Mobile homes are houses that are built on a frame and are designed to be transported to the customer’s home site. Mobile Homes are overseen by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), established in 1976. Before HUD became involved, mobile homes were not held to any specific code or manufacturing standard. HUD provides a nationwide minimum standard specification for mobile homes. One of the requirements that remains to this day is that the frame is an integral part of the structure. The frame is engineered to carry the structural load of the roof and walls. Because of this, the frame must remain under a mobile home and cannot be removed.
Modular homes are the next generation of manufactured homes. Placing the structural engineering under a state and local code provides a means for the states to control and certify that the home meets their criteria. It allows the buyer to have more say over the design parameters. It also allows for the removal of the frame by having the structure engineered to transfer the load calculations to the engineered foundation instead of the transportation frame used in mobile homes. The frame no longer has to be an integral part of the construction. Modular Homes are built to the same building codes as a site-built home. Modular homes are permanently affixed to their foundation.
