If you think modular construction has no place in the world of custom home building, think again. Some custom builders have found that—like panelization and prefabricated components—modularization is just one more highly engineered method of delivering a home, and modular factories are effectively just one more subcontractor providing a service.
Now more than ever, even high-end clients are interested in building their homes as cost-effectively and time-efficiently as possible, so it’s not surprising that forward-thinking custom builders are turning to modular construction to accommodate them. Those who have added modular to their repertoire are reaping the benefits, which include:
- More uniform quality and control over materials and labor;
- A trained, skilled labor force;
- Reduced impact from adverse weather;
- Faster production;
- Cost control;
- Greater accuracy and predictability of completion dates;
- A parallel and expedited project management process (site is prepped while modular home is in production); and
- Less material waste.
Problem Solvers
Those who have chosen to offer modular construction have done so mainly for practical reasons.
With more than 30 years of custom building experience among them, the three founders of Bethesda, Md.-based Sandy Spring Builders have watched as new technologies and building systems have emerged and gained traction in the industry. Mimi Brodsky Kress and Phil Leibovitz became particularly fascinated with modular housing and experimented with it in various ways over the years. But it was only about five years ago that they, along with their co-founder Richard Mandell, began to consider the process in a more serious light.
After receiving numerous inquiries from potential clients who knew exactly what they wanted but didn’t have the time or funds for the site-built custom process, the trio hit on modular construction as a strategy for delivering cost-effective custom-quality houses more quickly. They spent nearly five years working with architects and modular manufacturer Haven Custom Homes developing a collection of house plans based on many of their best custom projects and eventually launched a new modular division, Sandy Spring Classic Homes.
“People automatically assume a modular house is going to be cheap,” says Leibovitz. “But we’ve always known that you can do anything you want in a plant: you can build a Toyota or you can build a Lexus.” Specializing in teardown replacement and infill projects, Sandy Spring Classic Homes sells modular homes for about $1 million on average. To date, the company has completed 12 homes in the competitive Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and has another 10 on the books.
Similarly, about five years ago Meridian Homes, also based in Bethesda, was getting out of the increasingly unrewarding spec building market and shifting toward more renovation work, according to co-founder Jonathan Lerner. As the company added renovation projects to its portfolio, he and his partner and brother, Michael Lerner, noticed that their average three-level bump-out project in the D.C. area ran about $800,000 and took about eight months to complete.
They wanted a faster, more efficient, and more economical solution to offer their renovation and custom home clients and eventually selected modular. They’ve since honed their offerings and process to the point where they can now tear down an existing house and factory-build a new one with modular partner North American Housing for the same cost as an addition, Jonathan Lerner says.
The company’s construction is now split about 50/50 between site-built and modular, according to Lerner. “Particularly for infill building, we think modular is a good way to go because of the speed,” he says.
For the founders of New World Home in Atlanta and Jersey City, N.J., modular construction was the only method that made sense for delivering their collection of cost-effective, traditional-style, LEED Platinum homes. Tyler Schmetterer and Mark Jupiter started their own company after working for years with high-end builders and growing frustrated with the industry’s resistance to change and out-of-the-box thinking, as well as its inefficiencies.
“We didn’t set out to get into the modular business,” Schmetterer says. “We set out to get into the ‘new old’ green building business—to design and build homes that are deeply rooted in the historical architecture of this country, combined with state-of-the-art green practices from around the world. But it took us about 15 seconds to get our head around the benefits of building inside a factory.”
Now New World Home has a series of partnerships with modular manufacturers around the country and has completed 10 of its “New Old Green Modular” homes, with about 20 more in progress. Although the company is not a custom builder in the conventional sense and maintains a collection of traditional plans that can be customized, New World Home also has a custom division that works with clients to design any home they wish and deliver it through the modular process.
The Right Client
While most custom home clients still prefer site-built construction and making decisions and selections for their home as their project progresses in the conventional manner, there is a customer segment that wants the same level of craftsmanship and quality, but wants more immediate results.
Haven Custom Homes’ president and CEO Jerry Smalley describes his company’s typical client as a “creative customer”: a well-educated consumer who knows what he/she wants; appreciates form, function, quality, and value; and has an interest in design and sustainability.
“If a client is worried about being overwhelmed by the process or cost or timing, I know automatically that modular construction is a good option for that client,” says Sandy Spring’s Leibovitz. Clients who choose the modular path get the materials and finish selections out of the way and circumvent the hassles and inconveniences of a long construction schedule. “It’s for a certain kind of person who wants a systematic, simplified way to achieve a custom-quality house.”
The builder benefits from the compressed schedule, as well. “It takes me a year to site-build a custom home, and I’ve got a project manager that only builds two a year,” Leibovitz notes. “The savings in overhead in terms of time and supervision alone are a big advantage.”
