As you grow older and realize that your needs are changing, the home you are living in may require some changes to make it more comfortable for you to live.
You may be simply changing the look of your home, or you may be modifying it to accommodate the growing number of your family.
Whatever way you are going, an extension for your home may be what you are looking for.
Some of the reasons why you may be adding an extension to your home may be for the addition of the main suite, one or two more bedrooms, or maybe an apartment house where your old parents could come and stay so you could take better care of them as they get older and are not able to look after themselves properly.
Whatever the reason may be for the expansion of your home, you will have to decide whether the home extension will be a stick-built one or a modular home.
These extensions will be able to fulfill several needs for your home once they are firmly in place.
Let us look at the differences between the two options that you have. That is the stick-built extension option or the modular extension option.
Table of Contents
Modular Home Extensions
Modular home extensions are generally great for people who want an extension in the shortest possible time without much fuss.
So if you are looking to get your home extension done without many fuses, then a modular home extension is the way for you to go.
The modular extensions are built and assembled inside a climate-controlled factory. The finished product is then delivered to your home with everything installed inside the house.
A modular home extension will come with a carpet, trim, lighting, and electrical wiring already installed.
If the extensions you are looking for must include a bathroom and a kitchen, you can also add these to the modular extension home before the modular home extension is delivered to you.
Modular homes usually come with everything that the home needs already preinstalled. That means that everything is built off-site and then transported to the site where the main building is.
There are several benefits to getting a modular home extension since most of the work is not done on the building site.
According to an expert in the field named Quinn, “The massive advantage of modular is less time on-site, which means less chance of possible injuries, less stress for the homeowner, less impact on the existing house and property, less impact on their neighbors, controlled costs and, in some cases, lower costs.
The modular home extensions also come with modern, top-of-the-line features that have been energy-star rated.
With extra insulation, attic storage, and a 110 mph rated window, these are highly durable for your home.
Once the modular home is delivered to the building site, each part of it is lifted by a crane, and mechanical connections are made to complete the installation of the extension to your home.
Although modular homes take much less time to build than stick-built extensions and come with more convenience, they have their downsides.
One of the downsides of the modular home is that there is less chance for making customization when compared to the stick-built home extensions.
This is because a few finish materials are available for the buyer to choose from. Modular homes can also be complicated to make additions on the slab because they are built from the ground up in a factory before being brought to the home’s location.
Modular home extensions are also prebuilt with their floor plan. The size of your home is also another factor that has to be considered when it comes to choosing the modular home option for your home extension project.
According to Quinn, if the home is not large enough, it is probably cost-effective for the homeowner to build the extension right on the site, which means that the homeowner should go for the stick-built option.
The access to the streets for the crane and trailer that will deliver the modular home is another factor if the property is not large enough.
There are times when these can be virtually impossible to bring over to the location site due to how small the property is.
“If it is not large enough, it is probably more cost-effective to build on-site. Street access for the trailer and access for the cranes are also key factors in deciding which is the best. Sometimes, it is simply impossible.”
This shows that the homeowner needs to consider many factors before he decides on which of the two options he will choose for his home extension project.
Taking factors into consideration will help you make a better choice between the two for an easy project.
Now, let us take a look at the stick-built home extension since we have taken a look at the modular home extension option.
Stick Built Home Extension
If you are someone who places more importance on the attention to detail of the extensions you are planning for your home, then having everything done on-site is probably the way for you to go.
Meaning the home extension will be built on-site where your existing home is located.
Once you choose a stick-built home, it will mean that you do not care about the time it will take to build the extension home.
The stick-built option usually takes longer to complete than the modular home options.
The stick-built extension option is carried out entirely on the site of your home, and everything is done right there from start to finish, and you can inspect every part of the project as the workers carry it out.
According to Quinn, a stick-built extension is usually considered built ”from the outside in, an expert in the home extensions field.
The stick-built structure is framed and then roofed, with the side windows getting installed.
After all, these are done, the interior work then begins. Although this stick-built extension takes longer to complete when compared to modular home extensions, they are much easier to customize according to the homeowner’s preferences.
All you have to do is to be able to think of the kind of customizations that you want, and the designers and contractors will be able to make that happen for you.
You can make decisions on the home extension design while the workers are building the work. The finished materials used are also limitless as there are many for you to choose from.
And while complete customization may seem quite good, it can also be a disadvantage since you will need a lot of money to carry them out.
So if your budget cannot support all the customizations that you wish to have, you will not be able to have them created.
Although you usually need a bigger budget when choosing a stick-built extension for your home, they are still more popular than the modular extension home.
This is due to a few reasons. The first is that many homeowners today do not know much about modular home extensions.
They do not know what it means to have a home extension made of modular homes. Most of these homeowners think that getting a modular home means that they would just be ordering premade boxes to be delivered to their homes, which will probably not be compatible with the appearance of their homes.
According to Quinn, this is mainly down to these homeowners’ lack of knowledge regarding modular home extensions.
Almost everything can be done with modularity once there is proper design and input.
“It is a lack of knowledge of what can be done. With proper design input, nothing that can’t be accomplished with modular,” Quinn states.
Conclusion
As you can see, both of these options have their pros and cons that you would have to consider concerning your property before you decide on the type of extension you will need for your home.
Modular home extensions are done shorter, while a stick-built extension will take longer.
However, modular homes tend to be lacking, unlike stick-built home extensions when it comes to customizations.
The only limit to the number of customizations you can have with a stick-built home is your budget.
So as a homeowner who is about to carry out an extension project on your home, it would be best if you took the time to take a closer look at all the available factors before you finally commence your home extension project.
