manufacturedhomelivingnews.com Manufactured Home Living News
According to the Manufactured Housing Institute of Canada (MHICA), there are two broad categories of factory built homes in Canada. The 
MHICA describes these in the two paragraphs that follow.
Manufactured Homes
Manufactured (Mobile) homes are factory-built home and can be up to 95% completed when leaving the factory. The homes are typically built with an integrated sub-frame that allows them to be transported to site using axles or bogeys and placed on surface foundation systems. These homes are typically built in one to three large sections up to 20’ in width and 76’ in length, and can be ready for occupancy in as little as one day after delivery to the home-site. These homes are highly cost-effective and represent Canada’s most affordable single detached housing option.
Modular Homes/Buildings
Modular homes/buildings are factory-built to comply with building code requirements applicable to the area where the house /building will be sited. The homes/buildings are typically produced and shipped to the building site in one or more large sections. These homes/buildings are up to 85% completed in the factory and generally require only 2 to 3 weeks of finish work at the building site to be made ready for occupancy.
These descriptions would apply similarly to the United States too, save that most state jurisdictions in the U.S. would limit widths to 16′ or 18′ vs. 20′ in Canada. MHLivingNews strongly believes that there should be a distinction between ‘mobile homes’ – which are best described as homes built before Canada’s Z240 regulations went into effect and in the United States fits those housing units build prior the the Manufactured Housing Standards (HUD Code) went into effect on June 15, 1976. Manufactured homes are the proper term for a factory built home constructed to the Z240 or U.S. HUD Manufactured Housing Code.
Some factory builders in the U.S. opt to build and ship to Canada, so long as they meet CSA standards, while some Canadian firms build and ship into the U.S., and naturally must meet U.S. standards.
For more information on Canada’s factory built homes, you can go to the http://www.mhicanada.ca website, or to one of the provincial associations linked from MHICA’s website.##
