Top 5 Homeowner Savings Obtained From The Manufactured Home Production Process vs. Site-Built
The need for quality, safe affordable housing has never been greater. Today’s modern new manufactured homes can deliver quality and performance with an original cost averaging one-half the cost of a comparably sized custom built home on-site and will be equal, or superior, in every respect, including building materials, quality of construction workmanship, energy efficiency, amenities, appearance and enhanced safety in the occasion of wind and fire.
Technological advances, evolutionary designs, and a focus on delivering high-quality homes that families can afford are the driving forces within the manufactured housing industry. That’s why more people are turning to manufactured housing to deliver homes that fit their needs and wants, at a price they can afford.
The 2019 average cost per square foot for a new site-built home was $111, compared to $50 for a new manufactured home, according to the Manufactured Housing Institute, (MHI).
How is that possible? The following are the top 5 reasons how savings are obtained from the modern manufactured housing production process, allowing Americans across the country to own a custom manufactured home, even in the face of an ever-widening housing affordability gap, versus site-built homes.
(1) EFFICIENCIES OF THE FACTORY BUILDING PROCESS
The affordability gap in comparison to traditional site-built homes is due to the efficiencies of the factory building process. Manufactured homes are constructed with standard building materials, ( same as site-built), and are built almost entirely off-site in a factory.
(2) CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT AND ASSEMBLY LINE TECHNIQUES
The controlled construction environment and assembly-line techniques remove many of the problems encountered during traditional home construction, such as weather, theft, vandalism, damage to building products and materials, and unskilled labor. Factory employees are trained and managed more effectively and efficiently than the system of contract labor employed by the site-built home industry.
(3) BENEFITS FROM THE ECONOMIES OF SCALE
Much like other assembly-line operations, manufactured homes benefit from the economies of scale, resulting from purchasing large quantities of materials, products, and appliances. Manufactured home builders can negotiate savings on many components used in building a home, with these savings passed on directly to the manufactured homebuyer.
(4) EVOLUTION IN FACTORY-BUILT TECHNOLOGY
Today’s manufactured homes have experienced an evolution in the types and quality of homes available to buyers. Technology advances allow manufactured home builders to offer a variety of architectural styles and exterior finishes that heretofore where not available off-site, that will suit most any buyer’s dreams while allowing the home to blend seamlessly into most any neighborhood.
(5) MEASURABLE SAVINGS IN REDUCED COMPLETION EXPEDIENCY
“Time is money.” Greater flexibility and efficiency of the manufacturing process allows for customization of each home to meet a buyer’s lifestyle and needs and are pre-planned before the home begins the construction phase and does not delay completion.
The interior features may include vaulted ceilings, working fireplaces, state-of-the-art kitchens, and baths, and fully integrated covered porches, providing the homebuyer all the features found in traditional site-built homes.
Enhanced energy efficiency in manufactured homes, achieved with upgraded levels of insulation and more efficient heating and cooling systems provide another source of savings for homeowners.
Inclusion of all these features and numerous other standard and optional amenities are available without delaying the completion time to occupancy. Typically, a customized manufactured home can be built and ready for occupancy on site within a few weeks, (under normal “non-pandemic” circumstances), compared to many months for a site-built home. This expediency accounts for much of the savings in becoming a manufactured homeowner.
