The kit home industry can be a minefield of jargon as there are many terms including prefabricated kit homes, manufactured kit homes, panelized homes, prefab homes, modular homes, flat pack kits, pre-cut homes and pre-built home kits to name just a few and with each various label or name, differences do apply between them.
For example, listings such as modern prefab home kits, prefab or prefabricated kit homes, pre-assembled kit homes, modular homes, modular kits, demountable homes, transportable kit homes, manufactured homes, relocatable homes and transportable homes are usually in reference to homes that are built to near completion in a factory.
These factory-built homes are finished in sections including the floors, walls, roof, plumbing, electrics and internal finishes with kitchen, bathroom and laundry fittings. They are then transported to site by truck and joined together on site.
This is a fast style of construction as a factory-built home is not governed by the elements as it is built inside a factory. Generally, you will pay a bit more per square metre for this luxury but having no hold ups can be a desirable compromise.
Many of the factory built and pre-built kit homes are classified as transportable homes, meaning that they can be removed from their original site to another location in much the same way as when they first arrived. This is due to the sub-floor structure being engineered to cope with the load.
The terms steel framed kit homes, kitset homes, kit homes, self-build kits, flat pack kit homes, self-build flat pack kits, owner-built kit homes and pre-packed homes are usually understood to be homes that are supplied to you in an unassembled kit set form ready to be constructed on site. The kit home package can either be delivered in a shipping container where all materials are packaged together, or the kit home can be delivered progressively to site in stages as the materials are required. The main difference between what is commonly termed as a kit home and a modular home is that one arrives to site already constructed and the other arrives to site as the materials ready for construction.
Kitset homes and kit homes are a very cost effect style of building as the estimating of materials are already completed and sourced. This makes owner building focused on the construction without the worry of calculating the amount and types of materials.
Using a steel framed kit home system will allow the frames and trusses to arrive on site already pre-assembled as they are light weight and easy to man handle. This system is very simple to use, it is time and labour saving and the computer-generated framing requires no cutting as it simply screws together panel by panel. Upon the completion of the steel frame all remaining materials can then be fixed as would be done with any other regular build.
In summary, it is important to know exactly what you are looking at when searching for a kit home supplier. Always make sure that you are comparing apples with apples as one simple word can change the whole meaning of what you are viewing.