June 18, 2024 • 30 mins
Can choosing the right home construction method save you time and money? Discover the hidden benefits and challenges of modular versus stick-built homes on this week’s Carolina Contractor Show. Donnie, a seasoned general contractor, dives deep into the intricacies of modular and stick-built homes, debunking myths and offering a balanced perspective on both construction methods.
In this episode, we explore the practicalities of modular homes, from logistical challenges to cost savings, and address common perceptions about their quality. Learn about the additional responsibilities when opting for modular homes, like coordinating foundational work and utility installations. We'll also shed light on the customization flexibility and hands-on advantages of traditional stick-built homes. Whether you're drawn to the faster timeline of modular homes or the personalized touch of stick-built homes, this episode is packed with expert tips to guide you through making an informed decision. Don't miss out on our candid discussion that could change the way you think about home construction!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with
your host, general ContractorDonnie Blanchard.
So you don't know much aboutBull Durham, do you Donnie?
I was stunned today.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Yeah, that's a little bit before my time, man, I was
surprised that you got me onthat, because I know I've seen
it, but I just didn't know thenames of the characters.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Me and Donnie were texting back and forth and long
story short, he thought that AIwas so strong that it took this
generic script information thatDonnie wrote and inserted his
name and his company nameautomatically.
And I texted back.
I said that was me, you hayseed.
And then I said to you I feellike I'm the Crash Davis to your
Nuke Lelouch.
And Donnie says who are they?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I was hurt.
That is funny, man.
You know Crash Davis.
Actually there was a guy when Iwas in middle school, I guess
he failed a couple of times andall I remember from Crash Davis
was he got his license in eighthgrade and somebody made a sign
for him outside.
So that's where my mind went.
But I need to revisit BullDurham.
In all fairness, I know it's anamazing movie and I remember
liking it as a kid.
I just didn't know thecharacters.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
And for people out there, if there is more than
Donnie who haven't seen thatmovie, bullderm great movie to
watch.
Of course, donnie, you know, donot watch it with your girls
around.
It's not a kid-friendly moviein parts but I quote it.
As I told Donnie earlier today,I probably quote that movie at
least once a week.
It's got all the best linestalking about hey, I'll just
(01:26):
give them one line that I usedto have up on a board in an old
office and it said don't thinkit only hurts the ball club.
And that was for reps thatwould come in and say I think I
have an idea that can.
I think we should.
And I would just point at thepicture of Crash Davis talking
to Nuke Lelouch, which is who hesaid that to.
There's your teaser.
Go rent the movie and see it onyour own.
Hey, donnie, we're like the newSiskel and Ebert of DIY.
(01:46):
It's the Carolina ContractorShow.
My name is Eric Smith.
I do inside sales and spewlines from movies like Bull
Durham for home builders inWilson and Greenville.
Donnie is a general contractorwho was unaware of my reference
earlier today.
He's also the owner ofBlanchard Building Company, also
the owner of Sure Top Roofing,and what we do on the show is
not review movies or talk aboutit.
(02:07):
But pop culture sometimes makesan appearance.
But we like to talk about yourhouse, as I used to say the
inside, the outside, the top,the bottom, underneath it,
electrical plumbing, fire pits,barbecuing appliances, things
like that.
And we have Donnie on because,as a general contractor, he
actually knows what he's talkingabout.
So I'm just going to supply thesmart ass remarks and some
information I might be able torelay, but for the most part,
(02:28):
donnie knows a lot more abouthouses.
The websitethecarolinacontractorcom is a
great place to start.
We're putting these things upon YouTube so you can see past
episodes in all their glory witha video and audio.
If you want to listen to thepodcast, you can go to the
website and download it there.
It's on any of the formats thatyou prefer.
It.
Delivery vehicles you might sayAsk the contractor.
(02:49):
Do you have a question forDonnie?
Again, as a general contractor,he can answer the questions you
have about your house.
Submit them right there.
If you have an idea for a show,guest or a subject, submit them
at that same spot.
You can do it there.
Man, we put up stuff from pastshows and cool pictures or
videos and things like that.
That's where all our socialmedia is too.
So again,thecarolinacontractorcom.
(03:11):
Now today's subject is I justsaid a second ago, donnie, you
know a lot more about buildingand construction than I do.
I work in a job that suppliesthe materials but you know more
about actually putting themtogether like a puzzle and
building something that peoplewant to live inside.
And so today's subject I'mgoing to lean on you for, but
we're going to be talking aboutmodular and stick built building
(03:33):
, and you pretty much just dostick built right.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yep, stick built is in terms of most custom builders
that's.
All they do is stick built.
We don't have the manufacturingcapability to build anything
modular.
So I'm going to start out bysaying of course I'm going to
lean towards stick built.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
We don't have the manufacturing capability to
build anything modular.
So I'm going to start out bysaying, of course I'm going to
lean towards stick built.
That's perfectly fine, but itmeans you also know a lot about
it, and that's why I'm glad wehave you on the show, as usual,
because you can get that insight.
Let's start off with a basicdescription of each.
If you would do that, Donnie.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
So stick built construction is what you
primarily see with a custombuild or even in a track build
situation where people arethrowing up houses.
You know, trusses may be acommon part of a track built
home but even still the majorityof the house is stick built and
the definition there really isno set definition for stick
built.
But a stick built home goespiece by piece and I'll start
(04:19):
with the foundation.
Of course.
That goes brick by brick andwhen you get to the floor system
it's joist by joist, stud bystud and rafter by rafter.
So each one of those goes onone at a time and you basically
build it from the ground up.
The difference between that anda modular is that most of the
components from a modular homeare built off site in a
controlled climate atmosphereand they're built inside.
(04:40):
So where you're exposed to theelements with stick build,
you're not exposed to theelements with a modular, and
there's pros and cons to eachand we'll get into that.
But most of the people outthere and where I live and where
you live in Wilson, stickbuilding is the most common
method.
When you get towards the biggercities like Raleigh, which is
right between the two of us, yousee a lot more modular and
(05:01):
track building, where they usetrusses and several components
of the house that are built offsite.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
What got you into stick built versus modular, or
is there never really something?
You go into modular first, yougo into stick built first and
maybe decide to do modular.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, If you're going to school to be a contractor,
more than likely your curriculumis going to be tailored around
stick building because they'regoing to teach you the pieces
and parts of traditionalcontracting.
And modular is not traditionalcontracting, that's just
something that was kind of bornout of the manufactured home.
That's the difference betweenmanufactured and modular.
Manufactured is more like adouble-wide.
It's a different process.
(05:35):
But I think they tookmanufactured homes and they just
beefed them up.
They manufactured homes gaveway to modular.
Maybe that's not fair to say,because if I had to give credit
to modular homes in any way,shape or form, it would be that
modular homes got their start inthe early 1900s.
So we had this huge immigrantpopulation coming to America.
(05:56):
We had all the soldiers cominghome from the First World War
and they needed somewhere tolive and they needed that place
fast.
You know, back then they had alot more kids than we have today
.
War and they needed somewhereto live and they needed that
place fast.
Back then they had a lot morekids than we have today.
So I know we've talked about inpast episodes the Sears catalog
house and that Sears cataloghouse was the very first modular
home.
So they built the walls offsite and of course they had the
insulation in the walls, anykind of wiring or anything that
(06:18):
would go in the walls, beforethe shipping process was all
done off site and they justshipped those to the job and put
those together like a puzzle.
So I think that the modularhome concept was definitely
beneficial to our country as awhole.
You know, a hundred years ago.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah, and we're not here to make any disparaging
remarks about modular, becauseit's a very fine way to build a
house.
We just want to give listenersand those watching us on YouTube
an idea of what the differencesare.
So let's jump into that.
There's pros and cons to eachand let's break them down into
the two groups, and again, I'mso glad that I have you here,
because you're going to be ableto talk about it with much more
authority than I can.
(06:52):
Let's start with stick builthomes.
Give me some of the advantagesof those, donnie.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Hey, before I get into this, don't sell yourself
short, man.
I know you say that I know allthis stuff, but you've come a
long way.
We've been doing the show forfive years and now you're in
building supply and I think youknew a lot before you went into
building supply.
So I know that you over therebeing modest, but, to everybody
listening, eric's got his ducksin a row when it comes to
construction.
I think, matter of fact, youmight be able to build a house.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
My expectations make everybody surprised.
But if I come across saying Iknow all this stuff and then I
say something stupid, then theygo he's an idiot.
So I always like to lower thatbar.
I call it my good lucky feeling.
It's got me a long way throughlife Under promise and over
deliver.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
I hear you, boom, you got it.
Okay, all right, so stick built.
Give me some pros.
Advantages are that you cancustomize a stick built home
home pretty much as much as youwant.
And as you go through theprocess you know it takes a
little longer to stick build.
So if you're a homeownerwanting your fingerprint on that
house as the framers are goingthrough, once you physically see
that space and you see thewalls go up and that envelope
(07:54):
closes the house up, you can say, hey, this might look good over
here, this might look good overthere.
So you have the ultimateflexibility and, and I think
that it gives you so many moredesign options and, like I
mentioned during the framingphase, if you want to move a
wall or if you want to changethe size of a tub or a shower,
you have the option to do that.
(08:15):
Folks just don't want to work.
I don't find that to be thecase where we are, because you
know we have very high qualitysubs, we have very high quality
in-house workers and all thoseguys you know they've shown up
for 15 years 7 o'clock in themorning ready to put in a 50,
60-hour work week.
So it gives me a lot of prideto incorporate local folks into
(08:46):
all of my builds.
But I'd say, structurallyspeaking, a big advantage would
be that if you trust a roof orof course you have a
manufactured home, they havelittle to no attic space.
So when you stick build a home,of course you're going to use
two by tens instead of a two bysix.
Trust with a bunch of bracingand all that stuff, but you
basically triple the size ofyour attic space.
So that's a really big deal toa lot of people where that's
their only means of storage.
We put a beefed up pull downstair in there.
That's insulated very well.
In the case where we don't havespray foam in the attic.
(09:06):
That insulation is superimportant for your heat loss and
heat gain.
But the last thing I'll say asan advantage is that you get
better homeowner insurance rates.
So stick building is the giftthat keeps on giving in terms of
your homeowner insurance ratesand I think that you know over
time that's just one of thosethings that pays for itself Real
quick.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
I want to deviate into that extra space and you
talked about using a pull-downstep.
Are there a couple of quickthings people need to know of
how to turn a bonus room, whatit requires to then be
considered an actual bedroom?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
You have to add a closet.
So most building inspectionmunicipalities they say that you
have to have a closet toconsider it a bedroom, which is
easy enough.
But in a bonus room situationyou often have those 45 degree
angle walls where the roof isthe ceiling, not to quote
Michael Jordan but you have the45 degree angle walls where you
know you have to make use ofthat and figure out a creative
(10:00):
way to actually have closetshelving.
If you do in fact incorporatethat into that bonus room.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Could you in theory have an extra bedroom that uses
pull down steps to get to?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Hmm, not if you tell the inspections department so,
uh, it's, you know that'd be,that would be, that would be
like your least favorite kid.
So, hey, you know I'm sorrythat you're going to have to do
this every day, but you know,put the stairs back up when you
go to bed.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Yeah, that's it, and then you could lock it.
No, I'm just kidding, please.
We're not going to padlock thedoors All right, let's go to
some uh some disadvantages ofthe stick-built homes, Donnie.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yeah, like I mentioned before, they're very
time-consuming.
You know, when you get into astick-built home you're at the
mercy of the elements and youknow weather is never your
friend when we are.
Of course North Carolinadoesn't have bad weather, but
you know when it's raining youcan't necessarily do the same
thing.
It's not just that it's rainingon where you're working, it's
(10:58):
making the job site a muddy messand of course, especially when
you get towards the finishedpart of the house, that just
makes everything bad.
If you have a lot with reallynice dirt, that translates to
red mud everywhere, and sopeople often think that a
disadvantage or a con is thecost.
And what I'm seeing lately isthat the modular home cost is
pretty much neck and neck withus, and I think they took
advantage of the housing marketbeing up and they eased up on
(11:19):
their price and they're stillselling.
Of course that's marketing 101.
And the last house that Ipriced against a modular, I want
to say we were about $20,000apart and that wasn't with a lot
of options on the modular.
So I think if you're a personthat wants a modular with the
options, they really hit youover the head with anything that
deviates from the standard home.
So that's one thing.
(11:46):
I would say that, other thanweather and time, the costing is
definitely not anything I'dtake into consideration.
So yeah, it's hard for me tofind a lot of cons for a stick
built, because I really feellike that's the best way to go
Speaking of climate, we talkedabout how modular homes a lot of
them are built in a climatecontrolled warehouse.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
They're sectioned out , so we're not going to address
the benefit of having thosepieces made.
We now want to talk to whenthey get to the job site.
So can you give me someadvantages of picking a modular
home?
It's now at the job site.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Well, it's funny you say that about the
transportation and getting it tothe job site.
What I mentioned about theweather they say, well, weather
doesn't affect a modular install, but try pulling half of a
house on a tractor trailer upthere.
You've got a crane, he has tomobilize and stabilize and
you've got to get half of ahouse or whatever if it's in
four quarters.
There's a lot of weightinvolved is what I'm trying to
say.
And if you have bad weather youcan't just pull all those
(12:37):
expensive machines up therebecause you're paying those a
pretty penny by the hour andexpect them to do what they need
to do around the weather or ifyou're the location you're
taking.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
That I mean, if you're taking half of a house,
you want it up in the mountainsor even out the beach or there's
narrow bridges, and that'sgoing to add to the cost if
you've got a tricky move right.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Absolutely yeah, and they're going to charge you for
it.
I mean, that's the one thing.
You're not dealing with a GC,with a modular.
So you're dealing with acompany and somebody's probably
got a general contractor licenseup the chain somewhere, but
you're dealing with a projectmanager and when they go out and
see your site they're going toincorporate it.
I mean, they have to pay thetrucking company, they have to
pay the crane guy to mobilize,so you know they're going to
cover their rear end and thatcost is just going to get passed
(13:16):
on to you as the homeowner.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Again, we're not trying to bad mouth them.
There's got to be someadvantages to modular.
I just can't help it.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Okay.
Advantages?
One One it is faster.
So where it may take usanywhere from, you know seven,
eight, nine months to build ahouse and on these larger ones,
you know it takes over a year.
And somebody's building 5,000square foot house.
There's just no wayrealistically, because each
trade takes a lot longer.
And you know we've talked aboutsubcontractor shortages.
(13:45):
It's not necessarily there's ashortage on subcontractors, it's
that they can't find good help.
So if they a trade or, I'msorry, a task that would have
taken two weeks, five, 10 yearsago, that's going to take them
three weeks because they justdon't have the folks and the
owners of the business.
I'm seeing them having to gettheir hands dirty again and
they're getting back involved.
(14:06):
There's 60, 65 year old guyswho are having to train new
people because they can't findqualified help.
But anyway, I keep getting offon tangents.
But modular homes are definitelyfaster.
I'd say three to four or fivemonths versus double that for
what we can offer.
That's fair.
Yeah.
And quality control would bethe other thing, because if
they're built in aclimate-controlled atmosphere,
(14:26):
nothing gets wet, nothing'sexposed to the weather and that
wall from the outside all theway to the inside, drywall,
paint and trim.
You know it's all or for themost part it's all site ready
when it leaves that factory.
So that's pretty much all I canthink of Eric.
No, that's, that's fair Twothings.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
We got.
Part of the disadvantage istransportation costs.
Some people say that that's anadvantage.
It just depends on where you'regoing.
I do think, though, and wouldyou agree, that the perception
is that modular is lower quality.
Is that a fair assumption, oris that not fair anymore?
Speaker 2 (15:02):
That's a tough question to answer but I'm going
to put it out there.
And if anybody has a modularhome I'm not picking on you
because you probably had upuntil the last couple of years
when house prices shot up, youprobably had significant savings
for going with a modular.
But I'll just say that modularhomes.
I think there's about 120, 130modular home facilities in the
country and I read a funny factthat 25 of those are in Texas.
(15:24):
So I guess expect to see a lotmore modular there.
But big state, so that's fair.
Anybody who's cranking outhouses to the tune of 130
manufacturing plants that arespread out across all 50 states.
They're going to have dealswith window companies.
They're going to have dealswith drywall companies,
insulation companies, even rightdown to the electrical wire.
So they're not stupid.
They're going to put theprojected amount of houses that
(15:46):
they think they can build in ayear out there and they're going
to say, hey, window company A,b and C, I know you have all the
same R value, you meet the sameenergy code.
How cheap can you go If youwant to sell this many windows
this year?
Who can have the best price andso I see the trickle down from
that is that they are going toget the cheapest window to meet
the minimum energy code and I'llget into this in a moment
(16:09):
because I experienced thispersonally but they're going to
have the cheapest product thatmeets the lowest code standard
possible, and I don't think thatthe misconception is wrong.
I think that the misconceptionis people who've lived in
modular homes and you knowthey've said, hey, we had issues
with our windows.
Hey, we had issues with, youknow, our siding, or whatever
(16:30):
the case may be.
So I think that people who say,hey, this is not as good as a
custom, they're right.
And me, as a custom builder,the opposite of what I just said
is I do my homework on the bestproducts available and we don't
always go with the cheapestproduct, because we've seen over
the course of 20 years by theway, this is our 20 year
anniversary for BlanchardBuilding Company, yeah but over
20 years time we've seen thingshold up or we've seen things
(16:51):
break down and, of course, ifsomething doesn't pass the test,
we don't ever use it again.
So my goal is, if a homeownercalls me back, it's just to say
hello.
So definitely a difference inmaterial standards for custom
built, stick built, versus themodular folks.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Well, I do agree, because with a modular, you're
basically assembling A to B andB to C and if something happens
that you're having trouble withthat, you're going to hammer it
together.
You're going to find a way.
We're going to make A connectto B.
We don't have the ability tomake big adjustments or even
small adjustments like you wouldon a stick builder, a custom,
and I want to be careful oncustom because it always makes
(17:26):
it sound like it's expensivewhen we're just talking a
general stick build.
We're going to compare the sametype of house if it were
modular stick build.
You, donnie, you've doneinsurance adjusting.
You're familiar with theinsurance industry.
Is there a difference?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
on getting insurance for a modular home than a stick
build.
So there is a big difference.
On manufactured homes, sodouble-wise mobile homes, those
we talked about RCV, which isreplacement cost value or
replacement cost coverage, isthe way people worded in a past
show and meaning that if youhave an insurance claim, they're
going to depreciate that claimand if you follow through with
the repairs that they pay youfor, they give you that
depreciation back.
It's recoverable and that'swhat you get with replacement
(18:04):
cost value.
Most manufactured homes do notqualify for that, meaning if you
have damage they do an ACVpolicy and they keep that
depreciation.
So that can be as much as halfof your insurance claim.
So with modulars, I don't knowexactly the formula they use for
discounting something that ifit's modular, but I think that
modular and stick bill areprobably pretty close in terms
(18:25):
of insurance rates.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Well, let's talk real life experience with this,
because I know you don't domodular, but you've probably
done work on modular homes andyou've done enough, whether it's
a renovation or an upgrade orrepairs that it gave you a good
insight of some of the pros andcons of it.
But give us a couple of reallife experiences you have when
it comes to work and say on amodular stick, built you know,
(18:46):
inside and out.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Yeah, I had a family member that wanted a house built
I don't know it's been five,six years ago that wanted a
house built I don't know it'sbeen five, six years ago and I
was so busy that I said, look,it's going to be, I'm a year
booked out, so I can't do itright now.
And they wanted a basement andthe modular company gave them
very attractive price and I said, well, roll with it, because
they were in a time crunch andthey needed to move in sooner
(19:09):
than later.
Well, fast forward a couple ofmonths from that conversation
and they got the basement wallput in.
Everything was fine.
I was kind of, you know, justsubtly sticking my nose in the
bill just to make sure thateverything was okay.
And they come back to me andsay that the modular company
won't finish the second floor,that we have to hire a
contractor to do that.
(19:30):
And I said, well, okay, I cantake that on, so if they get the
house in place I'll follow inbehind them.
And and uh, you know hate toadmit this, but curiosity was
killing me.
I wanted to see what they weremade of and how they really did
this.
And the product overall productwasn't terrible, and I'll say
that when they set the house,they cracked the basement wall.
That was number one.
Uh, so we had to come in there.
You know lots of hassles withengineering.
(19:51):
Uh, I, I, the response is whatI was looking for.
So I wanted the modular companyto say hey, we will fix this,
no matter what heck or highwater, we're going to make sure
you're happy.
And you just don't have thatelement with modular.
They're they're cranking out,they're a numbers game over
there.
So they're cranking out as manyuh potential houses as they can
.
And um that, when it came tosomething that was a real issue,
(20:11):
you know, a cracked basementwall, anything subgrade with a
crack in it is not OK.
So, and I was surprised by theattention that they gave the
homeowners.
But, like I mentioned earlierin the show, they don't have a
dedicated general contractor onthe job.
You know, the accountabilityjust is not the same.
So they get the house set,homeowner moves in.
I come in to do the renovationof the second floor, which was
basically wiring, insulation,drywall, paint, trim and
(20:35):
flooring.
And you know, I noticed thatthe windows that they had they
didn't meet.
The energy code had justchanged that year and the
windows that were in the modular.
I'm sorry they didn't meet thecurrent energy code, but of
course the inspectionsdepartment didn't call that out.
So I don't know if they're incahoots or what have you, but
you know just, it was problemafter problem, and when they
claim that it's everything isvery precise because it's in a
(20:58):
climate controlled atmosphere,you know they're not bad at
marketing, is what I'll say tothat because they know what to
say that appeals to the averageperson.
But every wall was out of square.
I had to do so much framing,shimming, trimming, and, and it
was.
It was so much work that I'dnever expected it, because I
thought I was coming into thislaser, precise everything,
square, plum level, and it wasnot that at all.
(21:21):
Um, one other thing that we raninto is that the dormer windows
, uh, were so close to the roofline that when it snowed, you
know, we I think they got 10inches of snow that year and
there was snow up past thebottom of the window.
So of course the snow melts,the water's trying to seep in
the windows, and that's just oneof those things where you got
to live with it.
Because what are you going todo?
You can't.
You could change the windowsout and all that, but you know
(21:41):
you're looking at a repairthat's measured in thousands
versus hundreds to remedy thatsituation.
So, um, you know, personallyspeaking, did not have a good
experience when I encountered myfirst modular.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Now there's one other thing we need to consider.
When you have a stick builderor a modular, decision to make
is down the road.
We like to think forever homeis our first home.
For a lot of people theyrealize going in it's a starter
home.
Most important thing, when youstart off with a small house and
you start a family and you needmore room, is you got to sell
what you're in?
I'm just going to make a gutassumption here Reselling a
(22:15):
modular the return on yourinvestment no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Well, I think that is dependent on the market and the
area, because I have seenmodular sell for more than I
ever thought that they would,and that's because there's
obviously a housing shortage.
When you see the apartmentsfill up in their max capacity on
a big apartment building, thensomebody with a decent house
with a little bit of land is farmore attractive than living
with your neighbor 10 feet away.
(22:42):
So I'd say that up until thevalue of the houses jumped up
and everybody's moving to NorthCarolina, that was definitely
the case and, as a matter offact, I think we did a show
similar to this several yearsago and at that point in time
manufactured homes actuallydepreciated.
So the point that I made backthen is stick built, appreciated
(23:04):
and manufactured, meaning themobile homes double-wise.
They actually went down invalue as they aged.
So yeah, that's a lot to takeinto consideration there.
That's a question to ask yourlocal realtor, because they'll
have their finger on the pulsefor what they've been seeing in
recent months.
Gotcha, okay.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
So modern times.
That may have changed if thehousing issue wasn't what it is
today.
Yeah, I don't know if weaddressed this, donnie, about
modular homes.
There's one thing that a buyerhas to do you can go to a
modular home retail and say, oh,we like this one, we like these
amenities and everything.
And then they're going to saywe talked about delivery.
But they're going to saywhere's your address?
(23:39):
And you're going to be what doyou mean?
Our address.
Yeah, you got to have that,don't?
You have to do like your owndriveway and even septic or well
water if you need that.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
That's on you the buyer's responsibility, right?
Yep, I probably should havementioned that before when you
ask about misconceptions formodular, but that's probably the
biggest one, because peopledon't realize that they'll give
you a foundation plan but theyexpect you to put your own
foundation in, meaning you haveto have a footing contractor,
you have to line up yourfoundation contractor.
When the house comes into playand is actually set on site, you
(24:10):
have to have a plumbing,mechanical and electrical
contractor.
So PME that we always preachabout, all three of those guys
have to come in just to hookeverything up and I do believe,
from a liability standpoint,that they stray from offering
those folks.
So the modular folks that I'vehad any kind of interaction with
say, hey, if you've got aplumber, call your guy or what
have you, because they don'twant something to go south with
(24:32):
the plumber, mechanical orelectrical guys and then that
fall on them.
Another thing like you mentioned, the driveway.
That's a big deal.
Can you get a driveway anddriveway pipe in there, your
well and your septic?
The cost of the well and theseptic is going to be exactly
the same whether you're stickbuilding or you have a modular.
And another fine tune point isthat where we include appliances
in our allowances, so we'll putthe range in for you, we'll put
(24:53):
the microwave in for you,because we wire for all those.
Those wires can't just behanging out of the walls with
the wire nuts on them, so wehave to put all that in and the
modular companies often put thaton the homeowner.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
So that's an extra cost you have to absorb that
they're not always up frontabout.
And, donnie, not to put you onthe spot, but this is something
the homeowners who have to dothe driveway in the land don't
realize You're putting in thedrainage pipe, the big concrete
pipe, when you're getting nearthe street to do that.
Can you do that, donnie, or doyou have to call somebody to put
it in?
Speaker 2 (25:21):
You absolutely have to call somebody, you have to
call the underground, locatefolks and you have to clear it
with the municipality.
So oftentimes you have to gothrough planning, zoning and
with septic and well, you've gotto go through environmental,
health and that's a lot oflegwork.
That if you have a dedicatedgeneral contractor, they do all
that stuff for you and they fillout all the paperwork.
You have to pay the fee andthat should be expected, but at
(25:41):
the same time the modular folksreally make you play contractor,
probably a lot more than you'recomfortable with.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
And if you're getting near the highway with your
driveway or your building andyou have to put in special
drainage, you got to get the DOTinvolved because your
contractor can't arbitrarilymess around too close to state
roads.
So now you got anothergovernment entity to get
involved, and that doesn't makeit fun.
So, diane, let's wrap it up Ina nutshell.
We know where you stand, you'rea stick builder, but, in a
(26:09):
nutshell, what are some of thethings you need to consider?
Then, if you're going to getstick built versus modular, I
guess really we got to focus onmodular.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Right Timing is really the only thing I can
think about.
The only area that they can getme on and I will willfully let
go is that they can get you inthere faster than I can think
about that.
The only the only area thatthey can get me on and I will
willfully um let go is that theycan.
They can get you in therefaster than I can and, um, the
pricing got so close hererecently that they can't beat me
on price like they used to, andI would say that you know, if
you want your own fingerprint ofa house, then you know a custom
builder is definitely a betteroption and you know options, uh,
(26:43):
options galore throughout thehouse.
And if you want to change thingsand I have some wonderful
homeowners right now, but, myGod, we change things every week
and you know I go with the flowI don't really get upset about
change orders because Iunderstand that is the position
that I've selected to be andI've chosen to be a custom
builder, and that word custom isjust that.
(27:04):
So if you're going to makechanges and and you know I'm not
the kind of guy maybe Ishouldn't put this out there on
the air, but unless it's a major, major change.
You know I don't charge forchange orders If it's a phone
call and a few emails and maybeyou know different materials
delivered instead of what weplanned on originally.
I think it's part of therelationship aspect that you
just roll with that Keep yourhomeowner happy and I think that
(27:25):
will lead to a lot of businessdown the road.
So that's our take on it and ifyou can wait an extra few
months, I think that you get amuch better product.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I would look at it this way You're in the framing
process and you go as the homebuyer man, I would have loved to
have had a bay window on theend of this house.
You can go to your contractorand say hey, man, we're still at
framing.
Is this possible Versus amodular?
Sorry, you've already pickedyour house.
You're going to have to stickwith the one you got.
Maybe you can call a DonnieBlanchard type to come in and
(27:55):
put one in later.
But nah, there's no changeorders on this, unless you want
to buy a whole brand new unit.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
A lot of elements are similar to track building.
With that you know, a trackbuild, track building with that
A track build.
They try to.
I guess they make it look likethey're stick building, but they
use a lot of trusses, they usea lot of stuff built off site
and in the very beginning,before you can actually step
foot in that house, you have tomake a lot of those decisions up
front, which is wonderful forthe builder because he has a
blueprint for start to finishand he doesn't have to flex or
(28:22):
bend for you.
But track building and modularhomes they share a lot of
similarities in that aspect.
So, like I mentioned before,you're getting a qualified GC
and you're getting somebody tohold your hand through the
process and who's going to do alot of the legwork for you, and
that 15% to 20% that we chargedefinitely has some value
because you're paying the sameamount of money with a lot less
(28:44):
decisions as the homeowner.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Donnie Blanchard, general contractor and owner of
Blanchard Building Company.
You can find his information onFacebook and on Instagram.
See the stuff that Donnie cando.
Also suretoproofingcom he ownsthat also.
Again, we're not downplayingmodular homes, but there are
some things that you need toconsider when choosing a home.
And a stick built does havesome major advantages, as we
(29:07):
just discussed on the show, andwe'll put more information up at
the website.
But there's a reason you stickwith stick built.
No pun intended, I guess.
Donnie, there you go.
Yep, all right, we thank youfor tuning in and hope this gave
you some inside information onthe differences between stick
built and modular homes, becausethere are some big differences
and, again, cost isn't theadvantage like it used to be for
a modular home.
(29:27):
You can pay just as much forthat as you can a stick build
and a custom home.
So go to the website, get moreinformation.
Thecarolinacontractorcom and Iwant to thank Donnie for coming
in and giving us his expertiseon stick built homes and the
contradictions and thecomparisons and pros and cons to
modular building, and we hopeto catch you again next week.
Have a great day everybody.
(29:48):
Thanks for listening to theCarolina Contractor Show.
Visit thecarolinacontractorcom.
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with
your host, general ContractorDonnie Blanchard.
So you don't know much aboutBull Durham, do you Donnie?
I was stunned today.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Yeah, that's a little bit before my time, man, I was
surprised that you got me onthat, because I know I've seen
it, but I just didn't know thenames of the characters.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Me and Donnie were texting back and forth and long
story short, he thought that AIwas so strong that it took this
generic script information thatDonnie wrote and inserted his
name and his company nameautomatically.
And I texted back.
I said that was me, you hayseed.
And then I said to you I feellike I'm the Crash Davis to your
Nuke Lelouch.
And Donnie says who are they?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I was hurt.
That is funny, man.
You know Crash Davis.
Actually there was a guy when Iwas in middle school, I guess
he failed a couple of times andall I remember from Crash Davis
was he got his license in eighthgrade and somebody made a sign
for him outside.
So that's where my mind went.
But I need to revisit BullDurham.
In all fairness, I know it's anamazing movie and I remember
liking it as a kid.
I just didn't know thecharacters.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
And for people out there, if there is more than
Donnie who haven't seen thatmovie, bullderm great movie to
watch.
Of course, donnie, you know, donot watch it with your girls
around.
It's not a kid-friendly moviein parts but I quote it.
As I told Donnie earlier today,I probably quote that movie at
least once a week.
It's got all the best linestalking about hey, I'll just
(01:26):
give them one line that I usedto have up on a board in an old
office and it said don't thinkit only hurts the ball club.
And that was for reps thatwould come in and say I think I
have an idea that can.
I think we should.
And I would just point at thepicture of Crash Davis talking
to Nuke Lelouch, which is who hesaid that to.
There's your teaser.
Go rent the movie and see it onyour own.
Hey, donnie, we're like the newSiskel and Ebert of DIY.
(01:46):
It's the Carolina ContractorShow.
My name is Eric Smith.
I do inside sales and spewlines from movies like Bull
Durham for home builders inWilson and Greenville.
Donnie is a general contractorwho was unaware of my reference
earlier today.
He's also the owner ofBlanchard Building Company, also
the owner of Sure Top Roofing,and what we do on the show is
not review movies or talk aboutit.
(02:07):
But pop culture sometimes makesan appearance.
But we like to talk about yourhouse, as I used to say the
inside, the outside, the top,the bottom, underneath it,
electrical plumbing, fire pits,barbecuing appliances, things
like that.
And we have Donnie on because,as a general contractor, he
actually knows what he's talkingabout.
So I'm just going to supply thesmart ass remarks and some
information I might be able torelay, but for the most part,
(02:28):
donnie knows a lot more abouthouses.
The websitethecarolinacontractorcom is a
great place to start.
We're putting these things upon YouTube so you can see past
episodes in all their glory witha video and audio.
If you want to listen to thepodcast, you can go to the
website and download it there.
It's on any of the formats thatyou prefer.
It.
Delivery vehicles you might sayAsk the contractor.
(02:49):
Do you have a question forDonnie?
Again, as a general contractor,he can answer the questions you
have about your house.
Submit them right there.
If you have an idea for a show,guest or a subject, submit them
at that same spot.
You can do it there.
Man, we put up stuff from pastshows and cool pictures or
videos and things like that.
That's where all our socialmedia is too.
So again,thecarolinacontractorcom.
(03:11):
Now today's subject is I justsaid a second ago, donnie, you
know a lot more about buildingand construction than I do.
I work in a job that suppliesthe materials but you know more
about actually putting themtogether like a puzzle and
building something that peoplewant to live inside.
And so today's subject I'mgoing to lean on you for, but
we're going to be talking aboutmodular and stick built building
(03:33):
, and you pretty much just dostick built right.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yep, stick built is in terms of most custom builders
that's.
All they do is stick built.
We don't have the manufacturingcapability to build anything
modular.
So I'm going to start out bysaying of course I'm going to
lean towards stick built.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
We don't have the manufacturing capability to
build anything modular.
So I'm going to start out bysaying, of course I'm going to
lean towards stick built.
That's perfectly fine, but itmeans you also know a lot about
it, and that's why I'm glad wehave you on the show, as usual,
because you can get that insight.
Let's start off with a basicdescription of each.
If you would do that, Donnie.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
So stick built construction is what you
primarily see with a custombuild or even in a track build
situation where people arethrowing up houses.
You know, trusses may be acommon part of a track built
home but even still the majorityof the house is stick built and
the definition there really isno set definition for stick
built.
But a stick built home goespiece by piece and I'll start
(04:19):
with the foundation.
Of course.
That goes brick by brick andwhen you get to the floor system
it's joist by joist, stud bystud and rafter by rafter.
So each one of those goes onone at a time and you basically
build it from the ground up.
The difference between that anda modular is that most of the
components from a modular homeare built off site in a
controlled climate atmosphereand they're built inside.
(04:40):
So where you're exposed to theelements with stick build,
you're not exposed to theelements with a modular, and
there's pros and cons to eachand we'll get into that.
But most of the people outthere and where I live and where
you live in Wilson, stickbuilding is the most common
method.
When you get towards the biggercities like Raleigh, which is
right between the two of us, yousee a lot more modular and
(05:01):
track building, where they usetrusses and several components
of the house that are built offsite.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
What got you into stick built versus modular, or
is there never really something?
You go into modular first, yougo into stick built first and
maybe decide to do modular.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, If you're going to school to be a contractor,
more than likely your curriculumis going to be tailored around
stick building because they'regoing to teach you the pieces
and parts of traditionalcontracting.
And modular is not traditionalcontracting, that's just
something that was kind of bornout of the manufactured home.
That's the difference betweenmanufactured and modular.
Manufactured is more like adouble-wide.
It's a different process.
(05:35):
But I think they tookmanufactured homes and they just
beefed them up.
They manufactured homes gaveway to modular.
Maybe that's not fair to say,because if I had to give credit
to modular homes in any way,shape or form, it would be that
modular homes got their start inthe early 1900s.
So we had this huge immigrantpopulation coming to America.
(05:56):
We had all the soldiers cominghome from the First World War
and they needed somewhere tolive and they needed that place
fast.
You know, back then they had alot more kids than we have today
.
War and they needed somewhereto live and they needed that
place fast.
Back then they had a lot morekids than we have today.
So I know we've talked about inpast episodes the Sears catalog
house and that Sears cataloghouse was the very first modular
home.
So they built the walls offsite and of course they had the
insulation in the walls, anykind of wiring or anything that
(06:18):
would go in the walls, beforethe shipping process was all
done off site and they justshipped those to the job and put
those together like a puzzle.
So I think that the modularhome concept was definitely
beneficial to our country as awhole.
You know, a hundred years ago.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah, and we're not here to make any disparaging
remarks about modular, becauseit's a very fine way to build a
house.
We just want to give listenersand those watching us on YouTube
an idea of what the differencesare.
So let's jump into that.
There's pros and cons to eachand let's break them down into
the two groups, and again, I'mso glad that I have you here,
because you're going to be ableto talk about it with much more
authority than I can.
(06:52):
Let's start with stick builthomes.
Give me some of the advantagesof those, donnie.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Hey, before I get into this, don't sell yourself
short, man.
I know you say that I know allthis stuff, but you've come a
long way.
We've been doing the show forfive years and now you're in
building supply and I think youknew a lot before you went into
building supply.
So I know that you over therebeing modest, but, to everybody
listening, eric's got his ducksin a row when it comes to
construction.
I think, matter of fact, youmight be able to build a house.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
My expectations make everybody surprised.
But if I come across saying Iknow all this stuff and then I
say something stupid, then theygo he's an idiot.
So I always like to lower thatbar.
I call it my good lucky feeling.
It's got me a long way throughlife Under promise and over
deliver.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
I hear you, boom, you got it.
Okay, all right, so stick built.
Give me some pros.
Advantages are that you cancustomize a stick built home
home pretty much as much as youwant.
And as you go through theprocess you know it takes a
little longer to stick build.
So if you're a homeownerwanting your fingerprint on that
house as the framers are goingthrough, once you physically see
that space and you see thewalls go up and that envelope
(07:54):
closes the house up, you can say, hey, this might look good over
here, this might look good overthere.
So you have the ultimateflexibility and, and I think
that it gives you so many moredesign options and, like I
mentioned during the framingphase, if you want to move a
wall or if you want to changethe size of a tub or a shower,
you have the option to do that.
(08:15):
Folks just don't want to work.
I don't find that to be thecase where we are, because you
know we have very high qualitysubs, we have very high quality
in-house workers and all thoseguys you know they've shown up
for 15 years 7 o'clock in themorning ready to put in a 50,
60-hour work week.
So it gives me a lot of prideto incorporate local folks into
(08:46):
all of my builds.
But I'd say, structurallyspeaking, a big advantage would
be that if you trust a roof orof course you have a
manufactured home, they havelittle to no attic space.
So when you stick build a home,of course you're going to use
two by tens instead of a two bysix.
Trust with a bunch of bracingand all that stuff, but you
basically triple the size ofyour attic space.
So that's a really big deal toa lot of people where that's
their only means of storage.
We put a beefed up pull downstair in there.
That's insulated very well.
In the case where we don't havespray foam in the attic.
(09:06):
That insulation is superimportant for your heat loss and
heat gain.
But the last thing I'll say asan advantage is that you get
better homeowner insurance rates.
So stick building is the giftthat keeps on giving in terms of
your homeowner insurance ratesand I think that you know over
time that's just one of thosethings that pays for itself Real
quick.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
I want to deviate into that extra space and you
talked about using a pull-downstep.
Are there a couple of quickthings people need to know of
how to turn a bonus room, whatit requires to then be
considered an actual bedroom?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
You have to add a closet.
So most building inspectionmunicipalities they say that you
have to have a closet toconsider it a bedroom, which is
easy enough.
But in a bonus room situationyou often have those 45 degree
angle walls where the roof isthe ceiling, not to quote
Michael Jordan but you have the45 degree angle walls where you
know you have to make use ofthat and figure out a creative
(10:00):
way to actually have closetshelving.
If you do in fact incorporatethat into that bonus room.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Could you in theory have an extra bedroom that uses
pull down steps to get to?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Hmm, not if you tell the inspections department so,
uh, it's, you know that'd be,that would be, that would be
like your least favorite kid.
So, hey, you know I'm sorrythat you're going to have to do
this every day, but you know,put the stairs back up when you
go to bed.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Yeah, that's it, and then you could lock it.
No, I'm just kidding, please.
We're not going to padlock thedoors All right, let's go to
some uh some disadvantages ofthe stick-built homes, Donnie.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yeah, like I mentioned before, they're very
time-consuming.
You know, when you get into astick-built home you're at the
mercy of the elements and youknow weather is never your
friend when we are.
Of course North Carolinadoesn't have bad weather, but
you know when it's raining youcan't necessarily do the same
thing.
It's not just that it's rainingon where you're working, it's
(10:58):
making the job site a muddy messand of course, especially when
you get towards the finishedpart of the house, that just
makes everything bad.
If you have a lot with reallynice dirt, that translates to
red mud everywhere, and sopeople often think that a
disadvantage or a con is thecost.
And what I'm seeing lately isthat the modular home cost is
pretty much neck and neck withus, and I think they took
advantage of the housing marketbeing up and they eased up on
(11:19):
their price and they're stillselling.
Of course that's marketing 101.
And the last house that Ipriced against a modular, I want
to say we were about $20,000apart and that wasn't with a lot
of options on the modular.
So I think if you're a personthat wants a modular with the
options, they really hit youover the head with anything that
deviates from the standard home.
So that's one thing.
(11:46):
I would say that, other thanweather and time, the costing is
definitely not anything I'dtake into consideration.
So yeah, it's hard for me tofind a lot of cons for a stick
built, because I really feellike that's the best way to go
Speaking of climate, we talkedabout how modular homes a lot of
them are built in a climatecontrolled warehouse.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
They're sectioned out , so we're not going to address
the benefit of having thosepieces made.
We now want to talk to whenthey get to the job site.
So can you give me someadvantages of picking a modular
home?
It's now at the job site.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Well, it's funny you say that about the
transportation and getting it tothe job site.
What I mentioned about theweather they say, well, weather
doesn't affect a modular install, but try pulling half of a
house on a tractor trailer upthere.
You've got a crane, he has tomobilize and stabilize and
you've got to get half of ahouse or whatever if it's in
four quarters.
There's a lot of weightinvolved is what I'm trying to
say.
And if you have bad weather youcan't just pull all those
(12:37):
expensive machines up therebecause you're paying those a
pretty penny by the hour andexpect them to do what they need
to do around the weather or ifyou're the location you're
taking.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
That I mean, if you're taking half of a house,
you want it up in the mountainsor even out the beach or there's
narrow bridges, and that'sgoing to add to the cost if
you've got a tricky move right.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Absolutely yeah, and they're going to charge you for
it.
I mean, that's the one thing.
You're not dealing with a GC,with a modular.
So you're dealing with acompany and somebody's probably
got a general contractor licenseup the chain somewhere, but
you're dealing with a projectmanager and when they go out and
see your site they're going toincorporate it.
I mean, they have to pay thetrucking company, they have to
pay the crane guy to mobilize,so you know they're going to
cover their rear end and thatcost is just going to get passed
(13:16):
on to you as the homeowner.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Again, we're not trying to bad mouth them.
There's got to be someadvantages to modular.
I just can't help it.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Okay.
Advantages?
One One it is faster.
So where it may take usanywhere from, you know seven,
eight, nine months to build ahouse and on these larger ones,
you know it takes over a year.
And somebody's building 5,000square foot house.
There's just no wayrealistically, because each
trade takes a lot longer.
And you know we've talked aboutsubcontractor shortages.
(13:45):
It's not necessarily there's ashortage on subcontractors, it's
that they can't find good help.
So if they a trade or, I'msorry, a task that would have
taken two weeks, five, 10 yearsago, that's going to take them
three weeks because they justdon't have the folks and the
owners of the business.
I'm seeing them having to gettheir hands dirty again and
they're getting back involved.
(14:06):
There's 60, 65 year old guyswho are having to train new
people because they can't findqualified help.
But anyway, I keep getting offon tangents.
But modular homes are definitelyfaster.
I'd say three to four or fivemonths versus double that for
what we can offer.
That's fair.
Yeah.
And quality control would bethe other thing, because if
they're built in aclimate-controlled atmosphere,
(14:26):
nothing gets wet, nothing'sexposed to the weather and that
wall from the outside all theway to the inside, drywall,
paint and trim.
You know it's all or for themost part it's all site ready
when it leaves that factory.
So that's pretty much all I canthink of Eric.
No, that's, that's fair Twothings.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
We got.
Part of the disadvantage istransportation costs.
Some people say that that's anadvantage.
It just depends on where you'regoing.
I do think, though, and wouldyou agree, that the perception
is that modular is lower quality.
Is that a fair assumption, oris that not fair anymore?
Speaker 2 (15:02):
That's a tough question to answer but I'm going
to put it out there.
And if anybody has a modularhome I'm not picking on you
because you probably had upuntil the last couple of years
when house prices shot up, youprobably had significant savings
for going with a modular.
But I'll just say that modularhomes.
I think there's about 120, 130modular home facilities in the
country and I read a funny factthat 25 of those are in Texas.
(15:24):
So I guess expect to see a lotmore modular there.
But big state, so that's fair.
Anybody who's cranking outhouses to the tune of 130
manufacturing plants that arespread out across all 50 states.
They're going to have dealswith window companies.
They're going to have dealswith drywall companies,
insulation companies, even rightdown to the electrical wire.
So they're not stupid.
They're going to put theprojected amount of houses that
(15:46):
they think they can build in ayear out there and they're going
to say, hey, window company A,b and C, I know you have all the
same R value, you meet the sameenergy code.
How cheap can you go If youwant to sell this many windows
this year?
Who can have the best price andso I see the trickle down from
that is that they are going toget the cheapest window to meet
the minimum energy code and I'llget into this in a moment
(16:09):
because I experienced thispersonally but they're going to
have the cheapest product thatmeets the lowest code standard
possible, and I don't think thatthe misconception is wrong.
I think that the misconceptionis people who've lived in
modular homes and you knowthey've said, hey, we had issues
with our windows.
Hey, we had issues with, youknow, our siding, or whatever
(16:30):
the case may be.
So I think that people who say,hey, this is not as good as a
custom, they're right.
And me, as a custom builder,the opposite of what I just said
is I do my homework on the bestproducts available and we don't
always go with the cheapestproduct, because we've seen over
the course of 20 years by theway, this is our 20 year
anniversary for BlanchardBuilding Company, yeah but over
20 years time we've seen thingshold up or we've seen things
(16:51):
break down and, of course, ifsomething doesn't pass the test,
we don't ever use it again.
So my goal is, if a homeownercalls me back, it's just to say
hello.
So definitely a difference inmaterial standards for custom
built, stick built, versus themodular folks.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Well, I do agree, because with a modular, you're
basically assembling A to B andB to C and if something happens
that you're having trouble withthat, you're going to hammer it
together.
You're going to find a way.
We're going to make A connectto B.
We don't have the ability tomake big adjustments or even
small adjustments like you wouldon a stick builder, a custom,
and I want to be careful oncustom because it always makes
(17:26):
it sound like it's expensivewhen we're just talking a
general stick build.
We're going to compare the sametype of house if it were
modular stick build.
You, donnie, you've doneinsurance adjusting.
You're familiar with theinsurance industry.
Is there a difference?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
on getting insurance for a modular home than a stick
build.
So there is a big difference.
On manufactured homes, sodouble-wise mobile homes, those
we talked about RCV, which isreplacement cost value or
replacement cost coverage, isthe way people worded in a past
show and meaning that if youhave an insurance claim, they're
going to depreciate that claimand if you follow through with
the repairs that they pay youfor, they give you that
depreciation back.
It's recoverable and that'swhat you get with replacement
(18:04):
cost value.
Most manufactured homes do notqualify for that, meaning if you
have damage they do an ACVpolicy and they keep that
depreciation.
So that can be as much as halfof your insurance claim.
So with modulars, I don't knowexactly the formula they use for
discounting something that ifit's modular, but I think that
modular and stick bill areprobably pretty close in terms
(18:25):
of insurance rates.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Well, let's talk real life experience with this,
because I know you don't domodular, but you've probably
done work on modular homes andyou've done enough, whether it's
a renovation or an upgrade orrepairs that it gave you a good
insight of some of the pros andcons of it.
But give us a couple of reallife experiences you have when
it comes to work and say on amodular stick, built you know,
(18:46):
inside and out.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Yeah, I had a family member that wanted a house built
I don't know it's been five,six years ago that wanted a
house built I don't know it'sbeen five, six years ago and I
was so busy that I said, look,it's going to be, I'm a year
booked out, so I can't do itright now.
And they wanted a basement andthe modular company gave them
very attractive price and I said, well, roll with it, because
they were in a time crunch andthey needed to move in sooner
(19:09):
than later.
Well, fast forward a couple ofmonths from that conversation
and they got the basement wallput in.
Everything was fine.
I was kind of, you know, justsubtly sticking my nose in the
bill just to make sure thateverything was okay.
And they come back to me andsay that the modular company
won't finish the second floor,that we have to hire a
contractor to do that.
(19:30):
And I said, well, okay, I cantake that on, so if they get the
house in place I'll follow inbehind them.
And and uh, you know hate toadmit this, but curiosity was
killing me.
I wanted to see what they weremade of and how they really did
this.
And the product overall productwasn't terrible, and I'll say
that when they set the house,they cracked the basement wall.
That was number one.
Uh, so we had to come in there.
You know lots of hassles withengineering.
(19:51):
Uh, I, I, the response is whatI was looking for.
So I wanted the modular companyto say hey, we will fix this,
no matter what heck or highwater, we're going to make sure
you're happy.
And you just don't have thatelement with modular.
They're they're cranking out,they're a numbers game over
there.
So they're cranking out as manyuh potential houses as they can
.
And um that, when it came tosomething that was a real issue,
(20:11):
you know, a cracked basementwall, anything subgrade with a
crack in it is not OK.
So, and I was surprised by theattention that they gave the
homeowners.
But, like I mentioned earlierin the show, they don't have a
dedicated general contractor onthe job.
You know, the accountabilityjust is not the same.
So they get the house set,homeowner moves in.
I come in to do the renovationof the second floor, which was
basically wiring, insulation,drywall, paint, trim and
(20:35):
flooring.
And you know, I noticed thatthe windows that they had they
didn't meet.
The energy code had justchanged that year and the
windows that were in the modular.
I'm sorry they didn't meet thecurrent energy code, but of
course the inspectionsdepartment didn't call that out.
So I don't know if they're incahoots or what have you, but
you know just, it was problemafter problem, and when they
claim that it's everything isvery precise because it's in a
(20:58):
climate controlled atmosphere,you know they're not bad at
marketing, is what I'll say tothat because they know what to
say that appeals to the averageperson.
But every wall was out of square.
I had to do so much framing,shimming, trimming, and, and it
was.
It was so much work that I'dnever expected it, because I
thought I was coming into thislaser, precise everything,
square, plum level, and it wasnot that at all.
(21:21):
Um, one other thing that we raninto is that the dormer windows
, uh, were so close to the roofline that when it snowed, you
know, we I think they got 10inches of snow that year and
there was snow up past thebottom of the window.
So of course the snow melts,the water's trying to seep in
the windows, and that's just oneof those things where you got
to live with it.
Because what are you going todo?
You can't.
You could change the windowsout and all that, but you know
(21:41):
you're looking at a repairthat's measured in thousands
versus hundreds to remedy thatsituation.
So, um, you know, personallyspeaking, did not have a good
experience when I encountered myfirst modular.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Now there's one other thing we need to consider.
When you have a stick builderor a modular, decision to make
is down the road.
We like to think forever homeis our first home.
For a lot of people theyrealize going in it's a starter
home.
Most important thing, when youstart off with a small house and
you start a family and you needmore room, is you got to sell
what you're in?
I'm just going to make a gutassumption here Reselling a
(22:15):
modular the return on yourinvestment no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Well, I think that is dependent on the market and the
area, because I have seenmodular sell for more than I
ever thought that they would,and that's because there's
obviously a housing shortage.
When you see the apartmentsfill up in their max capacity on
a big apartment building, thensomebody with a decent house
with a little bit of land is farmore attractive than living
with your neighbor 10 feet away.
(22:42):
So I'd say that up until thevalue of the houses jumped up
and everybody's moving to NorthCarolina, that was definitely
the case and, as a matter offact, I think we did a show
similar to this several yearsago and at that point in time
manufactured homes actuallydepreciated.
So the point that I made backthen is stick built, appreciated
(23:04):
and manufactured, meaning themobile homes double-wise.
They actually went down invalue as they aged.
So yeah, that's a lot to takeinto consideration there.
That's a question to ask yourlocal realtor, because they'll
have their finger on the pulsefor what they've been seeing in
recent months.
Gotcha, okay.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
So modern times.
That may have changed if thehousing issue wasn't what it is
today.
Yeah, I don't know if weaddressed this, donnie, about
modular homes.
There's one thing that a buyerhas to do you can go to a
modular home retail and say, oh,we like this one, we like these
amenities and everything.
And then they're going to saywe talked about delivery.
But they're going to saywhere's your address?
(23:39):
And you're going to be what doyou mean?
Our address.
Yeah, you got to have that,don't?
You have to do like your owndriveway and even septic or well
water if you need that.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
That's on you the buyer's responsibility, right?
Yep, I probably should havementioned that before when you
ask about misconceptions formodular, but that's probably the
biggest one, because peopledon't realize that they'll give
you a foundation plan but theyexpect you to put your own
foundation in, meaning you haveto have a footing contractor,
you have to line up yourfoundation contractor.
When the house comes into playand is actually set on site, you
(24:10):
have to have a plumbing,mechanical and electrical
contractor.
So PME that we always preachabout, all three of those guys
have to come in just to hookeverything up and I do believe,
from a liability standpoint,that they stray from offering
those folks.
So the modular folks that I'vehad any kind of interaction with
say, hey, if you've got aplumber, call your guy or what
have you, because they don'twant something to go south with
(24:32):
the plumber, mechanical orelectrical guys and then that
fall on them.
Another thing like you mentioned, the driveway.
That's a big deal.
Can you get a driveway anddriveway pipe in there, your
well and your septic?
The cost of the well and theseptic is going to be exactly
the same whether you're stickbuilding or you have a modular.
And another fine tune point isthat where we include appliances
in our allowances, so we'll putthe range in for you, we'll put
(24:53):
the microwave in for you,because we wire for all those.
Those wires can't just behanging out of the walls with
the wire nuts on them, so wehave to put all that in and the
modular companies often put thaton the homeowner.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
So that's an extra cost you have to absorb that
they're not always up frontabout.
And, donnie, not to put you onthe spot, but this is something
the homeowners who have to dothe driveway in the land don't
realize You're putting in thedrainage pipe, the big concrete
pipe, when you're getting nearthe street to do that.
Can you do that, donnie, or doyou have to call somebody to put
it in?
Speaker 2 (25:21):
You absolutely have to call somebody, you have to
call the underground, locatefolks and you have to clear it
with the municipality.
So oftentimes you have to gothrough planning, zoning and
with septic and well, you've gotto go through environmental,
health and that's a lot oflegwork.
That if you have a dedicatedgeneral contractor, they do all
that stuff for you and they fillout all the paperwork.
You have to pay the fee andthat should be expected, but at
(25:41):
the same time the modular folksreally make you play contractor,
probably a lot more than you'recomfortable with.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
And if you're getting near the highway with your
driveway or your building andyou have to put in special
drainage, you got to get the DOTinvolved because your
contractor can't arbitrarilymess around too close to state
roads.
So now you got anothergovernment entity to get
involved, and that doesn't makeit fun.
So, diane, let's wrap it up Ina nutshell.
We know where you stand, you'rea stick builder, but, in a
(26:09):
nutshell, what are some of thethings you need to consider?
Then, if you're going to getstick built versus modular, I
guess really we got to focus onmodular.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Right Timing is really the only thing I can
think about.
The only area that they can getme on and I will willfully let
go is that they can get you inthere faster than I can think
about that.
The only the only area thatthey can get me on and I will
willfully um let go is that theycan.
They can get you in therefaster than I can and, um, the
pricing got so close hererecently that they can't beat me
on price like they used to, andI would say that you know, if
you want your own fingerprint ofa house, then you know a custom
builder is definitely a betteroption and you know options, uh,
(26:43):
options galore throughout thehouse.
And if you want to change thingsand I have some wonderful
homeowners right now, but, myGod, we change things every week
and you know I go with the flowI don't really get upset about
change orders because Iunderstand that is the position
that I've selected to be andI've chosen to be a custom
builder, and that word custom isjust that.
(27:04):
So if you're going to makechanges and and you know I'm not
the kind of guy maybe Ishouldn't put this out there on
the air, but unless it's a major, major change.
You know I don't charge forchange orders If it's a phone
call and a few emails and maybeyou know different materials
delivered instead of what weplanned on originally.
I think it's part of therelationship aspect that you
just roll with that Keep yourhomeowner happy and I think that
(27:25):
will lead to a lot of businessdown the road.
So that's our take on it and ifyou can wait an extra few
months, I think that you get amuch better product.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I would look at it this way You're in the framing
process and you go as the homebuyer man, I would have loved to
have had a bay window on theend of this house.
You can go to your contractorand say hey, man, we're still at
framing.
Is this possible Versus amodular?
Sorry, you've already pickedyour house.
You're going to have to stickwith the one you got.
Maybe you can call a DonnieBlanchard type to come in and
(27:55):
put one in later.
But nah, there's no changeorders on this, unless you want
to buy a whole brand new unit.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
A lot of elements are similar to track building.
With that you know, a trackbuild, track building with that
A track build.
They try to.
I guess they make it look likethey're stick building, but they
use a lot of trusses, they usea lot of stuff built off site
and in the very beginning,before you can actually step
foot in that house, you have tomake a lot of those decisions up
front, which is wonderful forthe builder because he has a
blueprint for start to finishand he doesn't have to flex or
(28:22):
bend for you.
But track building and modularhomes they share a lot of
similarities in that aspect.
So, like I mentioned before,you're getting a qualified GC
and you're getting somebody tohold your hand through the
process and who's going to do alot of the legwork for you, and
that 15% to 20% that we chargedefinitely has some value
because you're paying the sameamount of money with a lot less
(28:44):
decisions as the homeowner.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Donnie Blanchard, general contractor and owner of
Blanchard Building Company.
You can find his information onFacebook and on Instagram.
See the stuff that Donnie cando.
Also suretoproofingcom he ownsthat also.
Again, we're not downplayingmodular homes, but there are
some things that you need toconsider when choosing a home.
And a stick built does havesome major advantages, as we
(29:07):
just discussed on the show, andwe'll put more information up at
the website.
But there's a reason you stickwith stick built.
No pun intended, I guess.
Donnie, there you go.
Yep, all right, we thank youfor tuning in and hope this gave
you some inside information onthe differences between stick
built and modular homes, becausethere are some big differences
and, again, cost isn't theadvantage like it used to be for
a modular home.
(29:27):
You can pay just as much forthat as you can a stick build
and a custom home.
So go to the website, get moreinformation.
Thecarolinacontractorcom and Iwant to thank Donnie for coming
in and giving us his expertiseon stick built homes and the
contradictions and thecomparisons and pros and cons to
modular building, and we hopeto catch you again next week.
Have a great day everybody.
(29:48):
Thanks for listening to theCarolina Contractor Show.
Visit thecarolinacontractorcom.
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