Monday, September 24, 2007

Getting Closer On the House

Lately we have been doing some shopping around. We have a house plan that we really like, along with some variations that should be a bit less expensive. We’re talking with subcontractors of all kinds, and also talking to modular home builders.

Modular homes are actually quite amazing. They are, if you didn’t know, stick-built houses assembled in a factory. They use the same materials as a conventional house, but they are assembled into two halves, which are then bolted together on the site. Building this way lowers the cost of the house and the amount of time required to build it.

We actually toured on of these factories over the weekend, and it was very impressive. It’s the kind of approach that made the Model T cost only $300 when it rolled off the line.

So why not go modular? There are a few restrictions on design where the two halves join (not a problem for us), and there is the matter of having to come up with the entire cost of the house (or at least the finished part) right away.

But depending on the prices we get from the modular companies, we may take this option, which means we might have a house ready to move into in about six weeks. Stay tuned.

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