Compared to a custom home that’s stick-built, you’d spent a lot less with a modular home on an architect too. “All they have to do is draw the room sizes and elevations, and that’s a lot of savings,” ...

But a custom build from the ground up isn't your only option. Modular homes can be the right choice for some future homeowners—and they've come a long way from the mobile homes of decades past.

Siegel's house isn't quite a tiny house; it's two structures that combine to be nearly 1,000 square feet, although it is modular and assembled off-site, as many tiny homes are. The sleek ...