Not Building From Scratch - Pros and Cons of Prefabricated Homes If you are building a home, you should, of course, devote some attention to the design and materials. Perhaps, for you, the choice is made early. You might have decided right away to work with a particular architect, or to select a prefabricated template offered by a company you trust. However, others who are building a home might still be on the fence. Is prefab housing really the way to go? Well, this article is not going to impose a cut-and-dried Yes or No on you. Rather, the advantages and disadvantages of prefab housing will be discussed, so you can get past the assumptions about it and make a more informed choice.
The Good Points One of the main reasons to get a prefabricated house is to save on costs and time. Firstly, you will not have to get the "personal" services of an architect and spend time negotiating over a final design. The house has already been drawn up for you. Furthermore, the parts are all pre-made and mass-produced, which means that they are cheap and easy to put together. Your house is actually assembled rather than built. Renovation and repair can also be more convenient. You can easily go to a store like Home Depot and buy things like window panes that fit the common design of your house. Or you can go back to the company that put it together and get a replacement for the part in question that fits your chosen house model. If you are planning to live by yourself simply (and possibly temporarily) and do not mind getting strange looks, you might even purchase a kit for a garage or a dog house, put it together, and use the finished product as your house. Building a home can be a real do-it-yourself endeavor.
The Bad Points We can also start this section off by talking about money. As we discussed in the previous section, there are many reasons for why a getting prefab house is cheaper than building a home the "traditional" way. However, it often happens that a prefab home ends up costing about as much as a "traditional" home. This is often because people end up trying to customize their prefab house because of special needs,
unique tastes, or a combination of both. Of course, the real reason a prefab house is cheap is because it is not customized at all. Take that away, and you might as well be building a home from scratch.
Secondly, it must be said that prefabricated houses are generally less durable than the traditional type. This is not a stereotype or unfounded assumption. Most prefabricated houses are built from relatively thin pieces of wood sprayed with a hard coating. As a result, prefab houses can easily be worn away by weather. Major temperature changes, storms, and damp can all wear down a house quite badly. Mold is a major concern, and if found in even small amounts, might necessitate full-scale fumigation. A relatively dry, temperate climate is necessary.
prefabricated homes prices