Modular Homes Article

Benchmark for quality home construction is modular

Author: Scott Best

IIf you're still of the mindset that a modular home is a cheap cracker box thrown together and then carried to site on a truck you may want to think again. Although it may have been true many years ago that modular homes were of inferior quality compared to standard construction homes that is no longer the case. In fact many modularly constructed homes are far superior in materials and construction methods then homes of the same value and size constructed using standard or conventional construction methods.

Let's take a look at what modular actually means." Designed with standardized units or dimensions as for easy assembly and repair or flexible arrangement", using that definition let's take a closer look at how modular homes today meet a higher standard.

“Designed with standardized units", what that means is that every measurement, every piece of construction material, every method used in the modular home construction process is the same, they don't differ from one point of the process to another. The quality of the first boards nailed together is just as high as the last ones. Every angle every cut throughout the construction process is quality controlled usually in a climate controlled factory.

Construction is never hampered by inclement weather. The quality of lumber is never compromised due to the swelling caused by rain or high outdoor humidity or by its shrinkage due to high temperatures and sunshine. These two factors alone cause more inconsistencies in conventional construction than anything else. With modular construction these types of natural element construction hindrances are virtually eliminated.

Rain, wind, snow, and high temperatures often cause delays to conventional construction methods on-site adding to the overall cost of construction because workers have to be paid and the construction company needs to make money to make those payments. These types of delays are never a concern in the modular construction industry. Not to mention those forces of nature often cause damage to materials on-site increasing material costs. Again this doesn't occur with modular construction.

Modern modular home construction facilities use precisely engineered jigs and templates in much of the process of home construction. What this does is make sure that one wall mates to another precisely every time, it means that every opening for every door and every window is exactly as it should be. No more wasted time reconstructing areas that don't fit quite as they should which often happens in conventional construction adding again the overall cost of conventional construction. The cost of waste materials on a conventional construction site is estimated to be about 10% or even higher because of all of the missed cuts improper alignment and reconstruction that happens.

In the modular construction process, plans are laid out well in advance of the first cut. This process is so efficient that every cut down to the last detail is laid out precisely and carried out many times by machine. From start to finish the wasted material average is generally 1% or less for modular construction. That's a huge increase in material savings over conventional construction.

So what does all of this mean to the consumer? It means a lot of things really. It means that the consumer can have a new home constructed modularly for less most times than a home using conventional construction method. It means the consumer will get a superior finished product with modular construction. It generally means the overall construction process is more manageable from start to finish. It means that the consumer has more control over options, floor plans, construction materials and time frame of the construction process that ever before. In general it means that a family could have a newly constructed modular home for about the price of an existing home with the same square footage for the same amount of money. That's huge.

If you're in the market for a new home you owe it to yourself to look into the modular housing industry. If you haven't done so lately and you still have the concept of the cracker box on wheels you don't know modular homes. Take the time to investigate what modular homes can be today. I think you'll be surprised.

About the Author:

Scott Best is a freelance writer / author in association with www.newmodularinfo.com

Copyright © 2011 Scott Best