8 ms·

As someone who recently went through the pre-fab house market for a weekend/cabin build for a property we own, this product suffers from the same problem nearly

by drone 4y ago

As someone who recently went through the pre-fab house market for a weekend/cabin build for a property we own, this product suffers from the same problem nearly every other pre-fab "designer" product we saw out there: the cost is substantially more than custom-built and the time to deliver is as long, or longer. I mention "designer" since there is a pre-fab market for non-designer homes, which do come pretty close to the mission of being a better value without being a "mobile home" - think Pratt, etc. Ultimately, we went stick-built on-site and paid roughly 35-50% per sq ft of what a comparable pre-fab designer home would have cost, while allowing us to focus costs on the aspects of the house that mattered most to us, while going budget where it didn't matter as much, and still having full control over the process. FWIW, for less than the price of this unit alone, we had a full custom 1,200 sqft house 3BR/2Bth, metal garage, 800' driveway, well, septic, and 1-acre pond built. I can see if you're willing to pay the premium on the design aesthetics, but designer modular houses have a long way to go to being a more affordable option for most buyers.

bitxbitxbitcoin 4y ago
How did you go about finding someone to handle the custom build if I may ask?
- baldfat 4y ago
  You contact a contractor
  - lostlogin 4y ago
    I’m a bit mystified at the reaction to this comment. Describe what you want to a drafts person, get the regulatory stuff done (via the draft person or architect), hit the Google machine and talk to contractors. It’s painful when you have no idea what you are doing, which is why the all inclusive price is attractive (and high).
- drone 4y ago
  You need to work with a builder, since we were working in a somewhat "rural" area, we couldn't work with any of our local builders (in the city where we live), without going way out of budget due to travel expenses, etc. As to how we found the builder? Google was of little help, and nearly everyone with a website was saying things like "we start at $250/ft for a barndo" -- basically, insane pricing. What we ultimately did: I went to local stores, talked to neighbors, and started asking them for references for different parts of the process - e.g.: well building, dirt work, etc. I aligned on the most common people they referred, then asked each of them the same two questions: who do you like working with as a GC, and who built your house? Everyone aligned on a single person, so I called him and the rest is history.
giantg2 4y ago
When I was looking at modulars 5 or so years ago, the costs were pretty much the same. But I generally agree - $390k base price for a 5XXsqft house is ridiculous. But it seems this is marketed towards CA residents (who might be used to much higher costs). Edit: whoops, I see your's was targeted at "designer" prefab.
- walrus01 4y ago
  If I wanted a 550 sq ft prefab house, I'd be looking at whatever was the higher-end/better quality market segment of the "singlewide" manufactured home industry, which are built in a factory and come all in one piece and are delivered on their own wheels by semi truck. But then of course you have the problem that many cities ban manufactured houses and they are only considered socially acceptable in lower income rural areas. If you look at the floor plans of some modern "singlewide" manufactured homes they are totally a fine amount of floor space for one or two people to live, though obviously constrained by the maximum legal road lane width allowable and their long/linear design.
  - giantg2 4y ago
    Yeah, it seems this house is similar dimensions to a single wide trailer. Just different construction and fancier interior. It seems like most urban/suburban CA zoning would prohibit either model - a trailer, or placing this in a backyard. It seems trailers are common in rural areas and small towns because the zoning allows for that option.
  - rascul 4y ago
    > though obviously constrained by the maximum legal road lane width allowable and their long/linear design. A shorter double wide might be an option. Triple wides are a thing also.
  - shagie 4y ago
    Being from the midwest, the first thought would be Design Homes - https://www.designhomes.com https://www.designhomes.com. And there are some rather large ones they make. They also have a cabin series which is on the small side. Something like https://www.designhomes.com/prairieduchien/pdc-3/ https://www.designhomes.com/prairieduchien/pdc-3/ (644 sqft). Digging a bit, I found a price for one from 2019: https://web.archive.org/web/20190117000728/http://designhomes.com/assets/d-chippewa-2.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20190117000728/http://designhome... - a 40' cabin, 560 sqft for $53k (appears to be originally priced closer to $60k). That's much less than the price in the article/link. My 2nd thought would be something like a Tumbleweed if I wanted an extra room for the back yard with some mobility (have an office that you can take on vacation). And my 3rd thought would be go even smaller than 550 sqft if I just wanted an office and https://www.autonomous.ai/adus/studio-pod https://www.autonomous.ai/adus/studio-pod or https://www.autonomous.ai/adus/autonomous-work-pod https://www.autonomous.ai/adus/autonomous-work-pod - though those aren't things for living in, they're interesting for creating a separation between the house and the office in the WFH environment.
Consultant32452 4y ago
I've been looking at the HUD-1 "kit" homes from Home Depot. One example is $33k for an unfinished 450 sq ft multi-room home, but you can put it together yourself in 2-3 weekends. Would have to compare to that a "custom" home from a contractor. Did you consider these type options when you were looking?
- bombcar 4y ago
  https://www.homedepot.com/b/Hud-1-EZ-Buildings/N-5yc1vZht5 https://www.homedepot.com/b/Hud-1-EZ-Buildings/N-5yc1vZht5 these look interesting. Often the most expensive part of the house building is the labor, and if you can do some of that yourself or work with a builder who can tell you how to save labor costs you can do quite well. For example, a simple "shed roof" without any gables or whatever those little decorative accents you see at the corners can be much cheaper (each accent could cost $500-2000 in labor alone). If you have a builder and architect who work together, you can really reduce the cost without making the house look like a garage with windows.
- drone 4y ago
  AFAICT, these range from $84-$170/sq ft for exterior materials only, no labor, no insulation, no foundation. If you're looking to DIY something and want an easy start, these and many other options may be a good choice for you, but this is very expensive for some markets, given you just have materials for the shell. Generally speaking, it's best to think in "heated + cooled sq feet" for comparison, and also consider the foundation type. These are post-frame, so in the market where I had built, $120/sqft for post-frame is "cheap/budget", and $300/sqft is "high-end". We paid $180/sq ft, and that included electrical work, plumbing, appliances, A/C, full custom cabinets, custom windows, etc. As you can see, these aren't a great deal in that regard, but your local market conditions may vary.

by drone 4y ago

bitxbitxbitcoin 4y ago

How did you go about finding someone to handle the custom build if I may ask?

baldfat 4y ago
You contact a contractor
- lostlogin 4y ago
  I’m a bit mystified at the reaction to this comment. Describe what you want to a drafts person, get the regulatory stuff done (via the draft person or architect), hit the Google machine and talk to contractors. It’s painful when you have no idea what you are doing, which is why the all inclusive price is attractive (and high).
drone 4y ago
You need to work with a builder, since we were working in a somewhat "rural" area, we couldn't work with any of our local builders (in the city where we live), without going way out of budget due to travel expenses, etc. As to how we found the builder? Google was of little help, and nearly everyone with a website was saying things like "we start at $250/ft for a barndo" -- basically, insane pricing. What we ultimately did: I went to local stores, talked to neighbors, and started asking them for references for different parts of the process - e.g.: well building, dirt work, etc. I aligned on the most common people they referred, then asked each of them the same two questions: who do you like working with as a GC, and who built your house? Everyone aligned on a single person, so I called him and the rest is history.

giantg2 4y ago

When I was looking at modulars 5 or so years ago, the costs were pretty much the same. But I generally agree - $390k base price for a 5XXsqft house is ridiculous. But it seems this is marketed towards CA residents (who might be used to much higher costs). Edit: whoops, I see your's was targeted at "designer" prefab.

walrus01 4y ago
If I wanted a 550 sq ft prefab house, I'd be looking at whatever was the higher-end/better quality market segment of the "singlewide" manufactured home industry, which are built in a factory and come all in one piece and are delivered on their own wheels by semi truck. But then of course you have the problem that many cities ban manufactured houses and they are only considered socially acceptable in lower income rural areas. If you look at the floor plans of some modern "singlewide" manufactured homes they are totally a fine amount of floor space for one or two people to live, though obviously constrained by the maximum legal road lane width allowable and their long/linear design.
- giantg2 4y ago
  Yeah, it seems this house is similar dimensions to a single wide trailer. Just different construction and fancier interior. It seems like most urban/suburban CA zoning would prohibit either model - a trailer, or placing this in a backyard. It seems trailers are common in rural areas and small towns because the zoning allows for that option.
- rascul 4y ago
  > though obviously constrained by the maximum legal road lane width allowable and their long/linear design. A shorter double wide might be an option. Triple wides are a thing also.
- shagie 4y ago
  Being from the midwest, the first thought would be Design Homes - https://www.designhomes.com https://www.designhomes.com. And there are some rather large ones they make. They also have a cabin series which is on the small side. Something like https://www.designhomes.com/prairieduchien/pdc-3/ https://www.designhomes.com/prairieduchien/pdc-3/ (644 sqft). Digging a bit, I found a price for one from 2019: https://web.archive.org/web/20190117000728/http://designhomes.com/assets/d-chippewa-2.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20190117000728/http://designhome... - a 40' cabin, 560 sqft for $53k (appears to be originally priced closer to $60k). That's much less than the price in the article/link. My 2nd thought would be something like a Tumbleweed if I wanted an extra room for the back yard with some mobility (have an office that you can take on vacation). And my 3rd thought would be go even smaller than 550 sqft if I just wanted an office and https://www.autonomous.ai/adus/studio-pod https://www.autonomous.ai/adus/studio-pod or https://www.autonomous.ai/adus/autonomous-work-pod https://www.autonomous.ai/adus/autonomous-work-pod - though those aren't things for living in, they're interesting for creating a separation between the house and the office in the WFH environment.

Consultant32452 4y ago

I've been looking at the HUD-1 "kit" homes from Home Depot. One example is $33k for an unfinished 450 sq ft multi-room home, but you can put it together yourself in 2-3 weekends. Would have to compare to that a "custom" home from a contractor. Did you consider these type options when you were looking?

bombcar 4y ago
https://www.homedepot.com/b/Hud-1-EZ-Buildings/N-5yc1vZht5 https://www.homedepot.com/b/Hud-1-EZ-Buildings/N-5yc1vZht5 these look interesting. Often the most expensive part of the house building is the labor, and if you can do some of that yourself or work with a builder who can tell you how to save labor costs you can do quite well. For example, a simple "shed roof" without any gables or whatever those little decorative accents you see at the corners can be much cheaper (each accent could cost $500-2000 in labor alone). If you have a builder and architect who work together, you can really reduce the cost without making the house look like a garage with windows.
drone 4y ago
AFAICT, these range from $84-$170/sq ft for exterior materials only, no labor, no insulation, no foundation. If you're looking to DIY something and want an easy start, these and many other options may be a good choice for you, but this is very expensive for some markets, given you just have materials for the shell. Generally speaking, it's best to think in "heated + cooled sq feet" for comparison, and also consider the foundation type. These are post-frame, so in the market where I had built, $120/sqft for post-frame is "cheap/budget", and $300/sqft is "high-end". We paid $180/sq ft, and that included electrical work, plumbing, appliances, A/C, full custom cabinets, custom windows, etc. As you can see, these aren't a great deal in that regard, but your local market conditions may vary.