Off-frame Modular Clayton Homes

We have land. Now we are looking for a home to put on it. What is it going to cost, not just for the house, but all of the rest of the costs that are not included in the house prices shown?

We worry about having a house stick-built. We have houses in our neighborhood that are still not finished. They have had nothing but trouble with getting materials and getting workers to show up. They’ve told us about how much more things cost now than when they started. As much as possible, we want to know about how much things will end up costing.

Schumacher Homes built our last house and we are very happy with it. The whole experience was positive and we were able to find a compromise between what we want and what we wanted to pay for. The Cottagewood house plan is 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, 884 square feet and $222,406. This is the exact same house plan I looked at in 2017 when it was $107,779. Wow! If we are going to do this, we should do it before prices get any higher!

Building a New House – Looking for House Plans >

Clayton Homes was recommended. They make mobile homes, modular homes and park model homes. The land we are building on is not zoned for mobile homes or park model homes.

We were told that any home they make can be made as a modular home or as a mobile home, it’s just a matter of being built on-frame or off-frame, but that is absolutely not true. The very confident person we spoke to did not know what she was talking about.

If you want to see the homes Clayton makes that are available as modular homes, go to www.claytonhomes.com/find-a-home/. Put in your zip code to see what they make that meets the building code where you live. Then click features and scroll down to Modular Construction. The results go from 485 down to 18.

The least expensive modular construction house from Clayton Homes is the Cottonwood. It is $120,000 before options. All of them say “before options.” The Cottonwood is 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1,188 square feet.

Clayton Homes has a place not far from here, so we went out to take a look at them in real life.

None of the homes were labeled whether they are modular or mobile homes. We thought we could tell, though. Some of the homes looked like regular houses, with drywall construction.

Some even had high, 9-foot ceilings and crown molding.

Others looked like trailers, with wallpaper printed walls with seams.

Definitely a mobile home wall.

This is a trailer for sure. With what they used to call a garden tub. Now it is a soaking tub.

This has drywall and a walk-in shower. We guessed modular home.

This looks like a mobile home kitchen.

This must be a modular home kitchen.

This looks like a modular home kitchen with 8-foot ceilings.

This one is for sure a mobile home.

We guessed this one was a modular home.

High ceilings, huge laundry room, great trim, sturdy solid doors… gotta be a modular.

This has got to be a modular home, too.

This is a huge open room with the kitchen, dining room and living room all open. Lots of windows, high ceiling…

After we looked at all of the houses on the lot, we walked in and asked for sure which ones are modular.

And the answer? None of them. All of these houses are mobile homes. They make mobile homes now that look exactly like a house inside. The drywall looks the same. They even have high 9-foot ceilings. None of the houses we looked at there are even available as modular homes. So none of them can be put on our land because of our zoning.

The gentleman we spoke to recommends the Magnolia. It is an off frame modular.

The Clayton Homes Magnolia Modular Home is 1,546 square feet, bigger than we were thinking about. We really wanted something closer to 800 square feet, an ADU size. But let’s find out what it will cost.

Clayton Homes Off-frame Modular Construction and Setup Costs >