Stick Built vs Modular vs Panelized Homes: Which Build Method Is Best?

Show Notes:

Thinking about stick‑built vs modular vs panelized for your new home? This episode breaks down the real‑world differences so you can choose a system that fits your budget, timeline, and long‑term goals. Steve explains how traditional stick‑building works, why modular homes are essentially mass‑produced “car‑like” products with stigma, financing, and customization limits, and how panelized construction combines the advantages of stick‑built quality with factory precision and faster on‑site assembly. You’ll hear why panelized systems are especially powerful for owner‑builders who want full control over design, features, and contractors, and how Landmark wraps design, engineering, energy codes, site planning, and guaranteed material pricing into a one‑stop, highly supported process. From clearing up myths about panelized (“you can’t change anything”) to showing how smart owner‑builders use this approach to gain major equity and even build multi‑million‑dollar homes, this episode is a practical guide to getting the house you really want instead of settling for a generic builder special.

Transcript:

Steve Tuma: Reality is you can go buy a 2×6 anywhere. Are you going to use it right? Is it going to be the right one? Is it going to be put into the right design? Is the end result of how you’re spending your money going to be in the house that you want? That’s the key element.

Interviewer: Hello everybody, and welcome to Episode 75 of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show.

With me today, as always, 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. And that’d be Mr. Steve Tuma.

Steve, can you believe this is our 75th episode of this podcast?

Steve Tuma: Yeah, it’s pretty exciting. You know what’s interesting is we still have a lot to talk about. So we might have to get to 175 or 275, and then, you know, the market changes, building conditions change, customers get into more unique building situations or want different designs, so there’s always cool stuff to talk about.

Interviewer: And Landmark’s always growing to meet those needs and desires of every new customer and old customer.

Steve Tuma: Oh, definitely. Yeah, we’re here to help. We’ve had people come to us for all different types of designs:

More simple, everyday American ranches
Modern homes
Mid‑century modern homes
Very classic‑looking designs
Or some just plain different — where customers come up with different floor plans or things for their particular lifestyle that make a lot of sense to them, and we’re able to put it together

We have people that need airplane hangars in their house. Some people have car collections. Some people are really into cooking or entertaining, or hobbies, or home theater. So we’re able to work with them to get the house they want — or they’re building on a site that’s just unique, or a location that’s unique — so we’re able to help. It’s pretty amazing.

Interviewer: And today I thought we’d get into specifics. In other words, it sounds simple, but some of the most basic questions are often the most important. So I thought we’d hit upon some real basics today.

For instance, explain, if you will, the difference between — and we hear this terminology all the time — what is the difference between a stick‑built home and a modular home, and where does Landmark fall in that?

Steve Tuma: Well, Landmark’s a panelized home. So I would say the three main building methods — there are always some obscure ones, you know, people doing it with compact dirt or hay bales or whatever — but that’s kind of out there. So the more typical ones are:

Conventional stick‑built
Modular
And then our panelized homes

Stick‑built is kind of the conventional thing where they just call it sticks — a framer would cut the materials properly, make a wall, put it in place, make another wall, put it in place, put the floor system down, stick‑build the roof system.

Panelized is a more efficient method of stick‑building, and then along with Landmark’s design, it ties it together so it’s more uniform — where we can go through, do the design, engineering, and then actually manufacture the exact house that we designed. A huge advantage.

Conventional stick‑building: typically there’s an architect or designer, and then there’s a separate contractor that has to interpret those plans and then work on different details to build it. So chances are, you know, conventional homes — especially older homes — were all stick‑built. It’s good, it’s kind of a standard. It uses materials that are generally available at any lumberyard, and you could have simple homes and you could have more complex homes.

Modular is the one that’s kind of different from both of those. Modular is when you see the two halves going down the street. Now, some of those are HUD homes or modulars — they’re different, but they’re kind of the same for the purpose of this discussion.

They’re made in modules. So if you had a ranch home, it might be two sections — 12 feet wide, 40 feet long, or whatever the dimensions end up. They’re more production line. It’s the concept of a car: you make it on a production line, you cookie‑cutter them, and you get them out. Typically very little ability to customize.

There are the restrictions of the production line, the restrictions of delivery, and then there’s also the restrictions of some places that won’t allow you to build them, or they’re very restrictive about building them. And also modular has issues with stigmas, as well as some financing concerns. A lot of banks won’t finance them, or they’re considered to be a higher risk for some reason — probably resale because of the stigmas. So it might be a little harder to finance them, and it might cost more in the interest rates.

So basically modular is more of a production‑line building where, say, 85% of the home is built off site. It’s standardized. Generally — I don’t know if they are anymore, if there really is a cost advantage. Some people say there is, or it’s not enough to really make a difference. But it is limited in what you get.

Generally, those people that I’ve noticed that buy them — they want big space at some perceived lower cost, and they want it fast. Which to me is like, okay, so you move in three months quicker, and then you end up with a modular home instead of a stick‑built home, which has been considered to be a bigger investment — a stick‑built or a panelized.

So stick — again, let me revisit the stick‑built versus panelized. Panelized is basically the stick‑build process, but we’re making it in a factory in a controlled condition. So things are square, things are put together properly, and then it’s brought out to the site for a quicker assembly.

So if you took the exact same design of a stick‑built home and put one of our panelized homes next to it, very few people — if any — could tell the difference. And really, the difference is going to be where two wall panels come together — you have two studs. Stick‑builders do the same thing, but maybe they make a wall panel a little longer.

We can control the cost. We can control the design. We can make sure that the design is exactly the way you want it to be. We can help with making it easier to get through building departments. We can guarantee our cost, and we can go through and get the details that you want in it.

So if someone looks at panelized homes as being a custom stick‑built home — that’s exactly what it is. And with our service, we tie together the design, the engineering, the energy codes to make sure it’s clear that what you design is what gets built. And also, we can guarantee the cost, which I think is extremely important, because costs can vary — by season, by economic trends, by location — a lot of things.

So the Landmark Panelized Home System gives our customer a lot more control and understanding of the project, and that’s what an owner‑builder needs. They need to understand and control their project.

Interviewer: I mean, you pretty much gave all the pros and cons of all three of those building methods.

...