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Prefab Home Designer Bucks A Downward Trend

10 points by joubert 18y ago

gravitycop 18y ago
These are kit homes. They have to be assembled on a prepared site by a contractor. The kit prices seem reasonable - only about $30-40 per square foot - but the all-in costs are far higher. Here is the information from the FAQ at Romero's website: http://www.rocioromero.com/LVSeries/faqs.htm http://www.rocioromero.com/LVSeries/faqs.htm On average the home costs $120 sq/ft to build. This includes kit costs, shipping, foundation, and finish costs. This price does not include the cost of land. In the Mid West it can be built between $100-120 sq/ft and in California as well as certain select areas on the East Coast have higher sq. ft. labor costs, the average is between $120-195 sq ft. The kits do not come with insulation. They have insulatable space in the walls that can be filled with fiberglass batts or spray-on icynene foam.
patio11 18y ago
I think pre-fab homes is a wonderful idea and wish it would take off more. Imagine if we built cars like we built homes: 1) They'd be hand-assembled by local artisans... 2) ... in your driveway. 3) The median production run would be 1 vehicle. 4) The design would be done from scratch every single time. 5) There would be no Blue Book, because no two cars worth buying are identical. If you want to know what your car is worth, you have to hire an appraiser. His job is to go around the neighborhood looking at all the cars, identify those that are "comparable" to your car, and then see how much they have sold for recently. Then, after having done that, he picks a random number. Stick a dollar sign in front of it and that is what your car is worth. 6) Your new car will need to be exhaustively safety tested, since it has never been built before. Don't worry, your local government has a body whose only job is to promulgate and enforce safety codes for cars built within its jurisdiction. These codes are incompatible with the codes for another car driven a mere six blocks from yours. 7) Economies of scale? Hah! 8) There would be so much uncertainty in selling cars, because so much of them was one-off, that you'd need two teams of overpaid professionals to actually sell one. (One team would include, at a minimum, a broker, a lawyer, and an appraiser.) 9) You might not have the foggiest clue of industrial design, but don't worry, you'll be asked to make all sorts of decisions on the design of your automobile anyway. From "How many cupholders do you want?" to "Here are forty-seven types of available sheet glass -- what do you want your windows made of?" 10) Essentially all the used cars on the markets will have been built as cluelessly as #9 suggests. 11) You would never know the exact price of a car before commissioning it. Car artisans would routinely miss price and delivery targets. They use the excuse that you had no clue what you were doing when you gave them the directions that they asked for, which is true as far as it goes.
- netcan 18y ago
  If the comparison held well, then prefabs wouldn't be the only way to go. Large estates also constitute mass production. But they don't seem to have the sweeping advantages that make building to your own design undesirable.
- gravitycop 18y ago
  Many houses today are built in tracts. The designs are standardized and many of the parts are prefabricated in factories. The line between site-built and factory-built housing is blurring. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tract_housing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tract_housing Early tract homes were often identical, but more recently built tract homes no longer look identical from the exterior; variations range from mass-produced homes with superficial, cosmetic differences to multiple variations in footprint, roof form, and materials. In addition, floor plans may be reversed or rooms or garage bays added or removed. Builders or buyers of new homes may also be able to specialize custom upgrades. So, it seems that modern tract homes are made similar to the way cars are: based on standardized designs, but available in various models and with options. From the wiki link above: Components such as roof trusses, plumbing trees, and stair systems are often fabricated in factories and installed on site. This allows contractors to reduce prices, which in turn can make homes more affordable Here are some new housing tracts in the Bay Area: http://www.lennar.com/New-Homes/California/San-Francisco http://www.lennar.com/New-Homes/California/San-Francisco The prices are locked-in before construction, so the customer will know what he will be expected to pay. There are also tract homes that have been preconfigured and completed (built) before sale, and have definite prices: http://www.lennar.com/New-Homes/California/San-Francisco/Palisades-At-Mt-House http://www.lennar.com/New-Homes/California/San-Francisco/Pal... Purchasing such a home is analogous to purchasing a new car off of a dealer's lot (instead of ording one shipped from the factory with custom options) - it isn't custom configurable, but it is available right away.
- mechanical_fish 18y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_home http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_home Or take a look at: http://bensonwood.com/index.cfm http://bensonwood.com/index.cfm -- factory built but custom-designed. Incidentally, even factory-built homes will never be as easy to appraise as cars, because much of their value depends on the land and the neighborhood. Nor do factory-built homes remain identical for long: Customizing your own home is the big advantage of owning your home.

10 points by joubert 18y ago

These are kit homes. They have to be assembled on a prepared site by a contractor. The kit prices seem reasonable - only about $30-40 per square foot - but the all-in costs are far higher. Here is the information from the FAQ at Romero's website: http://www.rocioromero.com/LVSeries/faqs.htm http://www.rocioromero.com/LVSeries/faqs.htm On average the home costs $120 sq/ft to build. This includes kit costs, shipping, foundation, and finish costs. This price does not include the cost of land. In the Mid West it can be built between $100-120 sq/ft and in California as well as certain select areas on the East Coast have higher sq. ft. labor costs, the average is between $120-195 sq ft. The kits do not come with insulation. They have insulatable space in the walls that can be filled with fiberglass batts or spray-on icynene foam.

patio11 18y ago

I think pre-fab homes is a wonderful idea and wish it would take off more. Imagine if we built cars like we built homes: 1) They'd be hand-assembled by local artisans... 2) ... in your driveway. 3) The median production run would be 1 vehicle. 4) The design would be done from scratch every single time. 5) There would be no Blue Book, because no two cars worth buying are identical. If you want to know what your car is worth, you have to hire an appraiser. His job is to go around the neighborhood looking at all the cars, identify those that are "comparable" to your car, and then see how much they have sold for recently. Then, after having done that, he picks a random number. Stick a dollar sign in front of it and that is what your car is worth. 6) Your new car will need to be exhaustively safety tested, since it has never been built before. Don't worry, your local government has a body whose only job is to promulgate and enforce safety codes for cars built within its jurisdiction. These codes are incompatible with the codes for another car driven a mere six blocks from yours. 7) Economies of scale? Hah! 8) There would be so much uncertainty in selling cars, because so much of them was one-off, that you'd need two teams of overpaid professionals to actually sell one. (One team would include, at a minimum, a broker, a lawyer, and an appraiser.) 9) You might not have the foggiest clue of industrial design, but don't worry, you'll be asked to make all sorts of decisions on the design of your automobile anyway. From "How many cupholders do you want?" to "Here are forty-seven types of available sheet glass -- what do you want your windows made of?" 10) Essentially all the used cars on the markets will have been built as cluelessly as #9 suggests. 11) You would never know the exact price of a car before commissioning it. Car artisans would routinely miss price and delivery targets. They use the excuse that you had no clue what you were doing when you gave them the directions that they asked for, which is true as far as it goes.

netcan 18y ago
If the comparison held well, then prefabs wouldn't be the only way to go. Large estates also constitute mass production. But they don't seem to have the sweeping advantages that make building to your own design undesirable.
gravitycop 18y ago
Many houses today are built in tracts. The designs are standardized and many of the parts are prefabricated in factories. The line between site-built and factory-built housing is blurring. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tract_housing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tract_housing Early tract homes were often identical, but more recently built tract homes no longer look identical from the exterior; variations range from mass-produced homes with superficial, cosmetic differences to multiple variations in footprint, roof form, and materials. In addition, floor plans may be reversed or rooms or garage bays added or removed. Builders or buyers of new homes may also be able to specialize custom upgrades. So, it seems that modern tract homes are made similar to the way cars are: based on standardized designs, but available in various models and with options. From the wiki link above: Components such as roof trusses, plumbing trees, and stair systems are often fabricated in factories and installed on site. This allows contractors to reduce prices, which in turn can make homes more affordable Here are some new housing tracts in the Bay Area: http://www.lennar.com/New-Homes/California/San-Francisco http://www.lennar.com/New-Homes/California/San-Francisco The prices are locked-in before construction, so the customer will know what he will be expected to pay. There are also tract homes that have been preconfigured and completed (built) before sale, and have definite prices: http://www.lennar.com/New-Homes/California/San-Francisco/Palisades-At-Mt-House http://www.lennar.com/New-Homes/California/San-Francisco/Pal... Purchasing such a home is analogous to purchasing a new car off of a dealer's lot (instead of ording one shipped from the factory with custom options) - it isn't custom configurable, but it is available right away.
mechanical_fish 18y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_home http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_home Or take a look at: http://bensonwood.com/index.cfm http://bensonwood.com/index.cfm -- factory built but custom-designed. Incidentally, even factory-built homes will never be as easy to appraise as cars, because much of their value depends on the land and the neighborhood. Nor do factory-built homes remain identical for long: Customizing your own home is the big advantage of owning your home.