Comparison of four different types of prefab homes and a site-built home

UnrestrictedThere are currently many prefab homes in the world. Prefab homes are becoming more and more popular because of assumed advantages such as low price and a short construction period, as well as their efficiency advantages in terms of building science, such as energy efficiency, sustainable materials or methods, and so on. This thesis used a list of criteria: energy efficiency, construction costs, and construction timeline of prefab homes and a site-built home to help identify which home might be preferred by people based on the results of the criteria. This thesis provides a range of information on prefab homes that has been primarily gathered via the internet and by contacting the creators of the individual homes. In addition, it provides a comparison of the similarities and differences and case-study examples of the four types of prefab homes: manufactured, modular, panelized, and pre-cut homes. The major research point of this thesis is to evaluate and compare the energy usage of four types of prefab homes and a site-built home because a key selling point of prefab homes might be based on their energy efficiency. Furthermore, other useful studies are cited to provide the construction costs and timeline of prefab homes and a site-built home. Therefore, the energy performance of several prefab homes and a site-built home were simulated by using the software, HEED, and then their energy performance was shown and compared. Some prefab homes and site-built homes were also researched for their total construction costs and timeline by contacting their manufacturers and reviewing websites