What Makes A Home Modular
The Modular Home Building System
As with stick-built and panelized construction, modular
construction represents a predetermined system for building a home. Rather than dragging all of the raw lumber,
nails, and drywall to the job site, the modular construction system builds a
home into smaller, self-contained modules.
The modules are then transported to the job site on specially designed
trailers. Each module is then placed
onto the foundation for the final completion.
Using the modular construction system, a good modular
manufacturer can build almost any style or type of house. Building a modular home is like building a
house with Legos. Houses are basic cubic modules that can be varied in almost
any fashion.
Architectural interest is a function of how the home was
designed, not how it was built.
Same Materials: Different Process
The important point to remember is that modular
construction, like panelized and stick-built, all utilize the same construction
materials, and all must comply with the same building codes. The difference lies in the process used to
assemble those materials into a completed house.
My favorite analogy for modular construction compares
housing to boating. Lets imagine that
you were going to purchase a big power speed boat or perhaps a sail boat. Fortunately, you have some alternatives. First, Boats Unlimited, Inc. has just the
boat you want. Each boat is custom built
in their modern facility utilizing the latest boat construction
techniques. The price is low, and you
can have the boat is just a few weeks. Sounds like a good choice.
Another alternative is to hire Bubba and his twin brother to
build your boat. They will even build
your boat in your own back yard. Everyday, they show up in their pickup, power
tools in hand - except when it's nice.
Then they go fishing or hunting.
The price is a little higher than that sleek Boats Unlimited boat, and
unfortunately Bubba has been known to take several months to complete a
boat. Of course you will have the
pleasure of seeing your boat hand-built in your own back yard, and the quality
is almost as good as Boats Unlimited.
A Traditional Approach to Home Building
Before reviewing the modular construction system, let's take
a quick look at the process of building a conventional, permanent foundation
home utilizing the "stick-built" method. To build a stick-built house, general
contractors rely on a various groups of tradesmen. Each home is built at the job site over a
long, slow process that exposes the home to dangers of the elements and
vandalism. As each trade completes its
section, the next trade enters the process until the home is finished.
Once the home site has been located, the first step is to
prepare the job site for a proper house foundation. Unwanted trees, underbrush and other ground
cover is removed from the job site.
Excavating equipment then digs a hole for your foundation. Regardless of
the construction method used, a well built foundation is an absolute must. The
leaning Tower of Piza may be a great tourist attraction in Italy, but without a
proper foundation, be prepared to sell tickets to the neighborhood.
Today poured concrete is the most popular construction
method used to build a foundation. Concrete is fast and relatively inexpensive.
With the ground prepared, the foundation crew sets up the forms that hold the
concrete in place until it has set. concrete is then poured into the forms that
will eventually a new foundation. In a week or two the foundation will then be
ready for house construction.
With the foundation ready, the framers begin their work.
Framers build the structure that will become your new home. Attention first
goes to the floor. Next go the walls. If
the home will be more than one story, a floor and then walls are built. The
final ceiling and roof is then framed into place. With the frame up, the race
is on to get the home weather tight before water damages the frame. Water poses
the greatest danger to new construction.
Damp boards warp making it difficult to achieve flat walls and ceilings.
As a trade, framing gets little attention unless the job was
poorly done. The best examples occur
after a natural disaster. After
hurricane Andrew ripped through south Florida, homes that were poorly built or
those that were not built according code were crushed. A few years earlier, hurricane Hugo raced
through the Caribbean. On one devastated island, one of the few building left
standing was a modular home built to hurricane specifications.
The steps to weather tight a home vary by builder and
area. Some builders go straight for the
roof. The rational being that with a completed roof, the exposed framing
underneath is less likely to be damaged.
Others start with the sheathing. They blanket the roof and the entire
exterior with sheathing first. With the sheathing in place and roof and framing
reasonably protected from the elements, they next complete the roof and siding.
Both approaches have their benefits, but in all cases, the framing of the home
is exposed to potential water damage.
In the beginning, every home builder and contractor plans to
weather tight the home as fast as possible.
But it is not uncommon for the weather to turn ugly right in the middle
of framing. Bad weather shuts down the
framing process while it leaves the unfinished section wide open to water
damage. I've seen some homes be exposed
for several months, and even one home that was forced to wait out a bad
winter. It does not happen to most
construction projects, but it could happen to you.
Another problem with this approach is that to protect the
framing from the elements, it is not unheard of for the framing crew to skip
critical steps and take short-cuts. This creates a dangerous situation as we
saw with the demolished homes after a hurricane. As a home buyer, most of your
attention goes to carpet color, lighting fixtures and wallpaper, all but taking
the house frame for granted. Home buyer historically have relied on the
diligence of their local housing inspectors, but often this is a false
hope. The greatest risk comes during
times of rapid housing starts. Your
local housing inspector becomes overwhelmed.
Worse, most locales have statutes that limit the time an inspector has
to inspect a home. If he fails to
inspect the home within that time, the home receives an automatic pass.
So imagine this situation:
Housing demand and prices are increasing daily. Builders, under pressure by buyers for new
homes, hires additional and often inexperienced workers. Others, new to the construction industry,
open business to take advantage of the increasing demand. Homes are going up
fast. And building inspectors, swamped with the work load are forced with an
unwanted choice - do a quick, but incomplete inspection of all the homes, or do
a complete inspection of just a few homes and just let the other slide. And for you the home owner, if your home was
built during a boom time, what type of inspection did your home receive?
With the roof completed and the side sheathing up, the
interior work begins. Workers install the windows and doors, quickly followed
by the siding. With the interior studs exposed, plumbers and electricians
install the rough plumbing and electrical. Workers then place insulation on the
exterior walls and in the attic.
Next the drywall goes up. The drywall is then finished off
with joint compound, or "mud" and the walls painted. Workers then install the window and floor
trim. With the interior nearly finished, the plumbers and electricians install
the finish plumbing and electrical and the house is ready to get final in the
form of a certificate of occupancy (sometimes referred to as a "C of
O" or just "CO").
Time to completion for a stick-built home can run anywhere
from a few months to a year or more, depending on the size and complexity of
the home. And of course, the weather can
greatly interrupt the process.
Building with the Modular Home Building System
Like old style stick-built construction, building your home
using the modular home building system starts off with meetings with architects
and general contractors. As the future home owner, decisions on the floor plan,
exterior styling and interior amenities must be made. Plans must be approved,
budgets agreed upon, and timetables found agreeable. But here the future home
buyer has an advantage. Taking advantage of both the experience of modular home
companies along with their efficient production capabilities, home buyers can
benefit.
The design staff of many of the modular home companies offer
the home buyer access to inexpensive but highly competent design services.
Budgets for modular construction are "fixed-price" while the actual
construction of a home utilizing the modular home construction process moves at
a far quicker pace. In the end, the home
buyer gets more for the money, on time and on budget. Let's take a quick overview of the process.
With the initial plans agreed upon, the general contractor,
working with the modular home producer develops the final production plans. But
before construction can begin on your new home, the final plans must be
approved. The first line of approval occurs when an independent, third-party
inspector reviews the plans to ensure that they are in compliance with all
relevant building codes. This step warrants special consideration. Third-party
inspections are uncommon in stick-build homes, but mandatory for all modular home construction. And unlike cursory
inspections, the third-party reviews are comprised of detailed inspection
steps.
With the final plans approved, the modular home company
prepares for the construction of your new home. Special materials such as
kitchen cabinets, sinks, light fixtures and windows may need to be ordered.
While not every home calls for special items, the usual delivery time from the
time of order is around eight weeks. Of course, peak summer periods can take
longer. It is at this time that the site work and foundation are prepared.
The plans approved, special materials received and
foundation completed, the modular home company is now ready to begin production
of your new home. At this point, the modular home building system greatly
differs from conventional stick-build housing. Following a stick-build example,
we noted that from necessity, stick-build homes are built from the outside
first, and then later completed on the inside. Weather, and especially
water, pose great danger to wood framed
houses. Because the modular home building process takes place in an enclosed,
climate controlled environment, your new home is not exposed to the weather
until the manufacturer decides that it is prepared to face the weather.
Watching a modular home being built is an incredible sight.
Unlike, stick-built homes that can take months to complete, the modular home
building process is so streamlined, factory construction might take less than a
week from start to finish. When construction of your new home first begins, the
floors, ceilings, walls and roof are often begun at the same time. Then as
construction progresses, these individual components are pulled together to
form the shell of your new home. Then the completed shells advance to the next
phase of construction. The unique aspect of modular construction is that unlike
stick-build housing, the individual modules move to the next work station just
like a modern manufacturing plant. Bad weather does not stop the progress on
your new home. And there is never a worry that a sub-contractor will not show
up to complete the job.
Each of the panelized units is built on special jigs. These
jigs allow the workers to quickly assemble the wall studs into a near-perfect
panel by enabling the workers to place the studs at the proper distances and
angles. Taking advantage of the panelized process, the panels are then covered
with drywall, or floor boards if it is a deck unit. Most companies add extra
durability by gluing the drywall and floor boards to the panel units. Using
cranes, workers then lift the units into the proper positions. The deck is
placed on special rollers or track, and then in succession, the wall units,
ceiling and roof units are then placed into position.
We are now to the first check point in our process of
building your new home. The floors, walls, ceilings and roof have all been
panelized. Then we saw that they were pulled together to form the individual
modular shells that will ultimately piece together like "legos" to
form your new home. And like "legos" they will fit perfectly, making
one of the best built homes available. Before the modular shells can move to
the next work station, the quality control team signs off on the last of their
structural checklists. In a modular home, quality control plays an instrumental
part in the building of your home.
Now that the quality control team has passed your home, the
individual modules are ready for the interior can be roughed out. Even before
the shell was completed, installation of the electrical, plumbing, insulation
and drywall began, but now the work advances rapidly. With the rough electrical
and plumbing completed and the drywall installed, the "mudders" start
the work of smoothing out all of the drywall joints and screw and nail points.
Weather the house was stick-built or modular, the application of joint compound
still involves several steps of application and sanding.
The house is now ready for the finish work. Workers install
the trim for the doors and windows. Painters prepare and then finish out the
house's walls and ceilings. Flooring is installed
in all the rooms followed by the bathroom and kitchen cabinets. Finally,
plumbers install the final plumbing hookups while the face plates to the
electrical outlets are installed for the finishing touches. The house is now
virtually finished.
With the modules completed, they are then transported to the
new home site. At the job site, a crane raises the home off the trailer and
onto the permanent foundation. Workers then secure the modules to the
foundation and to each other. The general contractor then takes over. The
general contractor finishes off the homes and makes all the final utility
hook-ups. On most homes built using the modular construction method this
includes some sections of the siding and finishing off the interior section
where the modules came together. Depending on the size and complexity of the
home, this can take as little as a week. However, some of the more complex
homes can take longer. Your home is now
ready for landscaping and occupancy.
BUILDING METHOD IS SEPARATE FROM STYLE
By now you have come to realize modular construction is a
type of construction process used to build homes and not a type of home. As we shall see in the next two chapters,
styling and details are different from the how a home has been built. The architectural appearance of a home built
using the modular construction process is only limited by the creativity and
experience of the home buyer, designer and the modular home manufacturer.
