Phil Leibovitz, one of the three founders of Sandy Spring Builders, shares how the company’s custom modular business is progressing. Part of Custom Home’s 20 After 20 series, the Bethesda, Md.-based company does a lot of teardowns and infill houses in established neighborhoods, inner-ring suburbs, and urban areas in and around Washington, D.C.. It often works with clients for whom timely turnaround is essential. Leibovitz says the partners figured out a way to provide custom quality through the efficiencies of modular building and it’s become a subset of their business that best serves certain types of homeowners. “After about 200 phone calls asking what the price would be for a custom home,” he explains, “I saw there was a big need for a house that is priced out ahead of time with the quality and individuality you’d expect from a custom builder.”
Here’s what Leibovitz has to say about Sandy Springs’ custom modular market.
Has the modular portion of your business grown?
I think what we’re finding out is that the modular business is really a niche. We thought we could build larger numbers of custom homes this way, but it’s a certain type of client and project that fits this process. The projects we’re pushing toward a modular format are those with great finishes and really high-quality building specs, but that are really simple in layout and design.
We’ve come out with a series of stock plans that we call our systems houses. They are customizable. We bring these to the clients and their architects and they customize them, but by having set templates for the factory the turnaround is very fast. We still build totally custom houses; this is just one side of our business. It’s for people who want to simplify the process but still have Sandy Spring quality. We really figure out what their needs are and customize one of the system series houses. We got it down to as much of a science that we possibly can with a custom house. But we give them a grip on the costs very quickly.
What kinds of clients prefer this building method?
We have a lot of couples with kids where both parents work full time and they want a new house, but they need things to turn around quickly. We come to the table with specifics right away. We tell people, “We can do this house for this price with these finishes.” We had a model home for a while that was a great tool. The clients could see what standard specs were and could move up from there.
The green client is also who we steer in this direction. There is very little waste. It’s also a quicker building method, and we can add a lot of energy-efficient touches in the factory. The interesting thing is that perceptions have changed a lot in the past three to four years. We’ve proved that really well-built houses can be done this way.
What are the biggest advantages of this building process?
Timing is the biggest advantage, plus some architectural and engineering savings. But the nicest savings is the shorter time frame. Also cost control by picking everything out beforehand and having it all put together at the factory. Sticks and bricks costs come out pretty much the same, however.
Having it be a green product is a big advantage. There’s less waste because most of the house is built in a controlled facility. The walls and roof are shipped down the road at 60 to 70 miles an hour, so they have to be built to withstand all of that shaking. These houses are more solid than people imagine. It’s basically a strongly built custom home that is about 40 percent assembled in the plant.
What new projects are coming up in the modular side?
I love architecture and Bob Gurney is unbelievably good. So I had a client who really wanted a Gurney house and I talked to him and asked if he wanted to try it. He designed this house for this lot and hopefully it’s a template that can be used again. It’ll be delivered to the site in about a month.
We’re also working on whole new series of houses aimed at infill. More modest and cottage-like plans that range from 2,400 to 3,500 square feet. They are really a bungalow style with a lot of charm. But not all over the place as far as footprint.
What do you expect for the future of modular custom building?
We’re coming out with more efficient housing. We need time to prove this concept. More toward the cottage direction, but we’re not quite there yet. Small retreat homes—that’s a product where I think this custom modular really works. You get 80 percent done at the plant.
We sold the model home because it was in a residential neighborhood, but we are going to build a more permanent model in a commercial zone. We picked up a property in downtown Bethesda that we can use as a showroom. Even a custom client wants to see other clients’ houses. We’ve gotten sales because of our model. When you buy a car you go to the dealer and order it with the features you want, but the basic template is already thought out for you. Our modular process is similar.
