The History

1908, Henry Ford implemented his assembly-line idea to produce the Ford Model T™, the world's first automobile produced in this manner. Ford reasoned that he needed a more efficient way to produce the car in order to lower the price to gain increased sales, and at the same time to maintain consistently high quality. The world has never quite been the same since. Virtually everything is mass-produced, in some form or another. Today, the level of automobile mass production has been elevated to include the extensive use of robotics. It would be unthinkable to revert back to hand-producing cars, one at a time, resulting in substantially higher costs and extremely variable quality. 

Borrowing Ford's Concept of Assembly

Modular home manufacturers have borrowed Henry Ford's idea to reap the same benefits of improved efficiency and consistently high quality by using an assembly line with continuous quality control supervision. The results have been both predictable and dramatic: modular homes have been rapidly gaining a percent of market sales, while site-built homes have been in decline. Even today's so-called "stick-built" homes have some form of pre-assembly in the form of roof trusses, foundation systems, floor systems, cabinetry, plumbing, heating, electrical, siding, shingles, and so on. Modular homes simply carry the idea of factory pre-assembly to another level, while still being built to the same construction codes of site-built homes. Just as with automobiles, it would be extremely difficult to revert back to all "stick-built" homes.

Standard Designs & Custom Homes

Although most modular home manufacturers have standard designs, many of them will also build custom designed homes. Therefore, if a buyer has his/her own custom design, often the manufacturer can build it. Modular home manufacturers have their own engineering departments with powerful computer-assisted-design systems that can easily accommodate customized changes to the manufacturer's internally stored standard designs. Modular manufacturers are required to submit final architectural prints to an agency in the state where the home will be delivered, in order to obtain state seals ascertaining that the home's design meets or exceeds the construction code requirements for areas such as structural, electrical, mechanical and plumbing subsystems. Third party inspectors are then called in to verify that the home is actually being built to the correct code. We invite buyers to compare this process with that of a stick-built home.

Modular Manufacturing Specifications

Most modular manufacturers will happily provide their list of standard building specifications upon request, if they are not already listed on their Web site. These standard specs can be altered, with a corresponding change in pricing. For example: if a manufacturer has a standard roof pitch of 7:12 for a ranch house, the pitch can be increased to, say, 9:12 (or even 12:12) should the buyer desire this. The standard specs can also be downgraded in certain areas, in order to reduce costs, as long as the change does not violate any code. Again, we invite buyers to compare standard specs and the change process with that of a stick-built home.

Modular Homes - Just as Beautiful as Conventional Homes

Today, after modular homes are built on an assembly line, are transported to the build site, and then are erected on a foundation, they are no longer "modular"; they are simply a conventional home. They can be small, medium, large, or very large, just as any other conventional home . . . and equally as beautiful!