What is a systems-built home, and how is it different than a traditionally built home?
A systems-built home is built mostly off-site, in a factory under controlled conditions (temperature and humidity). Because we cannot practically transport an entire house, it is built in modules. A systems-built home may be as small as one module, up to as many as 40, or anything in between. A typical 3,000 square foot home might consist of 6 “modules.” Once all the modules are constructed in the factory, they are trucked to the building site and craned into place. At the end of “set day,” which normally is just one day, the systems built home is both weather tight and securely locked. A traditionally built home is referred to as site-built or stick-built, because it is built on the site where it will sit forevermore. It is built of “sticks”, or 2X4 or 2X6 dimensional lumber.
