McMansions are making an impression – even surprising some in the modular housing industry.
When she heard about prefabricated home prices reaching the million-dollar mark, Lois Parris uttered two words: “Holy moly.”
“That’s not exactly what you think of when you talk about affordable housing,” said Parris, chairwoman and president of the Manufactured Home Owners Association of America, based in St. Anthony Village, Minn.
“But manufactured or modular housing can be built at any scale, and if you’ve got the property and the money, you can have any size home you want.”
In the past, some consumers have viewed prefabricated homes as substandard. But the houses now feature luxury-home amenities in prime locations and are tough to criticize, particularly considering how they’re constructed, said Bill Martin, director of marketing for All American Homes. The company has a a plant in Decatur that averages 1,000 homes a year.
“They’re built in a controlled environment,” he said. “Traditional stick-built homes are exposed to the rain and snow, whereas our construction takes place indoors.”
As a result, modular houses aren’t subject to associated problems from the weather, Martin said.
“It only takes one to three days for us to set up, depending on the size of the house,” he said, adding that some exterior and interior work follows in the days after the foundation setting.
“But the house itself isn’t exposed,” he said. “A stick-built house sits on a property without a roof.”
All American primarily builds 1,200- to 1,800-square-foot homes ranging in price from $140,000 to $200,000, Martin said. Its most expensive model for sale so far is a $1.3 million house off Lake Erie in Ohio.
High-end housing is good for the industry and helps eradicate the image of unkempt trailer parks still etched in the minds of many prospective homebuyers, said Paul Lindsley, a general manager with Ritz-Craft Corp. of Mifflinburg, Pa.
“Neighbors start to get worried when they hear a modular home is coming in,” said Lindsley, whose company builds modular homes in 26 states, including Indiana.
“The reality of the situation is that stigma has followed us through the decades” but is undeserved now as prefabricated housing is found in residential and commercial construction, he said.
“Builders who barely meet the qualifications don’t help, and there are still some of those out there. In fact, while we can build in less time than traditional (contractors), we don’t always say we’re going to be cheaper.”
Leaders at the Indiana Manufactured Housing Association say the homes are as good as site-built ones and have proved innovative in some cases.
“We were among the first to use vinyl siding, which doesn’t dent or rust and is just a more superior product to aluminum,” said Dennis Harney, director of development for the Indianapolis-based organization.
“Homes today are built to a higher standard, and they’re not the trailer homes used to temporarily house World War II veterans years ago.”
