All Forum Posts by: Nick Coonis

@EJ Concepcion

Yeah the are typically maybe 10-15% cheaper than stick built I've found around here, if cheaper at all. The big thing is time, which if you're waiting to finish so you can get paid and move on is a big thing, and also delays. They may not have a huge cost savings on the up front prices, but they are built in factories and basically on assembly lines, so there really isn't a big risk of unforeseen surprises and added costs like there is with site built construction. 

@Curtis H. 

The company I used is called Pacific Valley Homes, and the manufacturer is called Golden West Homes. I believe they are a branch of Clayton Homes though because some of the checks they wrote me and paperwork said Clayton Homes on it.

@Ramon Cuevas yeah I'm not sure why either. I think a lot of people associate them with manufactured/mobile homes so there's a bit of a stigma with them. If your ever interested, go to the modular home sales office in your area. My county building department had no idea how to deal with the modular home either, but my sales office give me some info from the state that I gave to the county which helped. 

The thing is, the modular homes come with plans that are already stamped and approved by the state which supersedes local jurisdiction, so you get to skip plan check for the building department (for the house, they still plan check the foundation.) Also, the house gets inspected in the factory while it's being built by state inspectors, so the local county loses out on plan check fees and inspection charges. 

If no one is doing them in your area, sounds like a niche that you can exploit to me. That's what I'm trying to do in my area as well. 

@Ramon Cuevas

Ramon I just built a modular home in Los Angeles and I'm starting a second one. Let me know if you have any questions. They are a great option in my opinion. At least here in Los Angeles, they are treated the exact same as a site built home. They are registered as a SFR same as a site built, and once you're finished there is no difference between a modular and a site built. If they allow a site built home on the property, they will allow a modular, at least here they would.

Ours is 1782 sqf and the home itself cost us about $150,000, which included delivery, setup, interior finish work, even appliances. We spent another $100,000 plus on the site improvements, because we had to bring all utilities. 

Modular are typically cheaper because they are built in a factory and cut way down on waste, they are more efficiently built so they save on labor, and weather isn't a factor so no delays. 

Hope this helps.

@Sergey Perevalov

I just built a modular home in Los Angeles. A true modular home is not to be confused with a mobile or manufactured home. They are built to the same construction standards and codes as a site built home, shipped out in pieces and assembled on site on your raised foundation that you've built while the home was being built in a factory. At least here, they are treated the exact same as a site built home so if your lot is zoned for residential, you'd be fine. At least here in Los angles county.

The cost is typically cheaper with modular homes, since they are built in a factory they have less waist and are built with more efficiency. Also weather is not a factor so no delays.

Our home is 1782 sqf and we spent about $150,000 for the house itself including delivery and setup, and all appliances. Then we spent another $100k on site improvements, foundation and all permits and utilities.

But now we have a home with instant equity, that looks like a house not a trailer, and is registered as a SFR with the county, same as a site built home.

Let me know if you have any questions, I just went through this entire process and I'm just starting another one.

@William Savage

Will, I just built a modular home in Los Angles county and it turned out great. It's a modular, not a manufactured, mobile, etc. The difference is, modular homes, also called factory built homes, are built to the same construction standards as site built. My home has 2x6 walls, large cathedral ceilings, and 2x10 floor joists. They are not trailers, they are delivered in pieces, or modules, and assembled onsite. Ours is 1782 sqf and 27' wide x 66' long so not very narrow. We spent a total of $287,000 for the entire construction project, including all loan costs and site improvements, and $50,000 for the land, so about $340k all in. The home appraised for $450,000 before we even started building, and now the comps put our home at around $515,000. So we had instant equity. Had we been doing this for a profit we would have scored big (it's our personal residence.) From start to finish took about a year, mostly thanks to LA county building department. But once we gave the go ahead to build the home, they had it built in less than three months, and it came out finished inside and out, with appliances. All they had to do once it was set on the foundation was tie it all in together, patch in the roof and the siding, and fix some interior paint and drywall cracks. 

The other nice thing about modular homes is they are registered with the county as a SFR not a manufactured 433 or mobile, exact same as a site built home, so no worrying about depreciation. We can even do a site built addition like a regular home.

@Derek Duplechin I just built a brand new house, in Los Angeles county, and I didn't run any phone lines at all. We have ATT for our internet and phone, but they ran a wireless phone system called U-verse. We plug our home phone line into the back of the wifi router. Anyway LA county didn't require us to put in phone lines, they approved our plans without any. 

@Manolo D. Well we started building at the end of Feb, early March and we moved in August 1st, so about 5 months. Everything we've done since has been landscaping and decorating, which we've been doing ourselves.

Congrats @Derek Duplechin I just followed this post, can't wait to watch. Very inspiring!

Now the house is pretty much complete. We had a contractor poor the front and back slabs. 

Then I had my brother in law build me some back steps out of pavers. They came out pretty nice!

Hired cheap labor to help with installing the floors. 

Here are some shots of the rough floor completely installed but unfinished. 

And here are some after I finished it with 5 coats of polyurethane. Had to wait 2 hours between coats, so this took me 10 hours....

I bought this old church pew that came from an old church in LA, and my wife refinished it in a distressed white.

I made an address sign out of some left over lumber scraps and stain from the floor.

The kitchen unpacking crew has arrived!

Got my TV!!! 60" fits right over the fire place. I had the builder run a conduit from behind the TV down to where that little black table is on the left side so I can hide all those cable in the wall.

I need to take some more interior pics and some landscaping pics. Will post those soon. This is my new view out the backdoor, we are loving it!

and can't beat the sunsets!