Secure the land first and check that its zoning and any recorded restrictions allow it, then order the sections, hire a general contractor for the site work, and put both under one construction-to-permanent loan that draws to the factory and the builder and converts to an ordinary mortgage when the finished home is inspected and appraised.
A modular home is bought the way a custom house is built, not the way a home is shopped for. There is no listing, no seller and no escrow on the house itself; there is a lot, a factory contract, a builder's contract, a lender who funds all of it in stages, and a building department that signs off at the end. The order matters, because the factory will not schedule a build without a delivery address and the lender will not fund without both contracts.
Land first, and read the definition
Everything downstream depends on the lot: what the sections can be, how they get there, what the foundation costs, and whether the county will permit it at all. Check the zoning for the district's minimum lot size, setbacks, height and permitted dwelling types, and then check any recorded CC&Rs on the parcel. Restrictions that exclude factory-built housing are usually drafted around the HUD code and the permanent chassis, so a covenant banning manufactured homes very often permits modular ones. Read the words rather than the heading, and where the wording is ambiguous get the answer in writing before closing on the land.
Two access questions decide the price of the set: the truck has to reach the lot, which rules out some narrow or steep approaches, and the crane needs somewhere to stand with clear air above the foundation. Walk the lot with the contractor before you buy it.
The order, the contractor and the calendar
The factory order fixes the plan, the finishes and the price, and takes a deposit. Build time commonly runs six to twelve weeks once the slot opens, and the slot itself may be months out in a busy season, so the order date is what everything else is scheduled backwards from. Changes after the order are expensive and after the build starts usually impossible.
Meanwhile a general contractor handles the site: engineering and permits, excavation and the foundation, utilities, the crane and set, and the finish work that joins the sections and closes the roof. Some factories work through approved builders who do both halves under one contract, which removes the seam where the two schedules meet. Either way the foundation has to be poured, cured and surveyed to the factory's dimensions before the delivery date, because the sections cannot wait on a truck.
One loan, two sets of draws
The standard instrument is a construction-to-permanent loan. One closing, one set of closing costs, and a single note that draws down in stages and converts to a 30-year mortgage at completion. The lender underwrites the borrower normally and appraises the home from the plans and specifications, then releases funds against progress: a deposit and progress payments to the factory on its terms, and inspection-based draws to the contractor for the foundation, the set and the finish stages. Interest accrues only on what has been drawn, so the construction payment rises as the house does.
Lenders ask for the executed factory contract, a fixed-price builder's contract with a schedule, the plans, and evidence that the land is owned free of a competing loan or is being bought at the same closing. A contingency of five to ten percent is normal and worth having, because site work is the line most likely to move.
Permits, the set, and the appraisal at the end
The modules are inspected inside the plant by a state-approved third party and carry that agency's label, so the local building department does not re-inspect what is behind the finished walls. It permits and inspects everything else: the plans, the foundation, the utility connections, the joining of the sections, the electrical and plumbing tie-ins and the final occupancy. In the valley that is the Clark County Building Department or the city's own, and the contractor pulls the permit before ground is broken.
Set day is one day. The crane places the sections on the foundation, they are bolted and strapped together, and the house is weathertight by evening. What follows is four to eight weeks of seams, ridge, siding, driveway and inspections, ending in a certificate of occupancy. The lender then orders the final appraisal, which values the home against site-built comparables because that is what it legally is, and the construction loan converts to the mortgage.
Questions people ask
Do you need land before ordering a modular home?
In practice yes. The factory needs a delivery address and a plan engineered for that jurisdiction, and the lender needs the land owned outright or bought at the same closing before it funds anything.
Can you get a mortgage on a modular home?
Yes, on the same terms as a site-built house. Once it is set on a permanent foundation it is real property, and conventional, FHA, VA and USDA lending all apply without a manufactured housing overlay.
Who builds the foundation for a modular home?
A general contractor on site, working to the factory's dimensions and the locally approved engineering. It is permitted and inspected by the county or city, and has to be finished and surveyed before delivery is scheduled.