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Three Builders Say Prefab Costs Less, Delivers More
Grandma’s old doublewide; cheap trailer-shaped boxes shipped from the factory to the site and bolted to a foundation; a home ready to blow away with the next storm — this has been the image of modular construction for a long time, and helps explain why the building industry has been slow to accept modular homes.
In fact, most of today’s modular construction is highly durable, energy-efficient and storm-resistant. “Built in the factory” now means lower-cost and higher-quality building components that many savvy builders swear by.
The Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH) recently interviewed three leaders of the modular construction industry to get their insights on why builders choose modular and the challenges they face.
Julius Poston, president of StalwartBuilt Homes in Panama City, Fla., builds energy-efficient, durable homes throughout the Southeast using modular components supplied by Nationwide Custom Homes. StalwartBuilt Homes are certified green by a third party.
PATH: Why did you choose modular for your homes?
Poston: I built in Atlanta for a number of years. It had plenty of labor and was the hub of distribution for building materials. But as you come down the coast, shipping is an issue and labor is an even larger issue. We also live in a hot, humid climate, which complicates building a home correctly. I worked in Europe and Asia for a number of years and saw systems-built homes. When I returned to the U.S., I figured I’d better use systems-built or I’ll die down here.
In Calloway Corners, we’re building workforce housing to prove that the average home owner that works for a living can own green. The house will cost about $240,000 and include modular construction, solar power and a geothermal desuperheater. Our business model is to offer a net zero-energy house that could take high-force winds. And we have been able to do it working with Nationwide.
PATH: How do you sell modular to your customers?
Poston: One of the larger obstacles was the perception of modular homes in the South. Up North, it’s well accepted, but in the South, the terminology was a problem. Modular? If there are wheels, it must be a trailer. That’s the reason we branded our product as Stalwart and designated it a systems-built home in an effort to change the market perception. We felt it would be easy to market the energy efficiency, improved air quality, high wind load, shorter construction time and availability of materials under the umbrella of a manufacturer.
Frank Marro is Southeast Area Manager of Nationwide Custom Homes and based in Orlando. Nationwide is a PATH manufacturer partner and a member of NAHB’s Buildings Systems Councils.
PATH: Why do you think builders should choose modular?
Marro: Most builders come to us because they’re looking for a better way to control their costs, timelines, quality and overhead.
Modular building, depending on the kind of structure, isn’t necessarily cheaper than site-built. The real savings is in time. It’s not unusual for us to build a 6,000-square-foot home in 10 to 12 days in a plant, compared to a site-built home, where you’re looking at six months-plus, on average. The home that we do is essentially 80% to 85% complete when it’s delivered to the site. The builder just has to do the finish work, utilities and foundation.
PATH: Quality is a big concern when it comes to public perceptions of modular. Why do you think today’s modular homes are better?
Marro: Everything is built in a controlled environment in a closed factory. Materials never touch the outside other than when they come in by truck or rail, and they’re never exposed to weather. In the typical job site, trusses and wood are exposed outside, sometimes for months.
With modular homes, each individual component is basically constructed by the same people day in and day out, meaning there’s continuity and very little downtime. Typically, on a site-built home, it’s done in stages, but there’s a lot of wasted time waiting for one contractor to get done. In modular, it’s like an assembly line, just like in an automobile factory.
Our homes are subject to more than 300 quality control checks in addition to a third-party inspector who represents each state we ship to. In Florida, the state has a third-party engineering firm that makes inspections in the factory as the house is being built. These inspections are a cost savings for the builder, because it cuts down on the on-site inspections.
PATH: What are the components made of?
Marro: Our construction is all wood frame. It’s typically kiln-dried lumber. No mold, no mildew. Structurally, about 30% more lumber goes into a modular home, although it would be less with a smaller home. The house has to be picked up and transported 100 to 600 miles from the factory, then hoisted by a crane 30 to 50 feet in the air at the building site, so it better hold up. That’s the reason most of the drywall and flooring is glued, nailed and screwed on. This means the house is really durable.
We had minimal, if any, damage on about 400 homes throughout the state during the last two hurricanes in Florida. A study done by FEMA found that when Hurricane Andrew came through in the ’90s, modular construction held up much better than site-built construction because of the engineering and the flexibility, particularly in the roof sections.
James Seekford is vice president of the Builder Division of Nationwide Custom Homes. He is located in Martinsville, Va.
PATH: Are there cases when it wouldn’t be to a builder’s advantage to use modular?
Seekford: Homes have to be designed within the building system process we use. That does at times create some design limitations. There’s opportunity for creativity, certainly, but not quite as great as with stick-built homes.
PATH: Is anything new coming for modular — codes, regulations, technologies, designs?
Seekford: We’re looking more toward green building. This is one of the biggest pushes in the industry today. We’re looking to see what we can do to comply with green standards to make it easier for the builder.
We are extremely waste conscious. The components are precut to order in the factory. We have ways of recycling the smallest pieces of wood back into the home that the average site builder does not. Everything that’s left over that is recyclable, we recycle, and we are able to recycle material at a much higher level than the average builder can even think about. We shift very little waste to the builder onsite, which reduces the amount of waste in the local landfills, and you don’t have all that waste lying around on the job site.
Also, we are able to source out better products that meet green building guidelines. This takes a lot of legwork off the builder.
 See the Modular Homes Big Picture
NAHB’s 2008 Building Systems Councils Modular and Panel Plant Tour in Harrisburg, Pa. on May 18-20 shows attendees the smartest advances in facility operations, efficiencies and practices.
This event for modular and panelized manufacturers and suppliers offers exclusive access to the industry’s best facilities.
Visit www.nahb.org/PlantTour for more information.
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