ᐅ Decision-Making: Prefabricated House or Solid Construction

We are still at the very beginning of our house planning, and right now the question is: prefabricated house or solid (conventional) house?

So far, we have visited a prefabricated house supplier and an architect with whom we would build using the traditional brick-and-mortar, solid method. As far as I know, there isn’t much difference nowadays in terms of quality and cost. My partner tends to prefer a solid house, while I am still somewhere in the middle.

With the prefabricated house option, we would take several trades (sanitary installations, heating, and possibly painting) completely "out" of the package — we have a family member who is a plumbing and heating specialist (my father), who would then handle installing the necessary pipes. This means quite a bit would not be done by the prefab supplier...

Based on your experience, how does this usually work out? We worry that leaving out these trades might end up costing us extra in the end.

We could also contribute some work ourselves, but more likely with interior finishing (painting, laying floors).

The plot is available and connected.

We would also prefer a timely completion, as we are currently renting.

In our specific situation, which option would you tend to choose?

Hi,

We recently faced the same dilemma and decided to go with a solid (concrete/block) house! Why? It’s quite simple:

- A solid house is not as noisy as a prefabricated house.
- It retains heat better and releases it evenly.
- It is more durable than a prefab house.
- If you drill a hole in the wall, it is easier to seal it properly, which is a bit more challenging with a timber frame prefab house.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with choosing a prefab house, but I personally lean more towards solid construction.

Best regards,
Marcus

That was never really a question for us.

It quickly became clear: solid construction.

The reasons for this have already been mentioned.

However, there are also prefab home manufacturers who build solid houses.

bigblue2010 schrieb:
Hi,

we recently faced the same problem and decided to build a solid house! Why? Simply because:

- A solid house is not as noisy as a prefab house.
- It stores heat better and releases it evenly.
- It is more durable than a prefab house.
- If you drill a hole in the wall, you can seal it easily, which is a bit more complicated with a timber frame prefab house.

I think there's nothing wrong with a prefab house, but I tend to prefer solid construction.

Best regards
Marcus

The salesperson did a great job here. These are the most common prejudices out there.

Why should a prefab house be noisy? In our house, all floors are installed with sound insulation, and I can tell you, the floors don’t creak either. A colleague who also lives in a prefab house is located in the flight path to Baden Airport. When the windows are closed, he hears nothing. Technically, everything is possible.

A modern house is so well insulated that it hardly loses any heat at all—so where would the advantage of heat storage be here?

With proper maintenance, meaning keeping the timber house dry, it should last long enough before you would want to tear it down from an energy point of view. Just try moving into an unrenovated old building from 1940 today...
Prefab construction has come a long way. I know my aunt’s prefab house from 1980 and ours from 2013... it’s a world of difference. Unfortunately, also in price.

When it comes to drilling holes, a timber house with wood panels in the walls actually has an advantage. If I want to hang a picture, mirror, or kitchen cabinet, I just screw a few screws into the wall with a cordless drill. No drilling, no anchors—nothing. Even my heavy kitchen cabinets are hung this way. The hole is sealed as long as the screw remains in place. If I remove the screw and it was an exterior wall, I just apply some acrylic sealant, and it’s tight.

After laying the floors, I screwed in about 200 screws for the baseboards… if I had to insert an anchor every time, I still wouldn’t be finished today. Just place the cordless drill and it’s done.

I think nowadays both construction methods are equally matched—in terms of construction time and living quality. Solid construction requires a long drying time, which balances out the longer wait times with prefab houses. On the other hand, prefab has the advantage that usually one week after the house is set up, the heating is running and the screed is laid. Our house was built in December, and we could have moved in about four weeks ago if we hadn’t done some work ourselves.

I’m confident that if someone visits us, no one will notice it’s a prefab house.

The only drawback is that banks tend to appraise prefab houses much lower and lump all prefab houses together.
This is especially annoying for people who have to sell later or need additional financing.

I would definitely build a prefab house again because I like the idea that the exterior walls were made in a dry factory hall. The rest of the building process was very impressive as well.

Hello,

Haeuslebauer81 schrieb:

We are still at the very beginning of our house planning, and right now the question is: prefab or traditional masonry house?

In the case of a prefab house, however, we would remove some trades completely (sanitary, heating, and possibly painting work) – we have a plumber and heating engineer in the family (my father), who would handle the installation pipes. So there would be quite a bit that the prefab provider would not do... What is the experience with this? We fear that omitting these trades might end up costing us anyway.

I don’t think you will necessarily "end up paying" for this; the issue usually arises elsewhere, namely where the warranty begins – and this is the same whether you choose prefab or traditional masonry. If you want to exclude the sanitary trade completely through your father, you should also carry out all subsequent trades as self-performed work (SPW), basically after the structural shell is closed. Because what actually happens if there is a problem on-site related to the sanitary work? Or where the sanitary and electrical trades overlap? Exactly – then disputes start about who is responsible for what... You can avoid this by having a formal inspection of the construction work before starting your SPW, and only begin your own work afterward. This way, responsibilities are clearly defined.

Haeuslebauer81 schrieb:

We would also like to complete construction quickly, as we are currently renting.

The time difference between prefab and traditional masonry houses is usually minimal...

Haeuslebauer81 schrieb:

Given our specific situation, which option would you tend to favor?

I won’t advise you for either construction method. This is a very personal decision and must come from you. Both options are neither entirely good nor absolutely bad, provided you choose a reputable builder.

Regards, Bauexperte

Hello DerDa,

It’s clear from everywhere that you’re a fan of prefab houses. But why would someone want to demolish a house from an energy efficiency perspective? How many old solid construction houses are actually torn down, or are they simply retrofitted with better insulation? How many solid houses do you know that were built in the 19th century, and how many prefab houses from that time? Well, let me ask it the other way: how old is the oldest prefab house, and when was it first built? I really don’t know, but definitely not in the 19th century.

The reason a solid house stores heat is simply due to its mass. This helps keep the temperature more constant.

Why do you always bring up your favorite argument about “drilling holes”? I already asked you once how often you actually drill holes. I’m not hanging up new pictures every day.

So in terms of price, they are probably even more expensive, and there isn’t much difference in time.
What I’m a “fan” of should be clear by now.