Haven Homes does good business in a bad economy

Did you know you can design a custom home from your computer?

Haven Homes — manufacturer of custom modular homes, otherwise known as prefab homes — is currently experiencing a rare phenomenon in today’s housing market: Haven Homes is selling houses. Haven Homes makes customized mansions that cost less and are completed in a fraction of the time it takes to finish a traditional home. Here’s a look at why buyers are choosing manufactured, modular houses from Haven Home.

Haven Homes are less expensive

The Haven Homes concept is no different than the concept of manufactured homes that most people are familiar with. The pieces of the homes are built in a factory, then shipped and assembled on site. Haven Homes simply makes bigger houses, like the six-bedroom, six-and-a-half bathroom modular home recently constructed in Bethesda, Md.

This concept is not going to amount to struggling families who rely on quick payday loans being able to afford huge houses. The six-bedroom house mentioned above cost $2.5 million. However, a similar sized home built in a traditional manner would have cost a lot more.

Designing Haven Homes is user-friendly

“Computer-driven drafting is mapping out prefab rooms with the ease of a Lego game,” says The Washington Post. Home buyers who want customized homes can quickly and easily design the houses themselves. Part of the draw of Haven Homes is that, within certain limitations, buyers can get exactly what they want faster and easier than they would otherwise.

More people are turning to modular homes. My guess is that the recession is causing people to worry less about the stigma that many associate with prefab homes and more about saving money where they can. I’ve seen photos of  Haven Homes on the company’s web site. After they’re complete, these high-end prefab homes are indistinguishable from “regular” homes.

Hasty homes

Part of what makes Haven Homes’ modular homes less expensive is decreased labor costs. The modular mansions take only a couple of weeks to manufacture in the factory, and just a couple of days to assemble at the building site. Finishing the home — building staircases, constructing the outer finish and hooking up plumbing and electricity — only takes a couple of weeks, too.

Homes similar in size take several months to complete with traditional construction. Thanks to easy customization, price and speed, Haven Homes is seeing more business in a housing market filled with mortgage loan modification and people who have been unable to sell their homes, even at deeply discounted prices.