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Modular Builders
Land by State
Log Homes
Panelized Homes
Mortgages
Mortgage Calculator
Green Building
Useful Links
1. Compare Apples to Apples
There are many different builders to choose from when building a modular home, and sometimes the hardest thing to
get out of a builder is a firm price. Even when you do get a number, each builder has its own set of items that are
included or not included in the price. Even if you are looking for a “turn key” price, two builders may have a different
opinion of what that actually means. The good thing about most modular home builders is they will generally let you
decide how much, if any of the labor or contracting you would like to do yourself, giving you a chance to leverage any
experience or contacts you have to save money on the project. So what you really need to do is to have a checklist
ready of everything that is involved in completing your home . That way once you’ve found a couple plans or
companies you like, you can get the pricing from the builders you are interested in and go through your list and find
out what is included so you can compare the different builders on a level playing field. The list should include things
like “Is the driveway included in the price?”, “ does the house come equipped with gutters?” “ Does that price include
painting or just primer?”, etc. I will post a complete checklist here later in the week so check back for this.
2. Which work would you be willing to do yourself or contract out to save money?
Like I said earlier, generally with a modular home, the builder/dealer will let you do as much or as little of the work on
the house yourself. You can get a complete turnkey home, or at the other end of the spectrum you can act as your
own general contractor, or anything in between. With a true complete turnkey home the builder completes everything
necessary for you to drive up to the home and start moving in. In the scenario where you act as your own general
contractor, the modular builder has the home delivered to your lot, sets it on the foundation and leaves. You are
responsible for all of the finishing work, either by hiring subcontractors or completing it yourself. Many people that
build modular homes have some skill or contact that they can use to save some money on the house and often times
the builder is glad to take the money off of the price to let the buyer complete those jobs. If you find the perfect home,
but it looks like you will have trouble fitting it into your budget, it is very useful to have some skills or contacts that can
help you do some of the work to bring the price down to what you can afford. So for example, say you’ve found the
perfect house plan, you like the builder and you’ve picked out all the cabinets, molding, siding, etc. and you have a
turnkey price for the whole project from the builder that includes EVERYTHING for $250,000. The problem is you have
a budget of $225,000 based on what you have for a down payment plus the financing you qualify for. In this situation
there are a few ways to reduce your costs to get the house within your budget. First, you want to tell your builder the
situation and see what they can do to reduce the price. (He may actually knock a couple thousand dollars off the
price, but even the most desperate of builders will not go down $25,000). Next you should ask the builder to break
down the costs of the finishing work that is involved in the project to see if there is anything you could take care of
yourself to save some money. Here are some places I have found that a buyer can save some money:
Painting-
Most modular homes come standard with white primer and there is a cost associated with the paint colors you select
for each of the rooms. By offering to paint the interior of the house yourself you can save on the labor and maybe
even shop around and find a good price on paint.
Flooring- This is a great place to save money, especially with hardwood floors. The hardwood floors you can get now
at places like Home Depot and Lowe’s are easy enough to install that you may be able to do it yourself with the help of
family or friends. Even if you would prefer not to do it you can generally find a good subcontractor to do it for you and
save some money. For example, if the builder tells you that the hardwood floor will cost you $9 per square foot
installed, you can probably shop around and find someone that can do it for $5 per square foot and save a few
hundred dollars on an average dining room or thousands of dollars if the plan calls for hardwood floors throughout the
house.
Clearing and Grading-
This one won’t apply to everyone, but if you have land that needs clearing and this was included in the turnkey price of
the house you want to consider arranging for the lot to be cleared yourself. Many builders won’t even quote a turnkey
price that includes clearing the land because the price can vary depending on who is hired to do it. In fact, the price
can vary from week to week from the same company depending on how busy they are at the time. If the builder
included this in the price of the house you can find out how much was budgeted for it and offer to shop around and do
the clearing yourself. Most likely the builder will be glad to let you take care of this since it is one less thing he has to
worry about.
Upstairs-
If you have your heart set on a certain floor plan that includes an upstairs and you are way off in price you may want to
consider finishing the upstairs yourself. Many modular plans come with an unfinished “Bonus room” upstairs that you
can opt to leave unfinished, but have the manufacturer prepare it with a future plumbing package so it is not too
difficult to finish off later when you have the funds.
Other places to save –
Some other examples of jobs completed or subcontracted out by the buyer to save money include HVAC installation
(this can be a big money saver if you know someone in the business), molding and trim, decks, tile and others.
If you would rather not go to the trouble of dealing with subcontractors or doing the physical labor yourself, you can
also make up the difference in price by changing some of the more expensive options you chose for the house. The
best advice I can give about this is to consider which options you consider the most important in a house, but also
consider your particular situation. What I mean by this is that you should try to think ahead a few years and consider
how long you plan to stay in the house. Many people who build a custom modular home build it on land that has been
handed down for several generations and they plan to stay there for many years in their dream home. If this is the
case, when you think which options to change or eliminate to save money you will probably want to eliminate options
that are easy to add later once you get the money. For example, if you need to save $2000 and you can either do it
by putting in less expensive appliances now and upgrading to the beautiful stainless steel refrigerator and stove you
liked later or leaving off the deck in the backyard, you’d probably want to go ahead and get the appliances you really
wanted and waiting a little while to add the deck once you had the money. Some things that you should try to avoid
leaving off or skimping on to save money are items that result in savings on your energy bill. For example, it is not
required that all houses come with floor insulation. Although you may be able to save a thousand dollars or more by
omitting this you will pay higher utility bills for the life of the house, or until you install insulation. In addition there are
new programs springing up all over the country in which the local electric company offers rebates to the builder or
consumer for investing in energy saving items such as certain energy-efficient water heaters and insulations. You can
check into some of these on the Green Building section of this website.
3. Why are you building this house?
This is usually a pretty easy question to answer, but it is also very important. The most common reasons people
build modular homes are a) To create their custom dream home on the perfect piece of land b) to live in for a short
time and sell it or simply “flip it” for a profit as soon as it is finished or c) to create income by using it as a rental
property.
The reason it is important to consider why you are taking on this project is because the answer to this question will
have an effect on the decision making process when selecting which options and upgrades to include in the house.
If you are building a home to live in and enjoy for the rest of your life you will want to select the options that fit best with
your lifestyle. You may be willing to pay a little extra for the options you consider most important and feel you will get
the most use out of. If you don’t have the money to get everything you want right away, you will want to consider
which upgrades will be easiest to add later.
On the other hand, if you are building a home that you plan to sell or rent, you will benefit by making different
choices.
If your goal is to build a modular home on your property and sell it for a profit your only goal should be in
maximizing your profit. You will want to do a little research by looking at houses in the area that you will be building to
get an idea of what kind of houses are there already. You want to see if there is a specific feature that all of the other
houses have in the area that would be a selling point. For example, if the houses overlooked a beautiful view and all
of the houses had decks to take advantage of this, you would probably want to include a deck. On the other hand,
you certainly do not want to add any extras that would not be an obvious selling point to the great majority of the
people who will be interested in buying the home. Even if you have always wanted to have stadium seating in your
basement to watch football games and movies, you should not spend the extra ten thousand dollars to do it. Save that
idea for the house that you will be living in. Cabinets and appliances, etc. should be good quality, but again, don’t go
overboard. Every person or family has a different idea of which options and features are most important in a house.
Even in a brand new spec house the buyers will probably want to make a few changes, so don’t spend too much on
extravagant options and upgrades since you can never be sure which ones provide any added value for a prospective
buyer.
When building a modular home to use as a rental property you will want to consider many of the same things that
you consider when building a modular home to sell. You will definitely want to minimize the upgrades you choose in
the house. Since renters do not generally stay for long periods of time, they are less likely to be concerned about
things like color and quality of cabinets, appliances, etc. The standard white oak cabinets that come with most homes
will be fine. You may be able to leave the white primer on the walls instead of spending a lot of money painting. And
keep in mind the more amenities you add to a rental property (ceiling fans, etc.), the more often you will be getting
calls from your tenants asking you to fix things.
Renters are also less likely to take care of a house the way an owner would so you may want to consider things that
will make it easier to maintain the house like putting tile flooring in an area where the carpet is likely to be damaged
from use. In general, you will want to make the home nice and livable, but you don’t want to spend any more than you
have to on extras for a house that will most likely be lived in by several different people, all with different likes and
dislikes.
4. “It is easier to build up than out”
More importantly, it is less expensive to build up than out. It is especially true in modular homes that it is less
expensive to build a 2500 sq. ft., 4 bedroom , 2 bathroom two-story house than a 2500 sq. ft. 4 bedroom 2 bath
house all on one level. There are many reasons for this. For one thing, the cost of the foundation and roofing for the
house is less since the total area or footprint of the house is smaller, therefore less material is used. This fact will
certainly become evident when you start pricing different models of modular homes. For example, an 1800 square
foot ranch house may cost $90 per sq. ft. to build on your land, while a 2400 sq. ft. two-story home from the same
manufacturer, built to the same specifications may only cost $75 per sq. ft. to build on your land. One of the most
popular types of plan you will find among modular home manufacturers are plans with a “Bonus area”. Usually a
bonus area refers to an unfinished upstairs area that can be finished to add additional space to the house. The buyer
has the choice as to whether to buy the upstairs finished or unfinished. One thing to note is that generally when you
buy a home with a finished bonus area upstairs, the upstairs finishing work is completed on site by the builder. The
benefit of this is that the buyer may be able to customize the upstairs to fit their needs. This can be beneficial for a
family that needs extra bedrooms for a growing family, or it may allow a couple to build a large master bedroom on the
second floor.
Here are some things to consider that will benefit you financially when looking at bonus plans:
If you are building a modular home to place on your land and live there through retirement you may still opt for a
simple one story plan, even though the price per square foot will be higher. After all, if you are in a good financial
position and don’t need extra room, you may be happier with a house that will not require you to climb up and down
stairs in your later years.
In many other cases however, you may want to consider buying a home with an unfinished bonus upstairs area. For
example, if you are buying the home as an investment that you will eventually cash in by selling you can benefit from
buying a house in which the builder finishes the upstairs. As we have already noted, a house with a finishing the
upstairs adds extra square footage at a reduced price. Since the price you receive from your investment will be
influenced by an appraisal of the property . One criteria that is very highly weighted in the appraisal process is the
price per square foot of neighboring properties. Therefore a home with the extra square footage you can add by
getting the upstairs completed will bring you significantly more money on the sale for a small investment.
Another way to benefit from a modular home plan with an unfinished bonus area is to buy the home with the upstairs
unfinished and finish the upstairs yourself at a later date. One benefit is that if you don’t have the money to buy as
much house as you’d like you can get a house with an unfinished bonus area and when you have funds available you
can finish off the upstairs without disrupting your living area downstairs. These plans come with a future plumbing
package which makes adding a bathroom upstairs relatively easy. In addition, you will save money by either finishing
the upstairs yourself or arranging for contractors to do it as opposed to having the builder sell you the house as a
completed two-story home.
There are many different builders to choose from when building a modular home, and sometimes the hardest thing to
get out of a builder is a firm price. Even when you do get a number, each builder has its own set of items that are
included or not included in the price. Even if you are looking for a “turn key” price, two builders may have a different
opinion of what that actually means. The good thing about most modular home builders is they will generally let you
decide how much, if any of the labor or contracting you would like to do yourself, giving you a chance to leverage any
experience or contacts you have to save money on the project. So what you really need to do is to have a checklist
ready of everything that is involved in completing your home . That way once you’ve found a couple plans or
companies you like, you can get the pricing from the builders you are interested in and go through your list and find
out what is included so you can compare the different builders on a level playing field. The list should include things
like “Is the driveway included in the price?”, “ does the house come equipped with gutters?” “ Does that price include
painting or just primer?”, etc. I will post a complete checklist here later in the week so check back for this.
2. Which work would you be willing to do yourself or contract out to save money?
Like I said earlier, generally with a modular home, the builder/dealer will let you do as much or as little of the work on
the house yourself. You can get a complete turnkey home, or at the other end of the spectrum you can act as your
own general contractor, or anything in between. With a true complete turnkey home the builder completes everything
necessary for you to drive up to the home and start moving in. In the scenario where you act as your own general
contractor, the modular builder has the home delivered to your lot, sets it on the foundation and leaves. You are
responsible for all of the finishing work, either by hiring subcontractors or completing it yourself. Many people that
build modular homes have some skill or contact that they can use to save some money on the house and often times
the builder is glad to take the money off of the price to let the buyer complete those jobs. If you find the perfect home,
but it looks like you will have trouble fitting it into your budget, it is very useful to have some skills or contacts that can
help you do some of the work to bring the price down to what you can afford. So for example, say you’ve found the
perfect house plan, you like the builder and you’ve picked out all the cabinets, molding, siding, etc. and you have a
turnkey price for the whole project from the builder that includes EVERYTHING for $250,000. The problem is you have
a budget of $225,000 based on what you have for a down payment plus the financing you qualify for. In this situation
there are a few ways to reduce your costs to get the house within your budget. First, you want to tell your builder the
situation and see what they can do to reduce the price. (He may actually knock a couple thousand dollars off the
price, but even the most desperate of builders will not go down $25,000). Next you should ask the builder to break
down the costs of the finishing work that is involved in the project to see if there is anything you could take care of
yourself to save some money. Here are some places I have found that a buyer can save some money:
Painting-
Most modular homes come standard with white primer and there is a cost associated with the paint colors you select
for each of the rooms. By offering to paint the interior of the house yourself you can save on the labor and maybe
even shop around and find a good price on paint.
Flooring- This is a great place to save money, especially with hardwood floors. The hardwood floors you can get now
at places like Home Depot and Lowe’s are easy enough to install that you may be able to do it yourself with the help of
family or friends. Even if you would prefer not to do it you can generally find a good subcontractor to do it for you and
save some money. For example, if the builder tells you that the hardwood floor will cost you $9 per square foot
installed, you can probably shop around and find someone that can do it for $5 per square foot and save a few
hundred dollars on an average dining room or thousands of dollars if the plan calls for hardwood floors throughout the
house.
Clearing and Grading-
This one won’t apply to everyone, but if you have land that needs clearing and this was included in the turnkey price of
the house you want to consider arranging for the lot to be cleared yourself. Many builders won’t even quote a turnkey
price that includes clearing the land because the price can vary depending on who is hired to do it. In fact, the price
can vary from week to week from the same company depending on how busy they are at the time. If the builder
included this in the price of the house you can find out how much was budgeted for it and offer to shop around and do
the clearing yourself. Most likely the builder will be glad to let you take care of this since it is one less thing he has to
worry about.
Upstairs-
If you have your heart set on a certain floor plan that includes an upstairs and you are way off in price you may want to
consider finishing the upstairs yourself. Many modular plans come with an unfinished “Bonus room” upstairs that you
can opt to leave unfinished, but have the manufacturer prepare it with a future plumbing package so it is not too
difficult to finish off later when you have the funds.
Other places to save –
Some other examples of jobs completed or subcontracted out by the buyer to save money include HVAC installation
(this can be a big money saver if you know someone in the business), molding and trim, decks, tile and others.
If you would rather not go to the trouble of dealing with subcontractors or doing the physical labor yourself, you can
also make up the difference in price by changing some of the more expensive options you chose for the house. The
best advice I can give about this is to consider which options you consider the most important in a house, but also
consider your particular situation. What I mean by this is that you should try to think ahead a few years and consider
how long you plan to stay in the house. Many people who build a custom modular home build it on land that has been
handed down for several generations and they plan to stay there for many years in their dream home. If this is the
case, when you think which options to change or eliminate to save money you will probably want to eliminate options
that are easy to add later once you get the money. For example, if you need to save $2000 and you can either do it
by putting in less expensive appliances now and upgrading to the beautiful stainless steel refrigerator and stove you
liked later or leaving off the deck in the backyard, you’d probably want to go ahead and get the appliances you really
wanted and waiting a little while to add the deck once you had the money. Some things that you should try to avoid
leaving off or skimping on to save money are items that result in savings on your energy bill. For example, it is not
required that all houses come with floor insulation. Although you may be able to save a thousand dollars or more by
omitting this you will pay higher utility bills for the life of the house, or until you install insulation. In addition there are
new programs springing up all over the country in which the local electric company offers rebates to the builder or
consumer for investing in energy saving items such as certain energy-efficient water heaters and insulations. You can
check into some of these on the Green Building section of this website.
3. Why are you building this house?
This is usually a pretty easy question to answer, but it is also very important. The most common reasons people
build modular homes are a) To create their custom dream home on the perfect piece of land b) to live in for a short
time and sell it or simply “flip it” for a profit as soon as it is finished or c) to create income by using it as a rental
property.
The reason it is important to consider why you are taking on this project is because the answer to this question will
have an effect on the decision making process when selecting which options and upgrades to include in the house.
If you are building a home to live in and enjoy for the rest of your life you will want to select the options that fit best with
your lifestyle. You may be willing to pay a little extra for the options you consider most important and feel you will get
the most use out of. If you don’t have the money to get everything you want right away, you will want to consider
which upgrades will be easiest to add later.
On the other hand, if you are building a home that you plan to sell or rent, you will benefit by making different
choices.
If your goal is to build a modular home on your property and sell it for a profit your only goal should be in
maximizing your profit. You will want to do a little research by looking at houses in the area that you will be building to
get an idea of what kind of houses are there already. You want to see if there is a specific feature that all of the other
houses have in the area that would be a selling point. For example, if the houses overlooked a beautiful view and all
of the houses had decks to take advantage of this, you would probably want to include a deck. On the other hand,
you certainly do not want to add any extras that would not be an obvious selling point to the great majority of the
people who will be interested in buying the home. Even if you have always wanted to have stadium seating in your
basement to watch football games and movies, you should not spend the extra ten thousand dollars to do it. Save that
idea for the house that you will be living in. Cabinets and appliances, etc. should be good quality, but again, don’t go
overboard. Every person or family has a different idea of which options and features are most important in a house.
Even in a brand new spec house the buyers will probably want to make a few changes, so don’t spend too much on
extravagant options and upgrades since you can never be sure which ones provide any added value for a prospective
buyer.
When building a modular home to use as a rental property you will want to consider many of the same things that
you consider when building a modular home to sell. You will definitely want to minimize the upgrades you choose in
the house. Since renters do not generally stay for long periods of time, they are less likely to be concerned about
things like color and quality of cabinets, appliances, etc. The standard white oak cabinets that come with most homes
will be fine. You may be able to leave the white primer on the walls instead of spending a lot of money painting. And
keep in mind the more amenities you add to a rental property (ceiling fans, etc.), the more often you will be getting
calls from your tenants asking you to fix things.
Renters are also less likely to take care of a house the way an owner would so you may want to consider things that
will make it easier to maintain the house like putting tile flooring in an area where the carpet is likely to be damaged
from use. In general, you will want to make the home nice and livable, but you don’t want to spend any more than you
have to on extras for a house that will most likely be lived in by several different people, all with different likes and
dislikes.
4. “It is easier to build up than out”
More importantly, it is less expensive to build up than out. It is especially true in modular homes that it is less
expensive to build a 2500 sq. ft., 4 bedroom , 2 bathroom two-story house than a 2500 sq. ft. 4 bedroom 2 bath
house all on one level. There are many reasons for this. For one thing, the cost of the foundation and roofing for the
house is less since the total area or footprint of the house is smaller, therefore less material is used. This fact will
certainly become evident when you start pricing different models of modular homes. For example, an 1800 square
foot ranch house may cost $90 per sq. ft. to build on your land, while a 2400 sq. ft. two-story home from the same
manufacturer, built to the same specifications may only cost $75 per sq. ft. to build on your land. One of the most
popular types of plan you will find among modular home manufacturers are plans with a “Bonus area”. Usually a
bonus area refers to an unfinished upstairs area that can be finished to add additional space to the house. The buyer
has the choice as to whether to buy the upstairs finished or unfinished. One thing to note is that generally when you
buy a home with a finished bonus area upstairs, the upstairs finishing work is completed on site by the builder. The
benefit of this is that the buyer may be able to customize the upstairs to fit their needs. This can be beneficial for a
family that needs extra bedrooms for a growing family, or it may allow a couple to build a large master bedroom on the
second floor.
Here are some things to consider that will benefit you financially when looking at bonus plans:
If you are building a modular home to place on your land and live there through retirement you may still opt for a
simple one story plan, even though the price per square foot will be higher. After all, if you are in a good financial
position and don’t need extra room, you may be happier with a house that will not require you to climb up and down
stairs in your later years.
In many other cases however, you may want to consider buying a home with an unfinished bonus upstairs area. For
example, if you are buying the home as an investment that you will eventually cash in by selling you can benefit from
buying a house in which the builder finishes the upstairs. As we have already noted, a house with a finishing the
upstairs adds extra square footage at a reduced price. Since the price you receive from your investment will be
influenced by an appraisal of the property . One criteria that is very highly weighted in the appraisal process is the
price per square foot of neighboring properties. Therefore a home with the extra square footage you can add by
getting the upstairs completed will bring you significantly more money on the sale for a small investment.
Another way to benefit from a modular home plan with an unfinished bonus area is to buy the home with the upstairs
unfinished and finish the upstairs yourself at a later date. One benefit is that if you don’t have the money to buy as
much house as you’d like you can get a house with an unfinished bonus area and when you have funds available you
can finish off the upstairs without disrupting your living area downstairs. These plans come with a future plumbing
package which makes adding a bathroom upstairs relatively easy. In addition, you will save money by either finishing
the upstairs yourself or arranging for contractors to do it as opposed to having the builder sell you the house as a
completed two-story home.
5 Things To Consider When Pricing Modular Homes
This series of tips will give you great information that will help you understand what is involved in determining the pricing
of modular homes. Jack Bowman gives you tips from his experience as a sales professional in the modular home
industry.
This series of tips will give you great information that will help you understand what is involved in determining the pricing
of modular homes. Jack Bowman gives you tips from his experience as a sales professional in the modular home
industry.
Part 5 Coming Soon!