Renovating your mobile home means you can alter the interior and exterior design however you like and create a new look to enhance the experience of your home.
In this post, we’ll address these questions and give you the ins and outs of mobile home remodeling and mobile home renovation cost to help you decide if renovating your mobile home is worth your time and money.
Should I Renovate My Mobile Home?
When you decide to remodel your mobile home, you have the opportunity to redesign and upgrade your mobile home with new flooring, paint, cabinets, and maybe even some new furniture. Or maybe you focus more on the exterior of your mobile home, so you redo the roof, doors, and windows. You also get the freedom to remodel your mobile home based on your own set of needs and preferences.
But before you fully commit to renovations, you should carefully consider these common questions:
- Should I renovate my mobile home?
- Is it worth renovating my mobile home?
- How should I plan the renovation, if I choose to go through with it?
- How much will it cost to remodel my mobile home?
The main reason why mobile homeowners consider remodeling their mobile homes is to increase the value of their property. Other reasons mobile homeowners go for renovation and search for mobile home remodeling tips are to:
- Repurpose a room
- Change the interior or exterior
- Change the layout
- Freshen up the look
- Add extra space (e.g. small porch area)
- Improve future sales potential
- Change it to an eco-friendly or “Green House” home
- Fix pump or drainage issues
Defining the type of the renovations you’re looking to perform and why you’d like to do them is a good place to start. It can help you decide whether or not remodeling your mobile home is something you should invest in.
Is it Worth it to Renovate Your Mobile Home?
If you’re considering the re-modeling of your manufactured home, you can benefit from weighing your options first.
It’s worth considering both advantages and disadvantages of renovating your mobile home before jumping into remodeling. Here’s a pros and cons list to give you a better idea of what to expect and to help you plan:
Pros:
- You can fully customize your home based on your preferences.
- The quality of the material is completely up to you.
- You can work with a budget you set yourself.
- Renovations can potentially enhance the value of your mobile home.
Cons:
- The costs can add up quickly, especially if you’re doing a full renovation.
- Certain manufactured homes that are over 25 years old are not good remodel investments because of their decreased market value – especially those homes built prior to 1976.
- You should also be careful that your renovation project doesn’t go against HUD – the government’s executive department that issues housing and urban development standards. If your renovated mobile home doesn’t pass inspection, it could be difficult to sell it.
- If your mobile home was built before 1978, EPA requires renovation, repair, and painting (RRP) projects to be performed by lead-safe certified contractors; this is known as RRP rule.
Sometimes, small DIY projects are enough to remodel your mobile home. If your mobile home renovation requires more substantial work and hiring a professional, you may want to consider purchasing a newer manufactured home. It might cost more to completely remodel your current home than it would to buy a new one.
Planning a Renovation
Remodeling can be very expensive, so thorough planning is imperative as it can help you manage your expectations and budget properly.
To come up with a solid renovation plan, these are some factors you should take into account:
1. Areas of your home that you want to renovate
Choose where you want to spend money and where you want to save. From an economic standpoint, we suggest focusing on areas that add value to your home like a porch, carport, sunroom, or modular addition. It’s important to note that these features can be more expensive to remove when relocating the home, so choose wisely.
2. Your budget
It’s important to always have your “budget” in mind. A complete remodel of your manufactured home can be expensive. You also have the option to take the budget-friendly approach for a DIY mobile home renovation, if you rather take the DIY route instead of hiring a contractor.
3. Scale of your renovation project
The size of your home and your project matters a lot. You can complete a smaller renovation project with budget friendly materials for under $500. In some instances, simple painting of walls and small home decorations might be enough to refresh your mobile home. For a larger project, you might need to team up or consult a professional.
It’s essential to consider the age of your home. Based on our experience, older homes often have weaker frames. Therefore, replacing drywall with thick sheetrock or adding heavy tile or hardwood flooring can pose problems. We’ve seen cases where the frame bent or even broke under the weight of DIY renovations.
4. Permit requirements
The permit regulations are different, depending on where you live. Typically, you don’t need a permit for mobile home exterior remodel (the structure, roof system, walls, windows, exterior doors) or home interior remodel (floors, interior walls), but they must be equivalent to the original construction. You should consider talking to your local building department to figure out what permits you will need before starting to renovate your mobile home.
Most Common Mobile Home Renovations
There are so many mobile home sizes, designs, and materials to choose from – the options seem endless.
Some of the most common redesigns of mobile homes include:
- Combining the kitchen with the living/dining room
- Removing carpeting and paneling
- Adding wood floors
- Painting walls in warm colors for a modern style
- Repairing windows
- Skirting solutions, flooring, and plumbing
After you decide what redesigns you’d like to see, shopping for materials will be the next important preliminary step in the process of remodeling your mobile home. Being meticulous with your material selection is key.
Keep in mind that mobile home parts are different from conventional single-family home parts. For example, many mobile home walls are either VOG (vinyl over gypsum) or wood panels which are different from drywall.
It’s also important to remember that buying parts that are purpose-built for mobile homes will make the remodeling process a lot easier than if you were to purchase and use parts designed for a single-family home.
Banyan also encountered situations where people used heavy sheetrock to redo walls in homes. This can make the homes immovable because the sheet rock is too heavy and the frame can’t handle it. Also, keep in mind that using different thicknesses of drywall adds extra weight to the home’s frame.
When embarking on your mobile home renovation journey, remember that the choices are diverse, and selecting the right materials for your mobile home is crucial. Mobile home parts differ from those in traditional single-family homes, and choosing purpose-built materials will greatly simplify the remodeling process and reduce any unnecessary risks.
What is the Estimated Mobile Home Renovation Cost?
Finding out the overall cost of your mobile home remodel can be taxing. It’s worth noting that the total cost heavily depends on your personal vision as well as the finishing touches.
If you’re hiring a professional, the mobile home renovation cost can start at $4,000 when the home is already finished and it will increase when your mobile home needs more upgrades.
Mobile home renovation cost depends on several other factors such as individual features of your mobile home. These include roofs, walls, windows, wiring, and plumbing. Below is the cost breakdown for each of these features:
- Roofs
Most manufactured homes have asphalt shingle roof systems. Material cost of these roofs is $650 – 2,175 for a single wide or $1,200 – 4,250 for a double wide roof.
- Walls
Aluminum is the most common material mobile homeowners use for wall panels. It is also the most affordable. Aluminum wall panels cost around $40. If you’re looking to install vinyl sliding instead, it would start at $3,000 and go up to $12,000.
For painting interior walls, contractors typically charge around $1,500.
The final cost of the walls will also depend on whether you have a single-wide or double-wide mobile home. A single wide remodel can be completed for under $1,000 or upwards of $80,000 depending on how elaborate your project is.
- Windows
Typically, the cost of material and labor is $200 to $250 per window.
- Wiring
For any wiring repairs, you will likely have to hire a professional. For minor repairs, the cost would be $500.
- Plumbing
If you need to replace the entire plumbing system in your manufactured home, you could completely renovate it under $1000.
Some mobile homeowners believe that the renovation of an old trailer would cost more than to buy a new one as it is very costly to replace entire parts of an older mobile home. So, they opt for selling or donating their trailer.
Ultimately, a dream home can be created on any budget. Mobile home remodel cost is dependent on your choice of materials, features, design, as well as the size of your home, whether it is a single wide, double or triple/multi wide mobile home.
Mobile homeowners spend around $52,000 on remodeling their single-wide mobile homes. This is considered the average cost for an entire mobile home renovation.
The final cost also depends on whether you want to DIY your renovation or hire a contractor. Keep in mind that if you’re re-modeling the wiring or plumbing, you might have no other choice but to consult professional electricians and plumbers.
Conclusion
We have covered all aspects of renovation of your mobile home, now it’s up to you to decide if it is worth it to you.
If you hire a professional, the renovation can add up to cost about the same as if you have bought a new home. You can also decide to do the work by yourself. While it could save you money, it could be extremely time-consuming.
Perhaps you might choose to buy a new mobile home, if so, we can help you remove your old one.
Donation can be the best choice for mobile home removal as it is a safe, easy, and free option. By donating you are helping us fight homelessness and you are providing a roof over someone else’s head. If you’re interested in donating, Banyan Mobile Home Removal is a non-profit that can pair your old mobile home with someone or a family in need of shelter. All you have to do is contact us and we’ll take it away at no cost to you.