Site-Built Homes: What You Need To Know
Author:
Ashley KilroyMay 13, 2024
•6-minute read
If you’re looking to own a new home in the near future, you might find what you’re looking for in a site-built home. Instead of purchasing a home, you can design the home of your dreams and pay for the materials to come to your selected plot of land, where a contractor will build your home.
Let’s take an in-depth look at site-built homes, including how they differ from manufactured and modular homes, how they’re constructed and some of their most important features.
What Is A Site-Built Home?
Site-built homes are built from scratch permanently on the buyer’s desired property location. This construction method involves transporting all home-building materials – from wood framing to roof shingles to plumbing pipes – to the site for assembling the house within several months.
Also sometimes referred to as “stick-built homes,” site-built homes are the opposite of prefab homes, which companies build before shipping to the desired spot. Instead, a site-built home’s raw materials arrive at the construction site, and then the contractor builds the home from the foundation up.
Manufactured Homes Vs. Site-Built Homes
Manufactured homes and site-built homes differ in cost, customization opportunities, assembly, and value over time.
- The cost: Manufactured homes are usually cheaper and faster to build because the company builds the homes before shipping them and doesn’t offer significant modifications. So, these homes take just weeks to build, while site-built homes usually require months of build time.
- Customization options: Manufactured homes aren’t customizable like site-built homes.
- Assembly: Manufactured homes are assembled in climate-controlled facilities, while site-built home construction occurs out in the elements. Therefore, a manufactured home’s components are less likely to suffer damage from weather and other outdoor hazards.
- Value over time: While site-built homes have historically enjoyed higher increases in value over time, manufactured homes have started appreciating at a market rate similar to traditional homes. As a result, both manufactured and site-built homes can be solid investments. Remember, though: If you don’t affix a manufactured home to its foundation, it will depreciate more.
Despite their many differences, both manufactured and site-built homes have similar quality and safety standards because the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) standards apply to them.
Modular Homes Vs. Site-Built Homes
Like manufactured homes, modular homes come from factories. Premade pieces arrive at the construction site, where a team puts them together. Once they’re built, they