Nearly 25,000 North Dakota families live in manufactured houses, built for a fraction of the cost of a single-family
site-built home. The HUD Manufactured Housing Modernization Act makes it clear that communities should consider if and how manufactured housing could fit into their affordable housing plans, said Senator Cramer
The innovations that diffuse fastest among homebuilders are those that do not require fundamental changes in the production of a
site-built home (Taylor and Levitt 2005).
The average cost to build a manufactured home is 50 percent less expensive per square foot than a comparable
site-built home, excluding land cost.
Factory-built homes have virtually shed their reputation as cheap housing, and some now rival
site-built homes in terms of design and quality--and they tend to be less expensive, averaging $44 per square foot compared with $93 per square foot for a
site-built home.
Ideabox houses can be built to manufactured home codes or to
site-built home codes, as the buyer's situation requires.
Currently, we're able to build at a cost competitive range of $180 to $250 per square foot versus $400 to $500 for a comparable quality
site-built home in the Hamptons."
With the average size of a home being 1,540 SF, that comes to less than $32 per SE The average
site-built home is $212,300, and with the average size at about 2,300-2,400 SF, it comes to around $70 per SF.
The average MH cost $36,300 during 1996, compared with $119,025 for a
site-built home (not including land).
More than 50% of the manufactured homes built today have two or three components under one roof and the roof has the same height and pitch as a
site-built home. Once set in place, many people can't tell the difference between a manufactured home and its traditionally built neighbor."
AS WITH MOST MODULAR HOMES these days, the front elevation and floor plan of the 1,664-square-foot, single-story Georgetown model from All American Homes appear for all the world to form a
site-built home.
Homes placed on private property can be packaged with the land and titled as real property, which would require the homeowner to pay the same property taxes as a comparable
site-built home. Local government in communities with a large number of manufactured homes should consider advocating this option to ensure they are collecting appropriate tax revenue.
"We use the same building materials found in any good quality
site-built home," adds Wood.
