Which Is Best?  Stick-Built, Modular or Panelized?

By Bill Primavera

The Home Guru

 Before I got into the real estate business and subsequently starting writing about housing, I had always thought that stick-built homes offered the best kind of construction in terms of quality and flexibility of design. I had felt that modular homes, or “pre-fab” as I called them, were a secondary choice with awkward layouts, dictated by the width of a cubicle designed to travel down a road on a flatbed.

After learning something about the differences between them, I now know that I had some woeful misconceptions about the two, and the term panelized, which refers to homes constructed from prefabricated flat panels, had not entered my vocabulary.

Which is the best kind of construction?  “Let’s put it this way, says Bob Frissora, “if you’re buying a new car, would you prefer that it be built in a factory or in your driveway?” 

Frissora should know what he’s talking about as owner of Arcanna Homes, a company headquartered in an historic building in Peekskill, who for some years has built panelized homes, both modest and opulent, throughout the region and other states. Frissora prefers panelized construction to modular because he says it offers greater flexibility in the design process.

According to Frissora, panelized homes offer a product that is fabricated under ideal conditions in an efficient way. Each worker at the factory has been trained to do a particular carpentry job and, through experience, has become an expert in that particular aspect of home construction.  The state-of-the-art machines produce panels that ensure the home is built precisely square and dimensionally correct without room for human errors. 

Advanced technology and a controlled work environment produce a more energy efficient, durable home resulting in a better, more inherently green product.

“After the panels arrive at the site and we assemble them, there is very little construction material waste,” says Frissora.  At the same time, Mother Nature is foiled because the panels of a house are connected and sealed within a day or two, free of the warping, mold, mildew and squeaking that adverse weather may cause when a home is stick-built.

“And, compared with modular homes, there is greater flexibility in the way a panelized home is finished once the basic frame is constructed,” says Frissora. “The owner may choose to do much of the finishing work that would normally be done in a factory with modular homes, but this is not always the best course of action,” he warns.  “If a client has family and friends who have committed to get the job done, but don’t show up when they say they will, the job will never get done. And if professional subcontractors are hired to do the plumbing, electricity and tiling, the work is not necessarily coordinated in an efficient way.

“If the subcontractors are all working independently, you have their schedules to worry about, not knowing if they consider another job more important than yours,” Frissora explains. “And finishing up a home can have significant delays because of this.”

Frissora says that with his turn-key projects, it usually takes about six weeks for the panels to be constructed at the plant and, with all the supporting work, from clearing the land to all the custom work, a house can be up in four to six months.

When I first heard the term panelized homes, I naively envisioned small 4’ or 8’ wide panels like the sizes available for plaster board and fencing. But Frissora says that panels can be quite long, more that 30 feet, and quite high, to accommodate a 10-foot ceiling.  And there are even concrete panels with insulation for basement construction.

Because a regular modular home is delivered in pieces, as completed oblong sections, the maximum size of a room is limited by the width allowed on the roads and bridges leading to the site.  That sometimes can produce the boxy “feel” of a prefabricated interior design. But more creative manufacturers and designers can produce a more fluid floor plan, although the double thick wall between sections has yet to be solved, if ever. 

With panelized homes, utilizing all flat panels, delivery is easier in that each numbered panel is stacked side by side on a flatbed.

“The bottom line in choosing to build a panelized home is a more consistent construction schedule and greater flexibility in design,” Frissora concludes.

To know more about panelized homes, Bob Frissora can be reached at 914-788-0700, and his company’s website is www.arcannahomes.com.

Bill Primavera is a licensed Realtor® (www.PrimaveraHomes.com), affiliated with Coldwell Banker, and a marketing practitioner (www.PrimaveraPR.com). For questions or comments about the housing market, or selling or buying a home, he can be reached directly at 914-522-2076.