What's the big deal about prefabricated buildings? They seem to be popping up everywhere. Prefabricated buildings are made with modular construction in a factory. Pre-cut or pre-assembled sections of the building are delivered to the site. At the site, each of the parts is placed in position and put together by a skilled crew or sometimes by the building owner if he or she wants to save money. But it's best to have trained professionals do it.

Prefabricated buildings come in parts of standard sizes that readily lend themselves to custom designs. Prefabricated homes can better be molded to individual tastes than site built homes built by contractors no matter what they try to tell you. Prefabricated buildings offer great variety in designs and many prefabricated homes have won architectural design awards.

Did you realize domes are another form of prefabricated building? The exterior of the dome is usually delivered to the site in sections by a large truck. When all the sections have been delivered, the pre-cut, pre-assembled triangular panels are attached on site.

Because they are entirely self-supported and do not depend on interior posts or walls for support, domes allow for a great amount of interior flexibility. There are no limits on the size or amount of rooms other than the size of the dome itself. Little variation is possible in the exterior of the dome though so there are trade offs. On a cost per foot basis, domes are among the cheapest of prefabricated buildings.

Modular homes are transported from the factory straight to the home site where they are placed on foundations as permanent residences. In the US, modular homes generally consist of two parts which are put together when they arrive at the site and are put on the foundation.

With few exceptions American modular home construction consists of two prefabricated building sections that form a rectangle when put together. There is one manufacturer that specializes in A frames. There is no reason modular homes cannot be constructed in more than two prefabricated building sections that form a different geometric shape than a rectangle when put together. However the modular construction industry has preferred to focus on cookie-cutter prefabricated buildings rather than expand to offer more designs to homeowners.

Modular homes serve very well as detached homes but their biggest use had been in making larger prefabricated buildings such as apartment buildings or townhouses. It's often difficult for the naked eye to tell the difference between on site construction and prefabricated buildings. One home shopper was shocked to learn that a town house development was made of prefabricated buildings. The myth that prefabricated buildings don't appreciate in value like on-site construction is being proven wrong too as prefabricated townhouse buildings have shown similar appreciation to traditional townhouses.