Everything You need to Know Before Building a Prefab Home
From Cost And Practicality To Everything In Between
Although prefab homes have now made it to mainstream residential real estate in the United States and across the world at large, they have been in existence for over two centuries.
At present, modern prefab homes are overtaking the more conventional ways of building as they have become more affordable, greener, and sustainable, offering homeowners appealing possibilities.
That brings us to the big question. What exactly are prefab homes, and do they live up to what they are portrayed to be? Well, here is everything you need to know before you build a prefabricated home.
What is a prefab home?
A prefabricated home or prefab home is a residential building structure assembled from components manufactured under factory conditions. These factory-manufactured assembled and sub-assembled components are then transported to the building site for construction.
What sets prefab homes apart from conventional homes is mainly the way they are constructed. While prefab homes are anchored to the foundation assembled on-site, conventional homes are built stick-by-stick. As a result, the building process for prefab homes is faster, taking at least three months, depending on the size and design, to manufacture, construct, and equip with all fittings required from the date you place your order.
What prefab home options are available on the market?
Prefab refers to the construction process and not the building structure as a whole. As a result, there are several types of prefab homes in the market, and some might combine two or more types in the construction of the kit housing structures.
Modular homes
These prefab homes are manufactured in the form of modules in a factory before being transported to the construction site. Each module is equipped with all the house basics before construction, and they include electrical systems, plumbing systems, doors, closets, cabinets, etc.
Modular homes, as a result, require the least amount of finishing work on the interiors after being assembled on-site. As a result, modular homes take the least time to construct after manufactured homes.
Panelized homes
Panelized home kits are built from panels that are transported to the construction site for assembly. These panels come in the form of walls, flooring, roofs, and other components and supporting structures.
As panelized homes do not come with basic home systems integrated into their kit housing structures, their designs can be modified during the manufacturing process, making them highly customizable. As a result, they require more work input in terms of finishing as compared to modular homes.
Pre-cut homes
Pre-cut homes are prefab kit homes that come with building instruction manuals on how to assemble them. The homeowner then decides whether they want to assemble their pre-cut home themselves or hire contractors to do it on their behalf at the building site.
Manufactured homes
These homes are completely manufactured and assembled in a factory off of the building site. They are then transported to the construction site in a fully assembled state and anchored to the foundation. No construction work takes place at the building site. As a result, manufactured homes are of the poorest quality among prefab homes, making them less popular.
Some modern prefab home builders combine modular and panelized home-building technology to manufacture and construct their homes. An example of such is Green Origin Homes where they use European Modular Building technology in the manufacture. This not only streamlines the construction process but is a cost-effective and energy-efficient way of building kit housing structures.
Are modern prefab homes affordable?
Compared to conventional stick-building and brick houses, prefab homes are by far the most economical way to build, saving you a lot of money both during construction and in the long run.
How? Well, here is a breakdown of what makes prefab homes more affordable:
Low labor costs
Prefab homes are manufactured in factories using machines. As a result, there is no need for a lot of manpower during the fabrication process, reducing the labor costs, and the overall cost of your construction project. Moreover, as the prefab homes come in kits of ready-built components to be assembled, you don’t need a lot of carpenters and contractors on-site to assemble your prefab home and install all the necessary fittings and fixtures.
This reduction in labor costs results in a reduction in the overall cost of manufacturing, constructing, and adding finishing touches to your modern prefab home.
Quality and durability
According to experts, prefab homes can last for at least 100 years, making them highly durable and stable. Most prefab homes are manufactured using laminated wood panels and sturdy supporting beams and trusses, and as a result, they are resistant to seismic activity, extreme weather conditions, and loading. You will, as a result, spend less on upkeep and maintenance efforts for your prefab homes.
Furthermore, modern prefab home builders usually offer conditional warranties to protect your prefab luxury home from structural and cosmetic damage, giving you value for money.
Precision manufacturing
Modern prefab home kits are fabricated using computer-aided precision machinery to ensure that your raw materials are machined with the highest degree of accuracy. As a result, the amount of waste produced during manufacturing is reduced significantly. According to Forbes, panelized homes have a 75% reduction in the total volume of waste produced during construction.
Fast turnaround times
As prefab homes are fabricated in factories before being transported to the building site to be assembled, there is a remarkable reduction in the total time taken to construct your prefab home. When you build a panelized home, there will be a 75% reduction in the total time taken to frame the kit housing structures during construction.
According to experts, building prefab homes can be up to 50% faster than building conventional stick homes. Moreover, prefab homes are only assembled on-site and not constructed there. As a result, the number of weather-related delays will be reduced and you can expect to get your kit housing structures fully completed without making drastic changes to your building schedule.
Less raw material requirements
Thanks to computer-aided precision manufacturing technology, the raw materials required to manufacture panelized homes are optimized and used to their fullest extent. As a result, there is a significant reduction in the amount of lumber needed to manufacture your prefab homes. Panelized homes use 25% less lumber than conventional stick-built homes as per a study conducted in 1996 called Framing the American Dream.
Smart building technology
Modern prefab homes integrate smart technology systems into their designs to improve their energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact. The use of Energy-Star-rated appliances and smart building strategies improve the efficiency of your home’s heating and cooling systems, significantly reducing power consumption from the grid. As a result, your prefab home utility bills will be lower, giving you value for money.
Moreover, net-zero energy prefab homes use as much energy as they produce making them self-sufficient. The use of solar energy and other renewable energy sources means that power will not be obtained from the grid, giving you high returns on investment in the long run.
Understand where your money is going
While prefab homes are more affordable than conventional homes, it is of great importance to understand that the total cost of building your panelized home is more than just what you pay to procure and assemble your prefab home kit. You have to consider a couple of factors affecting the overall cost and know what your modern prefab home kit package includes.
Getting land
Before you start your building project, you have to find suitable land to build your modern prefab home. While several factors affect the location your modern prefab home will be built, you have to consider how much you can afford to pay for the plot of land and if the remaining amount will fully cover the rest of the project, including finishes.
Obtaining your building permits
There are a lot of processes and paperwork that need to be sorted out before obtaining a building permit. You need to get engineers on board to perform soil testing and structural analysis of your prefab home as well as energy calculations among others before your building permit can be approved.
Site preparation
Site preparation is a very crucial step in the construction of modern prefab homes and depending on the land you acquire, there are a couple of steps you need to take before you lay down your foundation and perform utility hookups. This may include land clearing, leveling, and other processes that you will be accountable for. Usually, the cost of building a foundation is not included in prefab home kit packages.
Customizing your prefab home
Prefab homes, especially panelized homes are highly customizable structures and offer a lot of design options. Depending on the complexity of the design and magnitude of your modern prefab home, you can fully customize your new home designs according to your style, taste, and budget.
Hiring contractors
When evaluating the total cost of your modern prefab home, you have to take into account the cost of getting contractors on board. How much contractors will charge is dependent on the size of your modern prefab home and the complexity in the design.
Adding finishing touches to your home
No home is complete without adding finishing touches. You have to consider landscaping costs, adding driveways and garages to your prefab home, and the cost of installing smart technology, fittings, fixtures, and utilities into your modern prefab homes.
To make the construction of your prefab home more cost-effective and less strenuous, you can hire a full-service design-build firm to take over your entire construction project. This means they will take care of all the building processes and coordinate the necessary contractors and workmen essential to bring your modern prefab home from concept to completion.
Green Origin Homes is the best design-build architectural firm specializing in the construction of luxury prefab homes in the United States. We offer our services to homeowners who wish to build panelized homes in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
Our team works in your best interest to bring you value for money by securing the best deals possible with contractors and all parties involved in the manufacture of your prefab home to give you value for money.
We also act as a single point of contact between you and all entities involved in your project to save you time and money so you can solely focus on what matters most to you while we take care of the rest.
Financing your prefab home building project
The downside of building prefab homes is that they require payments upfront, and this discourages a lot of potential homeowners from taking the initiative to build them.
Getting funds together is the most important stage of prefab home construction after estimating the total cost of the entire project. The good thing, however, is that you can finance your modern prefab home-building project with a new home construction loan to kickstart your project and later convert it into a mortgage.
Green Origin Homes helps you get new home construction loans to help you finance your entire building project. We leverage our strong network of independent investors and lending companies to get you the funds you need at the best interest rates in the market. Moreover, our in-house financial team also helps you get funding from banks. We help you get all your paperwork to increase your chances of getting loan approval.
Reducing environmental impact
As more and more people are becoming environmentally conscious, the construction industry is now turning towards eco-friendly and sustainable building structures. Modern prefab homes are more eco-friendly in comparison to conventional stick home building structures.
Modern prefab home manufacture and construction uses less material, produces less waste, and is done in an eco-friendly manner to reduce pollution and environmental degradation. They also have energy-efficient green construction technology and Energy Star-rated appliances integrated into their structures to minimize the environmental impact of using power from conventional energy sources.
At Green Origin Homes, we use smart German technology and advanced European modular building technology to construct our prefab luxury homes.
Key takeaways
While modern prefab homes have many advantages over conventional stick homes, several steps are involved in bringing them from concept to completion. The entire process can prove to be very overwhelming, especially for new homeowners.
The best course of action you can take is to hire a modern prefabricated home design-build firm to take care of all processes on your behalf. It not only minimizes the risks associated with building your home, but it also helps you reduce costs and save time on tedious processes.
