What is prefab house and why you need it?

In general, prefab homes are attractive because they offer the ability to build a house cheaper, faster, and more sustainably than traditional building methods. The idea of manufacturing the components of a building in one site and assembling it in another is truly ancient—there are records of the Romans using prefabricated components to build forts quickly in newly conquered lands.

But the concept of prefabricated homes as we know them today was born around the turn of the 20th century thanks to kit homes.

A Washington Post article describes it this way: “A potential homeowner could see what he wanted in a magazine ad, sales office or catalogue, write a check and order the American dream. It would arrive at the nearest train depot in one or two boxcars, weighing upwards of 50,000 pounds, to be hauled by horse cart or truck to the building site. Armed with detailed instructions, the buyer (or a hired contractor) assembled as many as 30,000 numbered pieces.”

The concept was revolutionary: People in remote areas had access to the same of-the-moment homes their city-dwelling peers did. And people moving to newly developed areas for jobs could quickly secure affordable housing. Prefab methods were also used in the mass suburban housing developments that were built all over the country after World War II.

Manufactured homes used to be known as mobile or trailer homes, but housing laws in the 1970s and ‘80s officially distinguished these dwellings from true mobile homes, which are trailers set on wheels. Manufactured homes come in three sizes: single-, double-, and triple-wide, which denotes the number of sections the house is composed of. Manufactured homes are fully constructed in a remote home building facility on a steel frame and then transported to the final site where it is set on a permanent foundation. Because the houses are built off-site, they fall under the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s codes as far as building and safety standards are concerned.

Modular homes are structures made of multiple sections that are also constructed off-site, but the sections don’t come together until they’re at the final building site. As such, modular homes are required to comply with local building and zoning laws, as opposed to the federal law. The modules that make up these homes are constructed with the same materials as traditionally built houses, and when assembled, can be placed end-to-end, stacked, or side-by-side (a crane is required for assembly). The module sections may comprise the entire building or only part of it—these homes can be quite large, completely customizable, and architecturally diverse.

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