What are the cons of a prefab house?

What's the Cons of Prefab Container House?

Many people talked about the pros of the prefab container house, but Very few people talk about the cons;of prefab house.Actually the prefab house currently has many cons: high cost, short life, not flexible and ect.   Let's give the details one by one.

1 the cost efficiency

the cost of prefab container house is about 20-30% more than the brick houses. Especially when the house has special design and off standard. It will bring more cost for the production. Considering the shipping cost, installation cost, altogether the final cost will most likely be more than the traditional house. Prefabrication doesn't naturally mean low cost, because the prefab house is not a main technology of building. The scale is not so big to cut down the cost, and the workers have not been used to this new technology. So the prefab container house is currently the best alternative for the movable house, instead of permanent house.

2 short life time

Normally the prefab container houses have a life span from 10 years to 30 years. This is shorter than that of the civil works that usually last for 70years to 100years. However the light and flexible structure of prefab house yield itself good performance under earthquake and save lives.

3 not flexible.

The prefab houses are mostly of standard size as a 20 feet container that is 2400x5800x2890mm. If you want a bigger house, 2 or 3 standard unit will make together a large house. But if you want some sizes off standard, it will bring much trouble for the production of prefab container house, increase the production time and raise the cost. So if the project has too many places are off standard, prefab container house won't be a good choice, believe me.