The Benefits of Building a Modular Home
New homes are being constructed almost every day in many neighborhoods. A
traditional built home (or stick built home) is a built entirely on site piece by piece. One
day a person can drive by a site and see the inside of the house (or skeleton) built with
many pieces of wood. Another day, there is now a roof and plywood covering the
skeleton. Shortly after that, the house has siding, doors and windows. What about when
a person drives by an empty site one day and the very next day there is a house with
doors, window, siding and a roof. This is what’s known as a modular home. Modular
homes are factory built, they are faster to complete than traditional homes, they are
affordable, and they also have design flexibility and have many construction
advantages.
When someone hears the words “modular home” the first thought that comes to
mind is a mobile home or trailer home. This may have been the truth a few decades ago
but not today. The article Construction Matters states that modular building is one
promising technique to lower the impacts of construction and is utilized for various
building types, including single-family homes, multifamily housing, hotels, dormitories,
and various commercial and retail structures. Modular construction is a form of
prefabrication that involves the creation of discrete volumetric sections of buildings that
are transported to a site and assembled into a complete building (Quale).
With that being said, a key factor in modular home building is the ability to be completed
faster than a traditional built home because the majority of the construction of the home
is completed in a climate controlled factory.
The modules are transported to the building site 80% to 90% complete, where
they are assembled and finished. Because the modules can be constructed while the
site and foundation are being prepared, instead of after, modular construction is thought
to reduce construction times by 30% to 50% (Quale).
Modular homes are becoming very popular with many people including
contractors. For instance, take Lee Spencer. Lee is a general contractor who resides in
Florence, NJ. “It’s better built than a stick home,” he said of his new 1,300-square-foot
house, using the industry term for homes built on site. “Nails don’t pop, and the wood
never got wet from lying on site. It’s more efficient, too. Costs less to heat and cool.”
