Panelized Home Kits

Panelized Home Kits kind of split the difference between a stick-built home, a house kit, and a modular home.

When you build a standard, stick-built home, your house plan will probably come with a materials list; a comprehensive inventory of what you will need to build the house. It will include things like lumber, windows and doors, cabinets, and siding. It helps to estimate how much it will cost to build the house. Many houses use some pre-constructed parts, like roof trusses.

A house kit includes the same materials, more or less. Some kits come very complete, with everything you need to build the house. Other kits only have some of the parts. You will source the rest locally. Log cabin kits often only include the logs, nothing else.

A modular home is built in a climate-controlled warehouse. It is delivered pretty much finished. It may or may not include some things like heat or cooling and anything you need to connect the house to services like power, water and sewer.

A panelized home kit has everything you need to build a house, like other home kits, but the house is already partially built.

Floor, exterior and interior wall and roof panels are built in a huge factory, out of the weather, like a modular home. The parts are delivered to your building site, then assembled to finish the house. Construction takes a lot less time that way.

Panelized Homes: What Are Panelized Home Kits And How Are They Built?
Melissa Brock for Rocket Mortgage

Panelized kit homes, or panelized building systems, are built in climate-controlled indoor factories. Panelized homes are built in less time than stick-built homes and limit the home’s exposure to the elements before it’s completely built.

In these factories, wall sections, roof and floor systems join to create panels. These panels are put on a truck and delivered to the job site to become finished, just like a stick-built home.

Panelized Homes: What Are Panelized Home Kits And How Are They Built?
by Melissa Brock for Rocket Mortgage

Different companies offer different kinds of kits. Some have more of the house pre-constructed. Pacific Modern Homes delivers wall sections with the windows and sheathing, sometimes even the siding already put together.

Some panelized kits use SIPs, Structural Insulated Panels. SIPs are a sandwich of rigid insulating foam between layers of some sort of OSB, oriented strand board (particle board). Kits have pre-made SIPS to put up as walls, floors and the roof. It is energy-efficient, strong and cost-effective.

Many panelized home kits are designed for owner builders with limited construction experience. Parts are labeled. The kits come with easy-to-follow drawings and instructions. Many companies have YouTube videos to walk you through potential snags.

No matter what method you use to build, make sure you have prepared. It doesn’t help to have your house panels built in a climate-controlled warehouse, then have them dropped off where they sit in the mud for 6 months while you build a foundation.

Photos in this post show kit houses from these Panel House Kit companies.

• Landmark Home and Land Company
  Landmark Home and Land Company’s designers and engineers create a home design so that we can deliver a high quality panelized kit home to your building site!   Landmark’s Panelized kit homes allow you to lower framing costs, avoid weather issues due to quicker framing time, control quality, have less waste and dumpster costs.   Landmark also provides a guaranteed cost which helps you stick to your budget.  Building kits that are complete and add confidence to your project.  Construction time is shortened.
  www.lhlc.com/panel/kit-homes.htm

• Pacific Modern Homes, Inc. (PMHI)
  Pacific Modern Homes, Inc. (PMHI) specializes in the design and manufacturing of panelized wall sections and wood roof trusses; then packaging them with all the materials needed to frame your home, barn or garage. In addition, our building kits include Pre-Engineered Building Plans and the foundation design. When your panelized building kit is delivered to your job site PMHI provides a Panelized Wall Plan, Roof Truss Layout and Computerized Inventory. The Panelized Wall Plan indicates where the pre-framed and number walls section are used in the construction process. To further speed the construction process these wall sections already have factory installed windows and wall sheathing. In some cases the finished siding is installed.
  www.pmhi.com

• Green Edge Homes SIPs Panel Kits
  Green Edge Homes high-performance, eco-friendly homes use advanced Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPs), high-density insulating foam between engineered wood facings, creating an airtight seal that enhances thermal performance and exceeds industry standards. Our SIP building materials are pre-assembled at the manufacturing facility and then shipped to the build site. You or a contractor of your choice will quickly assemble the SIP building materials.
  www.greenedgehomes.com 

• Redstone Engineered Home Systems
  We have engineered a building system that is very easy to assemble. This system is pre-built (framed) for you. It’s not just a pile of lumber dropped on your site. Our system comes complete with engineered drawings and a complete building manual. Since all the major construction takes place inside, there are no costly delays or ruined materials due to bad weather or material theft.
  redstonehomekits.com

Featured image Redstone Engineered Home Systems