How to Dress Up a Modular Home Elevation Drawing

The Right Modular Home Floor Plan Sometimes Doesn’t Come with the Right Modular Home Elevation

A couple of months ago I discussed the importance of a modular home elevation drawing.  See here and here.  One thing I emphasized is that home plans on the internet almost always show a dressed up home.  But this doesn’t mean they’re adorned in the way you’d prefer.  It also doesn’t mean that the ones with the right floor plan layout have the look you want.  For example, they may have fancy siding, a taller roof, and a reverse gable.  But the one thing they don’t have is your front porch.
The good news is that you can add a front porch to virtually any modular home plan just as you can add a garage to any plan.  In addition, you can dress up your home with circle top windows, an ornate front door, decorative moldings, a hip roof, reverse gables, gable returns, A-Dormers, scalloped siding, cultured stone siding, a chimney, and a lot more.  Most modular home elevations will display some of these features.  But none of them may have the right combination of features matched to the right floor plan layout.  So you and your dealer will need to add the modular home elevation features you favor to the floor plan you select.

Examples of How to Dress Up a Modular Home Elevation

Here are six examples of how you can start with a relatively simple modular home elevation and embellish it:

The modular home elevation of the Crookston one-story plan on the right adds a garage and front porch.

The modular home elevation of the Barclay cape cod plan on the right adds a larger front porch that also serves as a dormer, a stone facade, and a combination of vertical and horizontal siding..

The modular home elevation of the Bellmeade two-story plan on the right adds a hip roof, three A-dormers, a brick chimney, a more formal front porch, and brick siding.

The modular home elevation of the Glamorgan one-story plan on the right adds a taller roof and a larger garage with a reverse gable and entry doors on the side.

The modular home elevation of the Tiffany cape cod plan on the right adds a front porch, a partial brick facade, and decorative moldings.

The modular home elevation of the Gordon one-story plan on the right adds a front porch, a taller roof with an A-dormer, a partial stone facade, vertical siding with a scalloped accent, and a circle top window.

Have Your Modular Home Dealer Customize the Modular Home Elevation to Your Liking

As I mentioned in my other two posts (see above), take a second look at some desirable floor plans that you might otherwise reject – because they’re matched with unacceptable elevations. A practical way to do this when you are looking at modular home plans is to cover up the exterior elevation plans with a piece of paper. Otherwise you will find your eyes continually drawn to the elevation plans as you turn the pages.  Once you select some floor plan layouts that you like, have your dealer show you how he can create some modular home elevations that please you.
For more information about ensuring that your modular home elevation will be just the way you want it, see Designing a Modular Home in my book The Modular Home.