What Are the Differences Between Manufactured and Mobile Homes?

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If you’re researching budget-friendly alternatives for home building, you may have read about manufactured homes and mobile homes and wondered: are they one and the same?

What Are the Differences Between Manufactured and Mobile Homes?

Visually, it’s hard to distinguish the differences between homes classified as manufactured or mobile homes – especially taking into consideration that with recent trends, prefabricated homes can look just like standard-built homes.

Mobile homes have the common characteristics of manufactured homes – being built offsite at a factory, and then brought to your building site or property to be assembled. Mobile homes are often referred to interchangeably as manufactured homes; however, this is not completely accurate.

The differences between these are mainly in the building permit requirements. In 1976 the National Mobile Home Construction and Safety Act distinguished mobile homes from manufactured homes. Prior to this, mobile homes were generally regarded as trailer homes, a mass-produced and often low-quality alternative to home building with very few building regulations in place.

After the HUD Code regulations came into effect, mobile homes became known as manufactured homes as they adhere to the same building standards. That’s why mobile homes today are vastly different than they were before 1976; they are built with safer standards and are much higher quality. But mobile homes are still mobile, and this is their primary distinguishing factor. You can construct a mobile home in one location on your permanent chassis, and once the assembly is complete and the structure is secure, you can move your entire home to another location.

If you’re curious to find out more about building a mobile home in the Statesville, NC area, call us today at 1st Choice Home Centers to find out just how affordable they can be!