Tuesday, September 2, 2014

What is a Modular Home?

In a post last month I talked about the definitions of a manufactured home so I'm here today to talk about the other side of today's factory built housing industry, a modular home.

The simple definition of a modular home is that it's a home assembled in a manufacturing facility that is constructed to meet your local building codes. 


These are homes that are much like the "stick built" or "site built" homes that a contractor would build.  Those contractors, as well as factory built home manufacturers, have to adhere to the same building codes.  

I'll talk more about this later, but, some of the main differences between a modular home and a "stick/site built" home are:
  • A modular home is built indoors and is not subject to the elements.
  • A modular home can usually be built faster.
  • A modular home can often be built less expensively.
Some states have their own building codes while others, like West Virginia, have adopted a set of national or international codes codes.  West Virginia currently enforces the 2009 International Residential Code (IRC).  More on the building codes in another post.  

So, the housing manufacturers have to build each home to the specifications dictated by the state to which the home will be delivered.  Then, when the home arrives on your property, our crew have to maintain adherence to those same codes when they finish constructing the home. 

"Finish constructing the home?" you say.  "I thought they were built in a factory!"

They are, but, a lot of the work done in erecting a modular home is done on site by local, qualified, licensed and insured contractors like we have at Middletown Homes.  

There's a substantial amount of work left to do once the home arrives at your property.  We have to place the home on your foundation, raise and finish the roof, finish the flooring, finish the siding, and much more.

Thankfully, we have our own set crew and our own finish crew. So, we don't have to rely entirely on sub-contractors to finish our homes.  Although we do use them to help us finalize our work.  

Together with the factory, Middletown Homes adheres to the local building codes at all times and always delivers a quality modular home.  






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