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| Why Modular?: Did you know one of every ten new homes in New England is modular construction?
Houses made to order
Factory-built homes are quicker, cheaper, and catching on with buyers
By Brenda J. Buote, Globe Staff | November 20, 2005
Jim and Lorri Ryan have custom oak cabinets in their new kitchen, a four-season sunroom that offers breathtaking views at sunset, and a skylight in the master bedroom.
Visitors often ask the Ryans how long it took to build their handsome two-story Colonial. The question always triggers a smile.
''Eight hours," Jim Ryan tells them, deadpan.
''The crew arrived in the morning and was done by the end of the day," Ryan said. ''It was amazing to see the home go up. You'd look up and see the master bedroom going by, the carpeting and closet shelves already in place."
The Ryan home is part of a new generation of elaborate modular homes, built to the couple's detailed specifications in a factory and moved to Saugus in pieces on a flatbed truck. Today it is nestled in the hillside where Lorri Ryan's childhood home stood for decades.
With housing prices beyond the reach of many families, a growing number of buyers are shunning traditional on-site, or ''stick-built" construction in favor of less expensive modular homes, helping to push sales of factory-built homes in Boston's northern suburbs to record levels.
Some buyers of modular homes choose to tear down houses rather than remodel outdated structures. Others want to make room for aging parents. The Ryans did both. Jim and Lorri's mothers live with the couple.
Modular homes are built in rectangular sections on an assembly line, to local building-code standards, and set on a foundation at the home site. Depending on the scope and complexity of the design, a modular home can be built and ready for transport within two weeks.
Today's modular homes are nothing like the manufactured homes of yesteryear, when factory-built meant a boxy trailer. These days, modular homes can be constructed in virtually any architectural style, from Cape Cod to Colonial, even Victorian.
As a result, modular homes are becoming more popular in high-end resorts and pricey real estate markets. One local builder -- Winitao Development Co. Inc., in Revere -- has used modular units to create an apartment building in Peabody and a hotel in Virginia.
''Like many people, when I first heard 'modular,' I thought 1970s mobile home," said Annette LaChapelle, who with her husband, David, is planning to have Stoneham-based CM Construction install a two-story modular home on a parcel she owns at Belle Isle Marsh in Revere.
''I had this myth in my head that I would walk into the factory and be told that I had to choose 'model A' or 'model B,' but it's nothing like that. Everything in our home will be custom built to suit our needs," said LaChapelle, who noted that both she and her husband plan to work out of their new gable-entry Colonial. She is a florist; he's a photographer.
Design flexibility may be one of the reasons modular homes are riding a wave of popularity. In New England, one out of every 10 new homes is modular, up from one in 20 in 1990, according to the Building Systems Council, a division of the National Association of Home Builders.
But modular isn't right for every buyer. Certain buyers may find the financing process too tedious; many banks do not offer standard loan programs for modular construction. Some may discover that their land is too difficult to access, making the site ill suited to the installation process, while others may simply decide that the aesthetics of a factory-built home do not suit them.
''Choosing between stick-built and modular is like choosing between espresso and latte," said Eric Fulton, spokesman for the National Association of Home Builders. ''They both get the job done. Which you choose is simply a matter of taste."
Fred Varone, building inspector for the town of Saugus, says he knows from firsthand experience that modulars are well built, but still he favors a traditional home.
''I'm from the old school," he said. ''With modular units, all four sides are framed, so you have to make some modifications. The joists between the first and second story are going to be thicker, which can cause problems with stairways, and, where the sides of the boxes join together, you may have to live with a wall that's thicker than it should be."
But clearly not everyone shares Varone's concerns; several area manufacturers have a backlog of orders.
''We are wait-listed right now, but we had my old home torn down already," said LaChapelle, who bought the original home, a small cottage, long before she met David. ''We thought if our foundation was poured and ready to go, it might give us an advantage over others who are also on the list."
The answer is unclear; the foundation is scheduled to be poured this week. The couple is living in Salem while they wait for the new home to be built.
According to Fulton, the surge in modular construction is, in large part, being driven by two factors: Time and money.
Modular homes typically cost about 10 percent less than similar stick-built homes, depending on the style and size, Fulton said. And, with modular homes, weather delays are not an issue. From factory floor to move-in day, it typically takes about three to four months to make a modular home ready for occupancy. By comparison, traditional homes usually take about eight or nine months to complete.
''Because so much of the work is done at the factory, homeowners and general contractors spend less time and resources coordinating and hiring the various trades," said Aaron M. Daigneault, who with business partner Richard A. Cifuni owns Winthrop-based Acorn Modular Development, a company that specializes in installing modular homes. When the modular arrives, little work remains. Crews must secure the home to the foundation, hide the seams where the modules come together, install light fixtures in pre-wired locations, and hook into public utilities.
''We save on labor costs and liability insurance, and pass that savings on to our clients," says Daigneault, who likes modular homes so much that he and his wife had a five-bedroom, 4,200-square-foot condo built for their young family. The condo is one half of a two-family modular home; Cifuni owns the other unit, a mirror image of Daigneault's.
''It gives us a competitive edge over traditional builders," Daigneault said. ''We can offer a better product and charge buyers less for it."
The Ryan family's four-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath home, for example, cost $379,000. That figure includes everything, from the four modular units that make up the home ($241,000) and sunroom ($50,000), to the demolition of Lorri Ryan's childhood home ($25,000) and other on-site work, such as a new foundation, decks, and landscaping ($63,000).
The lowest estimate the Ryans had received to add on to and update the original home was $505,000, Jim Ryan said, and that price did not include the many amenities that Lorri wanted, such as stainless steel appliances, a fireplace, and hardwood floors.
''Once we looked at the numbers, it was an easy decision," said Jim Ryan. ''We couldn't afford to build a traditional home. We would have had to settle for something half the size of this."
Buyers who choose modular construction often realize hidden savings, local builders say.
''The traditional home buyer draws down money on their construction loan throughout the building process," said Francine Townsend, who with her husband, Paul, owns the Sandcastle Group, the company that sold the Ryan home. ''With a modular home, buyers pay on their construction loan for a much shorter period of time, so there's more money in their pocket. In addition, with modular, homeowners make all their design decisions upfront. By limiting change orders, you limit unexpected cost overruns."
The Marshfield-based Sandcastle Group began selling and installing modular homes in 2000 as part of their home design and remodeling business. That first year, they sold three modular homes. This year, they say, they have sold 30 to homeowners within the Interstate 495 beltway.
Although the trend is not yet reflected in the most current statistics, hurricanes have boosted the modular-housing industry, local builders and specialists say.
While television images portrayed decimated trailer parks, many new modular homes survived -- a fact the industry has marketed heavily -- because building codes were stiffened in 1992, after Hurricane Andrew devastated South Florida.
''Modular homes are sturdier than stick-built homes; they have to be in order to survive being transported to the site and lifted, by crane, into place," said Michael Younus, vice president and general manager of New England Homes, a modular company in Greenland, N.H., that has been around since 1961 and claims to be one of the oldest modular home builders in the country. ''There's typically 15 percent more lumber in a modular home."
At the New England Homes factory, an assembly line produces about 350 houses a year. On the line, the modules are on casters and move in rapid succession from one workstation to the next.
Each section is clearly marked with a production number and an alphabet soup of letters that tells the plant's 125 workers which materials to use on each module depending on the owners' preferences, and whether to outfit a particular unit with plumbing lines. When the sections arrive on location, they are 85 to 95 percent complete.
Still, buyers who choose a modular home must be prepared to face some hurdles. Even when construction takes place on an assembly line, the building process always involves challenges.
When the Ryan home was delivered, the truck had to maneuver a narrow, winding road, turn a sharp corner and slowly make its way up a small hill to the yard.
''They had to trim trees to get the house in place," says Lorri Ryan. ''It's hard to describe what it's like to see your home lifted from the back of a truck and set in place with a crane. It was amazing."
| Avis Expands: Custom home production by AvisAmerica (Avis, PA) is expected to climb by 40% in the wake of the company adding a $4 million, 27,000 sq ft. expansion to its existing 113,00 sq ft. facility.
“The expansion has also allowed us to fine tune the layout of our facility to improve efficiency” explains Bob Baker, general manager. “The new layout allows for materials such as trusses or drywall to be stored where they are being used”.
Prior to the expansion, AvisAmerica employed approximately 240 people and produced more 600 homes each year. Infrastructure improvements were part of expansion. This included eight remote controlled cranes that are able to set walls and ceiling on two production lines along with two additional drywall stations to improve the drying process.
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