Apples to Apples at CO offsite modular home building is more expensive than site built. Bottom line it is a financial issue. All about math and not about hype aka Rainbows & Unicorns. You cannot build in a factory using the same priced materials and labor, add the cost of the factory and then add transportation, set, stitch and connect to utilities expenses and expect to compete with on site national production builders. That is the truth. Modular has niche markets and some regional builders have been able to have success. However it is not scalable. It does save time but not enough time to make a difference on the proforma. Been bidding modular for my developer/builder clients for 10 years in 5 states. This has been my experience.
We still hear about the "potential" benefits of offsite and modular construction practices. I wonder why, with all the money invested in this space, it still hasn't become the norm. There always seem to be lots of excuses why and a lot of statistics to show how these methods are achieving efficiency but the stories of business failures and how the product doesn't bring value at scale persist. Are there any real innovators in this space?
CEO of global tech/engineering solutions holding company.
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