

    So if you were looking to save on the cost of constructing a modular home, you can get a detailed breakdown of expected costs from your builder and see if there are indeed areas where you can do it for less, but I wouldn't expect there to be too many instances where that would be true!

    I'd be very interested to see what you find if you do go this route!
  5. caaron

    caaron New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2016
    Jake,

    Very good info. I wouldn't be needing anything fancy to be honest. I will be looking to do something in the next 3 months or so. I've never dealt this modular homes, but I hear it's a better alternative. Once I find a plot of land im interested in, what would be the next steps I should take to get the ball rolling?

    Aaron
  6. jake

    jake Owner Staff Member

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2014
    Aaron,

    Well you've already started off right by getting yourself educated about modular homes. That's the #1 concern of builders is that some people calling for a house think that they'll be getting a manufactured/trailer home. Tell a builder you understand what modular is and you're interested and they're likely to start crying tears of joy.

    Getting the ball rolling is pretty easy - reach out to builders. You can do that through us easily by picking out a plan in our database that you like the look of. Fill out your info and we'll have local builders reach out to you about building the home. You should talk with at least three builders to see what they can offer. They may work with different manufacturers, so you should do research on the manufacturers as well, but in my opinion (and this is a controversial one), it's more important to find the right builder than the right manufacturer.

    At the same time (or even before), you want to find out how much home you can afford. Get pre-qualified for a loan. If builders will love you for knowing what modular is, they'll marry you for already knowing your actual budget. If you already own land too, they'll keel over and die on the spot.
  7. caaron

    caaron New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2016
    Hahaha! It would be an all cash transaction and I would be looking to spend no more than 200k. I appreciate the info Jake. This is really helpful.

    Aaron
  8. Mary Holcomb

    Mary Holcomb New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2016
    Thank you, for the question and sharing information.

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