How much does a modular home cost?
A breakdown of the cost for modular homes. Discover what you can expect to spend for a prefab and what that money pays for.
The average cost of modular homes is $75 to $175 per sq. ft delivered and installed. It is important to keep in mind prices can vary greatly depending on the home site location and its accessibility. A builder inspection of the property will be required for final pricing. Other costs of building a Modular Home include site preparation of the land, utility connections, driveways and walks, and landscaping. On average the final costs of 1,200 sq ft home will be between $90,000 to $210,000. Modular Homes can come in varying styles and features and most often there is a home for any budget.
Overview
Let’s say you receive a job offer that will require you to move to Bethel, Connecticut. It’s an average town with a population of 18,584, where the median household income is $78,358. You’ve spoken to your bank, and have $250,000 to spend on your house. You then choose a one-story modular ranch design with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 1,250 square feet of living space.
Expense Breakdown
Land - $14,000
Land value may vary greatly, depending on its location. In some places, an acre of buildable land may cost as little as $1,000 or as much as $100,000. In this scenario, you’re able to find a
Base Home Price - $94,000
The manufacturer’s base price for this home is $94,000. Unfortunately, this doesn’t include any additional customizations you’d like to make to the home.
Customizations - $31,000
While the modular home design is very close to what you’re looking for, it lacks the personal feel that customizing the home will give us. Your spouse insists on a two-car garage, and you want hardwood floors and upgraded kitchen appliances. You’d also like to go “green” with higher-grade insulation and higher quality doors and windows. The garage is going to be the most expensive, with a price tag of $24,000. These custom options very based on what the manufacturer and local builder have to offer.
Site Prep - $7,500
Luckily, the costs to prepare the building site are fairly low. The property is already mostly flat and doesn’t have many trees in the building area. You will have to remove a few old tree stumps and level some land at the rear of your property so proper drainage wouldn’t be an issue.
Foundation - $21,250
Because we performed proper due diligence of the land beforehand, we identified a rock ledge that would have cost a few extra thousand dollars to dig through. Instead, we just moved the home to a slightly different location, allowing us to avoid the hassle altogether. Since we want extra space for storage and the option to add more living space in the future, we went for a full basem*nt instead of a crawl space. Placing the modular home on a crawl space would have been equally sound structurally and only half the price, but the utility of a full basem*nt is a worthy investment.
Taxes, Fees, and Freight - $11,906
You’ll need to pay the delivery costs for the house, which cover the trucks that carry the individual home modules. You’ll also need to pay for the flag cars that drive behind and in front of the trucks to alert other drivers to the oversized truckloads. Every state has different taxes and fees associated with building homes, and these are separate from permit costs.
Finishing Work - $15,000
Once the home was all set, the finishing work began. Without counting additional site work or on-site construction, the price of finishing your modular home ran just under $15,000.
Utilities - $2,500
We’re lucky that our building site is very close to the street. It only cost $2,500 to connect to town utilities. We considered the self-sustaining route and installing a well and septic system for $18,000 but with minimal land available, we decided against it.
Permits - $2,462
The costs of permits vary greatly by municipality. This is not only because the cost of the permits is different, but also because some regions have an entirely different list of required permits than others. You can acquire a different list of required permits and their costs from your are’s town office, but this is a breakdown of the required permits for our home in Bethel, and their costs.
- Building permits –$1,919
- Mechanical permits –$503.06
- Pre-plan review fee –$20
- Certificate of Occupancy –$20
- Total Fees – $2,462.06
Total Cost - $199,618
The final price of your new modular home comes to $199,618. That averages out to just around $112 per square foot of living space and includes a two-car garage, a welcoming porch, a full basem*nt, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a beautiful kitchen, and attractive hardwood floors. Now that your new modular home price has been established, shop floor plans and get price quotes!
