In public figures the sections themselves commonly run about $110 to $170 a square foot delivered, and the land, foundation, crane, utilities, permits, garage and landscaping usually add as much again, so a finished 1,800 square foot modular home lands somewhere near $300,000 to $570,000 before the lot it sits on.
Every quoted modular price is a factory price, and the factory price is about half the job. The sections arrive complete, wired and plumbed, on a truck, and then somebody has to have poured a foundation, run the utilities, booked a crane, pulled the permits and hired the trades who finish the seams and the roof ridge. Buyers who budget the first number and not the second are the reason modular projects have a reputation for running over.
The half that arrives on a truck
The factory quote covers the sections: framing, sheathing, roof, windows, wiring, plumbing, insulation, drywall, cabinets, fixtures and usually flooring and paint, built indoors on a line and inspected in the plant by a state-approved third party. Public per-square-foot figures cluster around $110 to $170 for a standard specification, with the low end on a simple rectangular plan in a standard finish and the high end on a two-storey plan with upgraded cabinets, windows and roof pitch. Delivery is priced by the mile and by the number of sections, and a long haul or a difficult approach adds to it.
The half that does not
Site work is a separate contract with a general contractor, and it is where the range opens up. Typical line items, hedged, on a straightforward valley lot with utilities in the street:
- Permits, plan review and any impact or connection fees: $5,000 to $20,000.
- Site preparation, excavation and the foundation, whether stem wall, slab or basement: $20,000 to $50,000, more on a slope or on bad soil.
- Crane and set day, including the rigging crew: $10,000 to $25,000.
- Utility connections: $10,000 to $40,000 where water, sewer and power are at the property line, and materially more where a well and a septic system are needed instead.
- Finish work after the set: joining the sections, the roof ridge, the exterior siding at the seams, the stairs, and any porch or deck. $10,000 to $30,000.
- Garage, driveway and landscaping, which the county and any HOA will have opinions about: $45,000 to $100,000 together.
A worked total on 1,800 square feet
Order 1,800 square feet at $130 a square foot and the sections are $234,000 delivered. Add site work at the middle of the ranges above, call it $150,000, and the finished home is about $384,000, or roughly $215 a square foot, on land the buyer already holds. Run the same house at the bottom of every range and it is near $300,000; at the top of every range, with a well and septic and a difficult lot, it is well past $550,000. The lot is on top of all of it, and in the Las Vegas valley a buildable residential lot is the single least predictable line in the budget.
Against site-built construction in the valley, commonly quoted at $160 to $250 a square foot for the house before land, the modular route usually saves something on the structure and saves a great deal of time, and then hands most of the schedule advantage back if the site work is not sequenced to meet the delivery date. New construction from a production builder, where the land, the foundation and the landscaping are already inside one price, is the comparison most buyers should actually run.
How it gets paid for
The usual instrument is a construction-to-permanent loan: one closing, one set of costs, draws released against inspections to the factory and to the contractor as the work is done, interest charged only on the drawn balance, and an automatic conversion to a 30-year mortgage when the home is complete and the certificate of occupancy is issued. Lenders want the factory contract, the builder's contract and a plan-based appraisal up front, and factories generally want a deposit at order and progress payments before the sections leave the plant, so the draw schedule has to match the factory's terms rather than a stick-built one.
Some manufacturers arrange financing through the dealer instead. It is quicker to arrange and it is worth pricing against a bank or credit union quote, because the convenience is usually paid for in the rate or in fees rolled into the contract price.
Questions people ask
Are modular homes cheaper than site-built homes?
Usually on the structure, by roughly ten to twenty percent in published comparisons, and clearly on time, since the factory works through weather. Land, foundation, utilities and landscaping cost the same either way, so the saving on the finished project is smaller than the saving on the shell.
How long does it take to build a modular home?
Commonly four to eight months from order to keys: six to twelve weeks in the factory, running in parallel with site preparation and the foundation, then a set day and four to eight weeks of finish work and inspections.
Do modular homes need a foundation?
Yes, a permanent one built to the local code, and it is designed for the specific plan. The foundation is part of what makes the home real property rather than a vehicle, and no lender will fund a permanent loan without it.