Tracy

The materials used to build a prefab home and a "stick-", or site-built home are exactly the same. BUT prefab homes, as with any Mandala Home, are built in a production facility and then moved to the building lot where final assembly occurs.

Prefabricated construction is setting the new standard in home construction. Both the home builders and the homeowner benefits from the range of savings afforded by panelized home building and the trend is definitely catching on.

Panelized construction is the evolution of the traditional “stick frame” construction. Panelized construction takes the technology from traditional framing and brings it into a controlled and efficient manufacturing environment.

While "stick-" or site-built homes still comprise most of the new home market, panelized, or prefab homes (pre-built homes) offer an attractive, highly efficient, and competitive alternative to the conventional. Mandala Homes strives to represent innovation in green technology and Off-Site Manufacture (OSM) home design.

Compared to site-built homes, Mandala’s round home and innovative “OSM”' construction provide exquisite spaces with minimal impact on the environment and maximum benefit to you.

Are you ready for a better way to build?

Time and Money Savings: Site-built or Prefab Home?

Site-built homes tend to run about $160 per square foot compared to only $110 per square foot for panelized construction.

Panelized home construction reduces construction time and costs in a variety of ways:

• The panels of your new home are designed and fabricated in a manufacturing facility before being shipped to your home site.
• Once on-site, the shell of a panelized home can be framed and made weather-tight in a matter of days, reducing labour expenses.
• Because the bulk of construction takes place in a climate-controlled environment, delays due to weather, materials delivery, and subcontractor schedules – often unavoidable in stick-built construction – are significantly diminished in the construction of a panelized home. 

Stick-built homes can take up to three times longer to build than prefabricated homes. While site-building is a time-tested and traditional way of building homes, and probably the most common method of construction, construction times vary, ranging from less than three months to up to a year, sometimes more.

Transporting and buying exact measurements of building materials that will be used (versus buying bulk) contributes to the final cost of the house.

During site-built construction, it's not unusual for materials to be stored onsite and sit, exposed to the weather and the elements until the construction crew is ready to use them.

Similarly, the interior of the home is exposed until the roof, walls and windows are all in place. This exposure to the elements can take its toll on materials impacting final construction: warping, mold, mildew, popped nails and screws, and the increased likelihood of squeaky floors.

Unlike a site-built home, where cost overruns are a common stressor; at Mandala Custom Homes, you get a guaranteed price for your home package.

Customized and Accurate Prefabricated Home Design

Largely due to the use of computer-aided design, the customization of panelized, prefab homes has an increasingly consistent record of matching site-built homes while meeting customer demand.

Mandala Homes does offer a number of existing floor plans as a “jumping-off point” for designing your new home. By choosing one of these plans and customizing it to your needs and wishes, your design process can move quickly to create a design that reflects your values and lifestyle.

Whether you start with an existing floor plan and adapt it to suit your needs or work with your designer to create a fully custom home, the design process unfolds in the same manner.

The plans for your home are sent directly from the designer’s computer to the panelization shop floor, ensuring your home is built accurately and efficiently.

Without the advantage of the design correlated specifically with the building materials and process, stick-built homes take more time to build and they cost more than factory-built house pieces assembled on site.

Environmentally Friendly

Prefab homes tend to be inherently more sustainable than site-built housing. Factory assembly means reduced construction material waste, less environmental interference at the job site, and easier cleanup.

Continuous construction traffic to and from the building site makes the stick-built process a less than "green" building environment.

The precision construction of panelized homes makes them known for increased energy efficiency and lower heating and cooling costs. Prefab tends to embrace a frugal use of resources – nothing used in the construction facility goes to waste. Given the economy of replication and the efficiency of constructing homes in a factory built specially for that purpose, results in a home that costs up to 20 percent less than a comparable “stick-built” home.

As a proud partner of Built Green, a Master Builders Association certification, Mandala Homes shares in their holistic approach utilizing advanced building technologies to promote responsible sustainability practices.

Additionally, we look to programs such as ENERGY STAR to help save our clients thousands of kilowatt-hours of electricity while also achieving deep emissions reductions. Every product that has earned the ENERGY STAR label is independently certified to deliver not only quality, performance, and savings but a level of predictable and reliable efficiency that conforms to the values of Mandala Homes.

Given our commitment to sustainability and energy-efficiency, we know panelized home construction to be an inherently green way to build, recognized in several green building certifications, including the ICC 700 National Green Building Standard. 

Quality Construction

Quality control is greatly enhanced with panelized building.

Today's factory-built homes are beautiful, high quality, energy-efficient designs made of high-end materials and fixtures. In a factory, the company can produce precise, custom components for a more efficient way of building.

After creating a fully customized design, your expertly crafted home package is shipped directly to your site where it is assembled and completed for many generations to come.

After the home's foundation is prepared, the floor system is built according to traditional framing methods. The next step would normally be to measure, cut and nail individual pieces of lumber together to create a wall section and then level, square and fasten it in place.

This is where the panelized process differs: panelized building brings the wall assembly portion into a climate-controlled and efficient manufacturing environment. All of the panelized components are framed on flat, square framing tables.

All of the panels are designed using computer software resulting in greater accuracy and reduced labour and waste.

Each worker in our Mandala Homes panelized facility has specialized expertise in a particular aspect of panelized home construction, resulting in higher quality and more consistency.

To ensure durability and longevity, your home’s plans are designed to meet your local building codes before they leave the facility. An important point particularly if your region requires special features to compensate for high winds, excessive snow loads, and other considerations.

When you purchase a Mandala Home package, you can enjoy the peace of mind knowing that our full design and planning service is backed by over 70 years of house building expertise. 

Interested in learning how a Mandala Home might be the perfect dream home for you? Talk to us!