Packaged Home Question

[hpp4me]

Rob, do you do business on Oahu? We have friends who are looking to buy a tear down and build there.

I have heard stories about how difficult it is to build in Honolulu County. Just wondering if anyone has had permit issues using these new materials there.

[Rob Tucker]

I do business on Oahu though mostly on the neighbor islands. For some reason Honolulu and Oahu have called me the least over the past fifteen years.

[hpp4me]

quote:

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Originally posted by Rob Tucker

I do business on Oahu though mostly on the neighbor islands. For some reason Honolulu and Oahu have called me the least over the past fifteen years.

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Thanks. Just emailed you...

[jdirgo]

Damon tried to bring us back to the topic and I'll try to answer based on my limited experience. I have built a couple of places here, so I have (minimal) some knowledge.

Often "packaged homes" are cheaper because of several factors:

1) the pre-packaged designs are often arranged to keep construction costs low -- by doing things like centralizing the plumbing to one area of the house (i.e. bathrooms back up to each other and one bathroom is just a wall away from the kitchen, etc). See HPM's infamous '1056' (square footage, not name) for one example of this. Easy to build = cheaper.

2) the pre-packaged homes have detailed materials lists already made for them. Changing the design will require the contractor or materials supplier to recalculate the materials list and, of course, can change the cost of materials or construction cost significantly.

3) even seemingly minor changes can be significant. People think that "I just want the bathroom on this side of the room instead of the other side" is not a big change, but that can have HUGE implications on cost. I've seen cases where something like "lets put this exact house up on post-and-pier rather than slab so I can park underneath" was a $50,000 change. In that case, the rules for fire-retardant materials necessary, beam changes for proper support and addition of a staircase from the carport to the main house dramatically affected the plans and cost. In this example, beams shorted by the addition of the "hole" for the staircase were important load-bearing beams and when shortened, had to be of greater thickness and strength. Higher cost, too.

Changing a "packaged home" plans can have a lot of costs beyond just new draftsman plans and a new review/approval by an architect.

All that being said, "yes, of course you have input and can make changes." Just be sure that as you discuss the changes, you are working with someone REALLY knowledgeable about the implications of the changes and how it can affect your costs. I would recommend discussing them with your contractor or experienced architect/draftsperson before you commit to the changes. Sometimes the architect is expensive and a draftsperson could answer your questions and advise you on the implications of a change for far less cost -- the architect will still have to review and approve it in the end, though.

John Dirgo, R, ABR, e-PRO
Aloha Coast Realty, LLC
808-987-9243 cell
http://www.alohacoastrealty.com

[Guest]

Thanks Jdirgo -

I'm not in the market, but was always curious why the pre-packaged houses were much cheaper. I think you have answered that question.

Has there been any study on the longevity of pre-packaged houses compared to custom homes? (sorry for the stupid question) [V]

Besides cost, what other advantages are there to Pre-Packaged houses?



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Coming home soon!

[jdirgo]

They tend to be built out of similar materials as most custom-designed homes, so I would expect the longevity to be similar.

Note that I said "custom-DESIGNED" home, not "custom-built". Often custom-built homes are made with higher end materials that would have longer lives.

In other words, a pre-packaged stick-built home built to code by a reputable builder should have the same life as a custom-designed stick-built home.

John Dirgo, R, ABR, e-PRO
Aloha Coast Realty, LLC
808-987-9243 cell
http://www.alohacoastrealty.com

[Bob Orts]

Another consideration is that packaged homes can spread certain cost amongst many buyers whereas custom designed costs usually are shouldered fully by the single buyer.

[richard in quebec]

http://www.habitaflex.ca/index.php?tabs=H|H



heres a packaged home for you..check out this link

[gtill]

Wow, a perfect solution for here, checking prices, they're not open on weekends! The Co is in Quebec, shipping will be killer!

Plus bottom line 40K-70K no shipping,nothing. Kinda neat though,be good if it could be manufactured here!

Sure be fun to pick one up in Quebec truck it across Canada and ship to Hilo!

[rusty h]

gtill

tell us what you found out about shipping to Hawaii, im really interested
thanks
rusty