Homes Ready to Roll
There is a completely new way of building homes that is more cost effective and offers many benefits to manufacturers, material suppliers, production builders, developers and even school districts. Many buyers would have a negative image of this new construction method if it were labeled mobile homes, but that is essentially what it is.
Mobile home manufacturing has taken on a new identity: It is now called off-site or factory-built buildings, and they come as a "kit of parts" offered in varying degrees to augment either existing buildings or to be used as components in new construction with other construction methods like ICF (insulated concrete forms), Butler building (metal &mdash red iron or moment-resistant frames) or tilt up concrete.
Also referred to as "manufactured" homes, the majority are built to a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development code that industry experts say makes "a well-built" house. Previously called "prefab" or "modular" or "manufactured" housing, housing experts say the industry is poised for new growth as architects explore fresh designs and more people associate the housing style with higher standards and higher performance.
Factory-built housing is touting environmental benefits and a fresh look as well to win a new generation of buyers as the industry continues to fight the "mobile home" image of cheap design and the slowing of conventional ("stick-built") housing.
The environmental benefits translate to lower costs of construction for home buyers and better profits for builders &mdash not to mention the added value of predictable costs generated by long-term material contracts from suppliers from the world marketplace. Building components with gigs and ordering from suppliers through long-term contracts for materials lowers costs, eliminates much of the construction waste that is so environmentally costly and allows developers to target market home pricing in a given region. These factors help to ensure salability by meeting feasibility studies for the development.
The most important marketing issue in this new construction paradigm is that factory-built products look and act just like stick-built buildings. The factory housing manufacturers are also able to use software that converts conventional designs into their manufacturing components, thus allowing for low-rise (three-story) buildings.
These components are then shipped JIT (just in time) to the developer's site and assembled or installed in under a week. Hence, a three-bedroom home could take less than three days to complete using non-skilled labor. The components can come pre-drilled for electric wiring, or with the wiring already installed, thus needing only to be connected on site. Plumbing openings can be pre-cut as are the doors and windows.
The century-old manufactured-housing industry still competes with prices estimated at 20% to 25% lower than conventional on site and faster move-in time. JIT as the slab cures and the curbs and streets are installed allows a developer to bring his project to market six weeks to six months earlier.
Large developments usually include a school or many levels of schooling/education. School districts partnering with developers can add square footage to school districts at a much lower price than a school district could facilitate using their own resources.
In 2006, nearly 8% of the 107,000 new single-family houses built in California were produced in off-site factories; about 1.4 million Californians live in 658,000 manufactured homes. It is estimated that nearly 70% of manufactured houses are now put on regular home lots.
September 2007 Builder Architect Edition Issue