Building a Home: Choose from 6 Types of Home Construction

Before building a home, check out six types of home construction and see which type fits your lifestyle, your home lot, your time frame for building and your budget.

The six types of homes, as described by the National Association of Home Builders, are concrete homes, custom homes, modular homes, log homes, panelized homes and systems-built homes.

Concrete homes refer to homes that use concrete for the formation of the structure of the house. Concrete walls and foundations can be formed by using concrete blocks and masonry or can be formed by using factory-built precast panels that are assembled at the home lot. The technique of pumping concrete between two foam insulation layers is also another way to form walls.

Concrete walls provide a healthy indoor environment and protection from natural disasters. They can also be finished with most types of exterior finishing materials such as stone, brick or stucco. Concrete homes are popular in cities such as Reno, Palm Springs and Minneapolis.

Modular homes use modules constructed in factories. The modules for a typical two-story 2,500-square-foot can be fabricated in a week in a factory and then assembled on site in a short time. Modular homes are popular in Michigan, North Carolina and New York.

Custom homes are houses built on specific home lots based on unique designs and plans desired by the client. Some custom homes are built using stock plans, but with some revisions or additions.

Log homes are usually built to match natural surroundings by homeowners who believe that building a home should be environmentally friendly. About ten percent of log homes use logs crafted manually while the rest are built using milled logs. These homes are popular in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas.

Panelized homes use housing components prefabricated in a facility. Panelization includes the use of roof trusses, pre-cut floors and structural insulated panels. According to the Wood Truss Council of America, the construction of homes using prefabricated panels and trusses uses less lumber, generates 76-percent less waste and needs only around 37 percent of the time needed to build a similar conventional home.

The systems-built home construction is the latest among building system techniques. It features the best of the other building techniques such as concrete, modular, log and panelized construction and incorporates green building and quality-control systems.

Building a home means the realization of a dream for many, but it needs thorough planning and evaluation of home building areas such as house design, materials selection and financing.