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Downsizing for retirement

Discussion in 'Main Forum' started by HenryT, Apr 22, 2014.

  1. HenryT

    HenryT New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2014
    I'm retiring at the end of next year and my wife and I want to sell our current home and downsize to a smaller one. We're planning on making a few changes to one of the homes we found on this site, but I don't know at what point it makes more sense to just start from scratch, and how much wiggle room we have with doing some customization to the home we found. Is it more expensive to build a totally custom home?
  2. jake

    jake Owner Staff Member

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2014
    Hi there, Henry.

    This is a point of some contention, actually. The actual cost to manufacture a completely custom modular home should not be any greater than the cost to manufacture a modular home based off of a standard floor plan. The increase in cost that you might see would probably come from the actual cost to create the design. Architects can be expensive, and the cost of creating a home from the ground up can really add up.

    That said, if you're extensively customizing a standard plan, you'll need to pay the manufacturer's on-staff architects to take your notes into account. So if you're just moving a wall or two, adding external features, changing the interior feel of the home, or maybe even adding an addition on to the standard plan, it's probably less expensive to go that route. Anything more than that though, and you may be better off starting from scratch.

    The best way to know for sure is to have a frank conversation with the manufacturer of the home you're starting from and with an architect that has experience designing with modular building techniques in mind.

    This post discusses in detail the pros and cons of starting from scratch versus using a standard plan or modifying a non-modular plan.

    You may also find these posts helpful:
    The Infinite Possibility Of Modular Home Design
    Modular Home Customizations: It’s All About You
  3. Mackenzie

    Mackenzie New Member

    Joined:
    May 29, 2015
    We worked with Alair Homes for our new home. It was a scary decision but since we wanted a home with all the bells and whistles to our liking, we decided to commit. We chose Alair Homes since they have a software program that we could log into to see all the info - costs, and timeslines, when we wanted. That was pretty reassuring to us. Although it's not the cheapest desision, we thought it was a good decision for what we wanted.

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