Indeed you can save money by choosing a modular home, but how much are the savings? It depends on your design complexity, the size, and the number of options that are added to your modular home plan. Compared to a site-built home, savings are significant, but you are still paying for high quality construction that meets the same rigorous building code standards. In this regard, your costs are still substantial, but you can expect to save about 20 percent overall compared to a home built on-site.
In looking at floor design options, the price as anticipated varies according to design complexity. The more elegant the home, the higher the price per square foot. Within a design, some manufacturers offer grades of amenities. For instance a single floor design may come in a basic, an average and a high end option with advancing levels of amenities added accordingly. For most standard plans, prices range from 55 dollars per square foot up to 150 dollars per square foot. As you begin to tailor your modular home to more architecturally complex styles, the prices can continue to rise of course.
When looking to add options, pricing can be summarized by the type of "upgrade" that you want. Here are some examples of what you might consider in designing your home and its related price range.
Extra window - $500 Picture window - $1200-$2300 Cathedral ceiling - $50 per foot Swinging door - $1000-$1600 Recessed lights - $70 per fixture Dormers w/window - $5000 Extra TV/Phone jacks - $55 per jack Shutters - $40 per pair
These are just some examples for pricing, but each manufacturer will have their own catalog of options available and pricing for design styles. Unlike site-built homes, once you have submitted the design with your builder's approval to the manufacturer, construction on your home begins immediately. Therefore, there are not options to change the plans once the manufacturer begins. This has advantages and disadvantages. On a good note, your budget and financing are quite secure with a known cost and little chance for unexpected surprises. But you are locked into your design once construction starts, and there is little room for a change of mind. In short, be sure about your plans before they are formally submitted.
In addition to the home's construction, the pricing also includes delivery of your modular home to its site, crane and set crew labor, installation of support columns for your home, assembly and shingling of the roof, connection of the modules, and completion of all exterior siding and trim. The remainder of the finishing work is additional costs that you will negotiate with your builder, and these averages another 10-15 percent of your costs. Finishing costs include site preparation work, foundation work, buttoning up and tie in procedures, landscaping, etc. These should also be known up front by sitting down with your builder and detailing expenses.
Pricing options vary significantly just as they do with site built homes. Decide what your budget is and decide what is important to you. The best thing is that tremendous choices await you, and certainly there is a perfect modular home style that fits your family's needs for the right price.
If so, you can relax. You may not have known that in the oil company British Petroleum, which built the Alaska pipeline during the 1970s, uses modular housing to house its construction employees on Alaska's North Slope. The terrain and weather conditions on Alaska's North Slope are among the harshest on Earth, with permafrost which never thaws. The average temperature on the North Slope is 9.7 degrees, and where the wind never stops blowing and fifty-mile an hour gusts, producing wind chills of fifty below, are monthly occurrences.
If an Alaska modular home can handle the North Coast, they can handle almost any other part of Alaska as long as it does not thaw in the spring and float out to sea. An Alaska modular home, in fact, may be the only option for parts of the state to remote to be accessible for construction crew and the delivery of traditional home building materials.
It's Not A Mobile Home
Many people have lumped modular homes into the same category as mobile homes, and they could not be more different. Your Alaska modular home will be constructed on a permanent foundation and cannot be moved.
When completed their appearance is identical to that of traditionally constructed homes, but the number of people for their construction is much smaller, and they can be completed in much less time than traditional homes. Its simplified construction means that an Alaska modular home will cost considerably less than an equivalent traditional home.
Energy Efficiency
One of your major concerns, if you are considering an Alaska modular home, will be its energy efficiency. Because modular homes are built in blocks which are designed to fit together precisely, they are almost completely draft proof. But an Alaska modular home can be ordered with additional insulation, and even manufactured to meet Energy Star standards. In addition, your Alaska modular homes will be constructed to meet the building codes in the municipalities where it is built.
One factor you'll have to work into your Alaska modular home plans is the delivery cost you'll have to pay. Depending on which part of Alaska you want to call home, your Alaska modular home may have to come a long way, and the shipping charges can add a significant percentage to its cost. For more info see http://www.1modularhomes.com/Articles/Modular_Home_Builder.php on Modular Home Builder.
Alaska has the scenery, the clear clean air, and the peace and quiet that can make you wonder why you ever wanted to live anywhere else. And your Alaska modular home, against a setting like that, can guarantee that you won't!
Both Mike Zenga & Wade Robins are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Mike Zenga has sinced written about articles on various topics from Home Businesses, Family and Health. Michael Zenga is a in the Boston, MA area. He founded ZN Custom Building, in 2002, which specializes in modular home construction. Known as the. Mike Zenga's top article generates over 14800 views. to your Favourites.
Wade Robins has sinced written about articles on various topics from Bathroom Decor, Motorola Cell Phone and Dieting. You can also find more info on and. Wade Robins's top article generates over 135000 views. to your Favourites.