Price and Cost: Buy? Build? Or Modular? Which costs less per square foot?

Prefab, modular or manufactured homes and builders like Schumacher give you a price-per-square foot that helps you compare houses to each other. This price includes only the house, not land or labor.

Westwood Modular Cabins can be is little as $109 per square foot. Deer Run cabins I looked at came to started at $135 per square foot. But there is a lot not included in that price.

The price in a real estate listing is the total price.

Making changes might significantly increase the cost to build or buy a modular or manufactured home from the base price. But if you buy a house, you will probably have to make changes or repairs, too.

There are additional costs when you buy a home, too. There may be appraisals and inspection fees. There may be a lot of additional costs that are not part of the price of the house. Don’t forget to think about any ongoing HOA fees, too. On the other hand, you may be able to buy a house for less than the asking price. That’s less likely to happen with a new house.

So what is the total expense for a modular cabin? You have to add on all of the additional fees and costs.

The cabin we bought from Westwood Modular Cabins is 763 square feet.  After the changes it came to $126,154.14. That made it $165 per square foot. It cost $1,433.25 to have the cabin moved here. The crane added another $4,523.25. Clearing the lot, putting in the driveway, grading and managing water flow, the foundation, water and sewer lines, porches and attaching the cabin to the foundation added up to a little more than $55,000. Tap fees for water and sewer came to $3,225.00. I was surprised to find that the grass seed, straw and bushes added up to almost $900. Altogether, it added up to $191,490.68. We had sold the land; it cost us $45,655.09 to buy it back. So total apples to apples, the house cost $237,145.77. That makes it actually $310.81 per-square-foot. Higher than the average for our area. But can you buy a house around here for $237,145.77? Nope. Not even a trailer unless it is on a lot where you pay another $300 to $500 or more per month.

The cabin ended up costing $311 per square foot. It could have cost less. We made changes that increased the cost. The driveway is really long and we took out a lot of trees and briars that could have stayed.

We still have some things to add, too. We will be putting on a front porch and a carport with outside storage.

So what is the total expense for to build? Most companies will only give you an estimate. Schumacher Homes gives you a contract with the total price for the house. Like a modular home, the price does not include site prep, or the foundation.

The house we had built by from Schumacher Homes is 2020 square feet. After the changes it came to $257,058.68. That made it $127 per square foot. If we were to build it now, it would cost closer to $165 per square foot. This is the price for the house, not including the lot prep and utilities (water and sewer). Their estimate was $28,277.00, which, although realistic ended up to be wildly lower than what it actually ended up costing.  When you add in the land… well actually it was all still a really good deal. We could not have bought a house in this neighborhood this size for anything near the price. And we got a brand new house that is exactly what we want exactly where we want it.  If we had not found land where we want to live at such a good deal it would have been very different.

Unlike a modular home, you don’t have to pay anything for transportation. They used a crane twice, but we didn’t have to pay for it.

We added two porches and a lot of garage space and carport space. They were included in the $257,058.68 price for the house. They are not included in the square footage of the house.

Some modular homes include porches. Some can give you a price for a garage and include it in the financing.

Time Costs Money

Another thing to consider is how long construction will take. How long will you have to make payments on a construction loan while you are still paying rent for somewhere to live? This can really add up fast! When you buy a completed home, you can usually move in before you make the first payment. You can stop paying rent or put the house you are moving out of up for sale right away.

It took over a year to build. Site inspection was August, 2017.  We finalized our plans and signed the contract September 2017. They started construction in December and we got the CO* the next December. We started making payments after the first draw. That means we were paying both our mortgage and our construction loan for over a year.

Westwood Cabins had our cabin done so fast we weren’t ready for it. It never occurred to us they would build so fast. They had an opening in their schedule and we took it. From making the deposit to completing the cabin was less than a month. Taylor Fowler got to us as soon as he could and worked quickly and efficiently Our delays were all waiting for the city. From deposit till CO and power took six months.

Buy? Build? Or Modular? Which costs more per square foot?
Land and Labor: Buy? Build? Or Modular? Which costs more per square foot?

*CO Certificate of Occupancy, issued after all of the building inspections pass. You cannot have power turned on without a CO. (At least right now where we live.)