Panelized Home Kits Explained: Delivery Timeline, What’s Included, and How They Differ from Modular

Show Notes:

Thinking about a panelized kit home but not quite sure what you actually get, how it’s delivered, or how it differs from modular and prefab? This episode walks through the practical basics. Steve explains typical delivery timelines (about 4–5 weeks after permits and plans are done), how Landmark can stage multiple deliveries for tight sites, rural locations, and even islands, and what’s included on the truck: the complete wood structure—sill plates, floor system, sheathed wall panels with framed openings, roof trusses, roof sheathing, sub‑fascia, and connectors—ready for your local crew to assemble. He contrasts that with what you don’t get (roofing, windows, mechanicals, finishes) and why Landmark’s biggest value isn’t just lumber, but the full design stack behind it: architectural plans, structural engineering, energy calcs, and site‑specific layouts that align with zoning, setbacks, and permit requirements. You’ll also hear how “standard” floor plans are just starting points that Landmark can fully customize—even down to unusual details like floor‑to‑ceiling closet doors—and how panelized construction fundamentally differs from modular and HUD‑code prefab, while still giving owner‑builders control over their project, budget, and labor.

Transcript:

Steve Tuma: And that’s the advantage — our customers are owner‑builders, so they’re able to act as a general contractor or do a lot of the work themselves. We have had a lot of customers where their families are in the trades and they literally build the whole house.

Interviewer: Howdy everybody, and welcome to Episode 83 of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show.

With me today, as he always tends to be, is the President and Founder of Landmark Home and Land Company — a company which has been helping people build their new homes where they want, exactly as they want, nationwide and around the globe since 1993 — Mr. Steve Tuma.

Steve, how’s it going, buddy?

Steve Tuma: It’s a great day. You know, it always seems to be a great day when we’re helping people build homes — especially in springtime right now, the weather is pretty beautiful. It’s a good time to build a home.

Interviewer: Yeah, you know, a lot of people get going in spring to start the projects in fall — the actual design and details and get it going through permitting so that when it is springtime, they’re ready to go.

Steve Tuma: Yeah.

Interviewer: So I thought today we would go back to something we’ve been doing over the last few episodes, and that’s get down to some of the basics of panelized homebuilding. And some of these questions — I know, Steve, you’re very patient — but sometimes I have to come up with these questions that are so basic they seem a little… a little juvenile.

It’s important. You know, I know I’m not the only one that’s asking these questions.

So let’s start off with: how long does it take from the time you get your design done to have a home, kit home, delivered to your build site?

Steve Tuma: Well, we can basically get it delivered in four to five weeks from when a customer says, “Hey, put it in production.”

Now, generally we put it in production after the plans are done and permits are issued. Then we say it’s four to five weeks. But what’s amazing about it is customers always ask us how quickly they can get it done — and we can do it a lot quicker than they expect.

But the reality is, is they have to get the foundation and prepare the site. So most of our customers ask us to hold it back. But we’ve got very fast delivery. We have controlled delivery, so we can get it there the day that they need it and make sure everything works out.

So the direct answer to your question is: four to five weeks we can have it on their site, ready to go — and that’s if they want it that fast, as long as their foundation’s in. Because what we want to do is make sure that they have their foundation done, the foundation crew’s left, and our panels show up, they unload them, and then start building the home.

It’s good just to keep the project going. You don’t want stuff sitting around.

Interviewer: Yeah. Is there ever a time where people, like, you know, split their load — like have you deliver part of it at one time?

Steve Tuma: It happens a lot. Yeah, it happens a lot. And that’s the thing — some customers want everything at once, you know, floor system, walls, and roof trusses. And if it’s a smaller home, generally that’s how we deliver it.

But there are some more complex homes, or homes with challenging building sites, or just bigger homes, where they say, “Hey, let’s get the floor system in, then the first‑floor walls, the second‑floor floor system, second‑floor walls, and roof trusses.”

So we can work with customers to make sure it makes sense, because sometimes it’s scheduling, and a lot of times it’s space on the site. You know, if you’re doing a bigger home on a smaller lot, sometimes there just isn’t space to have all the materials laying around.

So that’s a great question actually, because it’s in the coordination of doing this — making it easy for the framing crews, and methodical, and a pre‑planned setup — where we’re able to do it.

We have a unique one — I guess it’s not too unique — but a family’s building in a very rural area, where it’s basically a two‑lane highway, and their driveway is literally a dirt road off this driveway. You know, so it’s not like there’s a bunch of intersections or anything. So what we’re doing is working with them to get a certain type of truck that can get off the highway quickly and traverse through their 900‑foot, winding‑through‑the‑woods, dirt‑road driveway.

So we’ve worked with customers on that just to make sure it’s taken care of. We’ve even done homes to islands.

Interviewer: Oh wow, that’s cool.

Steve Tuma: Yeah. So I guess your simple question, I get to complicate it by saying, “Hey, if it’s on an island, if they’ve got a unique building situation, if there’s restricted space to take the delivery and hold materials, we can work with customers to get that taken care of.”

And that’s part of why working with Landmark Home & Land Company is very important — because we’re not just sending a panel saying, “Good luck, hope it works.” We’re looking at the project of what makes sense for what you need — what makes sense for you, for your house, the building department, the contractor, the building site. So it’s pretty interesting.

Interviewer: Hmm. Well I guess that… that was a great question, but look at all the answers. But the interesting thing about it is all those conditions we’re talking about — some customer has it. They’re either in a remote area, there’s a limited lot size. Other times, there’s a huge amount of space — they have people building on 30, 40 acres and they could take the materials and put them down, and then everything’s there when they need it.

The key to it is we can deliver when they need it, in a situation that’s advantageous for them to build their home. That’s pretty cool.

Steve Tuma: Yeah, that was a lot of answers in one question — but it’s always good.

Interviewer: Kill some birds here. What — I know this is another super simple question, but — and I know it’s going to deviate depending on the floor plan and the design and whatever — but what actually comes when that flatbed truck comes into your build site? What comes in that Landmark home kit?

Steve Tuma: Well, that’s interesting. There’s two answers to that, because there’s what we deliver on the truck — but then something I’d preface it with is what we do to make sure what we deliver on the truck, the panels, are done right.

So the actual truck delivery is basically the complete wood structure:

From sill seal, sill plate
Floor system
Any beams a floor system would need

And our floor systems could be dimensional wood — like 2x10s, 2x12s. We can also do engineered I‑joists, and we can also do engineered open‑web floor trusses. We supply the floor sheathing, which is typically a 3/4‑inch tongue‑and‑groove OSB, but we can ...