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Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
Adverti$$er
March 2021 #13260 Page #102
The Dilemma Facing Modular Construction Today By Gary Fleisher
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s more builders, developers, and customers begin using modular construction instead of just thinking about it, the existing modular housing industry is being pushed, pulled, and thrown into a new reality.
Too Much Demand!
How can that be a bad thing? It can if there are very few new modular home factories being built right now and only a few on the drawing boards. About eight years ago, the media began touting the benefits of modular construction again, which opened an entirely new customer base. Hotels, college dormitories, taller multistory apartment buildings, retirement homes, more demand for single-family homes, and let’s not forget the Hurricanes, fires, floods, and affordable housing projects over the past 6 years. But all that new business coming into the existing modular factories, both residential and commercial, simply allowed many factories to get back to the capacity they had prior to 2008. Now full capacity is not enough. Between big modular projects practically falling in the front door and the builders having a terrific year, there is no more capacity to be had, forcing many, even commercial modular factories, to have lead times of 20 weeks or more. Here are a couple of problems occurring right now in our industry, and things won’t get any better when Spring and Summer arrive.
Builder and Developer Complaints There are two major types of complaints facing the modular factory. First, there are builder complaints about the lead time to get modules built and delivered to the job site. Even if a factory is at capacity, it doesn’t want to turn away business, so they continue to take orders and deposits for work they know will stretch their production schedule out further. PHONE: 800-289-5627
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