Pre-Fab Homes?

itwerx asks: "I am considering purchasing a pre-fabricated home to put on an empty lot in an urban area. I have researched hither and yon and Googled to my heart's content and found great gobs of information online. The question here is what the SlashDot community's own experience has been with this type of technology? Anybody purchase a pre-fab home recently? What was your experience like?"

Comments

prefabs are great

[Bishop]

From a process engineering (geek) point of view you can't beat a prefab house built in a factory. There is much better control of the process and allocation of workers. For example if the frameing is finished early the electricians can start early. It is also easier to train a framer/drywaller/painter (which the trade unions hate) who can be quickly moved around as needed. If a house is running late it is possible to work 24hrs instead of only durring dayling. The quality control is also going to be better as a knowledgeble foreman can supervise many homes at once. Also the house designer or someone with similar training is probably onsite and can be called upon to decipher the drawings.

Anecdotal evidence shows that locally prefab houses are of much better quality then regular built homes. The better process builds a better home. By "anectdotal evidence" I mean the 2 prefab houses I know of had no serious problems. Whereas 7 other new home owners have had significant issues from cracks in the wall, to no insulation in the atic/roof, to improperly installed hardwood floors. It is possible that the local home builders are simply incompetent.

Re:prefabs are great

[Zeinfeld]

From a process engineering (geek) point of view you can't beat a prefab house built in a factory.

The first ever pre-fab homes were built by Thomas Edison for his own use. He had two built next door to each other on his place in Florida. There was no way he could have got the quality of contractors localy in what was then a swamp mostly.

If you are going to build a wooden house you are almost certainly going to build it in panels and then fit the panels together. Bob Villa builds all his houses that way at any rate. So there is not much difference between building a partly finished panel onsite and a fully finished panel back at a factory. Certainly no intrinsic reason pre-fab should be worse.

I have a Victorian arts and crafts house, some parts are completely hand crafted, others are machine made. The real difference is not the type of manufacture, its the quality of the materials.

Re:prefabs are great

[shakah]

The first ever pre-fab homes were built by Thomas Edison for his own use.

FWIW, he also built some concrete houses in New Jersey (US).

Re:Consider how they're built

[Hanzie]

Forgot 2 things:

#1: Apparently the expensive homes are generally very well built, since the owners are, or can afford, lawyers. The opposite is also generally accepted.

#2: Pa-in-law was the building inspector who caught the rebar theft out of foundations. He inspected multiple concrete buildings a contractor was putting up. The inspections were spaced far enough apart that they could pull the rebar out of building #1 and get it to #3 while #2 was inspected. Then #2's rebar went to #4.

Apparently they figured that once the cement was poured, there wouldn't be any way to tell the rebar was gone. They probably also figured that it would be such a boneheadedly stupid thing to do that nobody would think to look out for it.

Anyway, something triggered suspicions, and he went back and checked #1 as it was being poured. No rebar. Stop the pouring and drive straight to #2. Same story, but no cement yet.

The end of the story involved jackhammers and large fines. Building inspectors herabouts get badges and citation authority.

It was a huge risk for such a tiny gain, since rebar is so cheap. On the other hand, as my father in law says: If nobody ever tried it, there wouldn't be inspection requirements.

but maybe you don't like colonial ?

[HughsOnFirst]

If you don't want a colonial, or other "traditional" home you should check out
FabPrefab, a web resource dedicated to tracking developments in the realm of 'modernist prefab dwellings'.

Also check out Dwell Magazine and the Dwell Home which is a showcase project for the magazine and is prefab.
The Loftcube is a cool Prefab Penthouse ( delivered by helicopter ! ), but whether you could get one shipped from Germany is something else.

Re:Consider how they're built

[ksheff]

I've heard of contractors doing the same thing with insulation. and the owners wonder why their utility bill is so high...

Steel Buildings

[cr0sh]

Look into steel building manufacturers and contractors. Many times, these people offer various packages to suit your needs (outside and inside details). Yours may be "funky" (ie, a house instead of a business or meeting hall), but they should be able to work with you to get what you want. Furthermore, such buildings can be *very* cheap (a place here in the Phoenix area is offering a 80 x 150 foot building for $50,000 - sure, that is probably without any "extras" - but still damn cheap for the sq footage).

Re:30 Years Later

[Spock the Baptist]

Check out this website...

http://www.heritagebuildings.com/homes/home_more _i nfo.htm

Trailer Park my foot.

I'll never even consider a 'stick built' house. All of my family and friends have horror stories about contractors, etc.. To use one of my Dad's very favorite sayings 'If you want it done right, you've got to do it yourself.'

Depreciation

[phyy-nx]

Now here is the big problem I saw in pre-fabs: they are more like cars than homes, especially if you put them in an already established village. They depreciate. My wife and I were very tempted by them, but one of the things that eventually turned us off was how insistent our salesman was that he could get us _out_ of it when were were done with it. That's a selling point? Are they so hard to get rid of? Yah, we ran. Maybe things have changed since then but its worth looking into.

Now, if you are not going to move out from it, than yeah, maybe it could work out pretty good.

Re:Depends on the materials

[lowmagnet]

If your house is fibro and tin, then it is a trailer, and not a pre-fab. Or it is a Ryan home.

In fact, I've seen houses go up across the street from my pop's place, and I have to say their construction speed / materials used are naff. They use particle board the whole way up, and they take up to three months to build and roof.

That is in Pennsylvania, which is not the driest state in the union. Where I live now (NC), they build the roof first to cover construction then jack it up while building walls beneath. It is interesting to watch.

It is not, however, as good as the factory built home my grandparents live in. It fits in with the 'compound' (what we call my mom's place, it's a sprawling contemporary) and it was built for $50,000 + foundation and finishing touches (we do a lot of DIY construction in my family). Unfortunately, they didn't build it perfectly to specs, so they had to make some adjustments. The company that did it went OOB a few months later, so so much for the warranty. Ah well, pick your builder better next time is what we learned.

Re:Get tornado insurance

[ElectricRook]

There's a reason mobile home parks are known as "Tornado Magnets".

Have an insurance agent tell you about insurance options/price difference between modular and stick built homes.

Modular homes seem to have straighter lines, but they are made from thinner lumber. Where a stick built home is made from 2-by somethings, modular homes are made from 3/4 by somethings. Joinery is neater in modular construction, but materials are much thinner. One of the main interests in modular construction is weight of the finished product.

Consider how modular homes are attached to the foundation? My stick built house is bolted to baselite basement walls attached (hopefully) with rebar to footings dug into the soil. I actually have an attic which I can crawl up into and view the insulation, add electric circuits, and lighting or fans.

Consider how the electric circuits are going to be connected together in a modular. If a home is a bunch of boxes, the wiring is snap together.

Do you want copper or PVC plumbing? Copper never had the "blue water" problem. It's more expensive, but more resiliant if there is a freeze. What size water heaters are available, and what does your family need?

What if you want to remodel?

Ask a realestate agent to price out older modular homes onsite, and compare them to new modular homes + installation and landscaping. Often modular homes don't appreciate as fast as stick built homes. But consider that newer modulars are built with a different paradyme than older modulars (new modulars are not oversized travel trailers).

All show pieces, both stick and modulars have under-sized furniture. Take in a tape measure, and layout your furniture in the modular model. If you have a king-sized bed, go into a bedroom, and layout a king size bed with night stands etc.
Do the same in the kitchen/dining area for the dining table, and especially your washer/dryer and refridgirator. If you go to see an installed modular, flush the toilet, and turn on the shower, go to other rooms to see how much noise transfers. Are you un-happy with that amount of noise.

Some people are very happy with modulars, and there can be a huge savings with a modular manufacturers mass buying power on appliances.