By the time you have paid each professional for their job, you have a ton of money already spent. Now it is true that mobile homes are not as "custom" as a site built home and the price is definitely reflected in it. When buying a new Container House, you are limited to what choices you have. Generally speaking, you will pick out your optional colors and the listed options that you are given, (upgrades) and then you are done. 3 to 5 weeks later you will have a home installed on your property ready for utility hookups. When building a site built home you have to pick out every single thing in the home, which can be very overwhelming and time consuming as well. Not to mention, it takes 5 months to over 1 year to get a custom home built and it will cost twice as much! Mobile home manufacturers buy all of the parts and lumber that is used to build their homes in bulk.
Because modular homes are built in factories, manufacturers are able to utilize tools unavailable to the site builder such as custom manufactured jigs which ensure that all walls, floors and ceilings are square and plumb. In addition, interior walls are lag-bolted to the exterior walls and bracing and insulation are installed on all electrical outlet boxes. Finally, straps brace the wall to the floor. Buying in bulk gives the manufacturers huge discounts on material prices, which are then passed on to the consumer. Last but no least is the building time.
The process of building mobile homes has been perfected so well that the factories are able to build anywhere from 4 to 7 homes per day. When you can build and sell that many homes in that short amount of time, it gives you the leverage to sell for a cheaper price. The factories make profits by building a lot of homes at low prices rather than only building a few homes a year and trying to make a killing on every house. All of the above mentioned savings are passed on to the dealer when they purchase the Container House. As long as the dealer sticks with the same philosophy as the manufacturer and tries to sell a lot of homes for a small profit then the consumer will get a good deal. If the dealer tries to make every sale a "bell ringer" then the consumer ends up paying way too much. This is the main reason why customers should always shop around and not just buy the first thing that they fall in love with.
The cost of Granny House. The price of lumber, for example, can swing substantially in price, depending on demand, imports, logging restrictions and the distance the wood needs to be shipped.
There are some caveats. A larger home may cost less per square foot than a smaller Granny House, since the price of most of the expensive parts -- the kitchen, the plumbing, the heating and cooling systems -- is spread out over a larger area. Similarly, a Granny House may cost less than a one-story house with the same square footage, since the foundation and roof will be smaller.
