The Myths of Modular Housing

Implications: "Modular" used to be a dirty word in the building industry, bringing up images of hucksters touting crackerjack-box homes plopped down on a street corner or a vacant lot.  Not any more and modular does not mean "mobile" as in double-wide trailer.  What is more,modular homes typically cost 10 to 15 percent less than comparable stick-built homes.

Analysis: After a recent driving trip through coastal Mississippi and Louisiana,it became abundantly clear that the citizens ravaged by Hurricane Katrina need answers that make affordable sense in terms of addressing their long term housing demands.  Modular homes may very well be a part of that answer.  Back to the myths.

Myth One: Modular is a type of home or class of housing. Modular construction is simply a building process. Modular factories are controlled-environment stick-building operations. They use the same materials, plans, and for the most part, the same practices that on-site operations use.

Myth Two: Modular construction only works for single-family homes.  Modular manufacturers are making townhomes, apartment structures, commercial buildings, as well as all kinds of customized single-family homes.  Steel construction modules are currently used to construct multiple story commercial buildings.

Myth Three: Modular construction is only applicable for small builders in rural markets. The entire industry is seeing a lot of partners who are intrigued with benefits of modular construction in the higher-growth building markets in urban areas.

Myth Four:  Weak demand for the product.  Not so. Existing modular manufacturers are expanding and new manufacturers are coming into the field. . Modular is strong and growing in the Rockies, the Midwest and the Mid Atlantic, and there is a huge interest in the West Coast, Florida, and Gulf Coast markets.

Large-scale production builders are not generally interested in modular construction because they often have the economies of scale to leverage even greater discounts on materials and subcontractor fees than a modular manufacturer can. Modular now appeals more to medium-size builders.   They can expect to build a modular house for about five to 16 percent less than the same conventional stick-built house. Due to the need to get the module under highway bridges for delivery, very large open spaces and high ceilings are the most likely limitations in modular designs. Experts estimate that 80 to 90 percent of today's residential home designs can be modularized.   The modular industry, which boasts strong structures that can easily meet high-wind zone code requirements, is gearing up for the replacement of hundreds of thousands of houses in the Gulf Coast. While modular homes may be a viable solution on the Gulf Coast for quick, affordable housing to replace the large number of homes lost to Hurricane Katrina, they also have a place elsewhere in the United States due to their affordability and speed of construction.