Owning a home is an important life milestone for a lot of people, but the ever increasing
cost of construction materials and affordable housing is a major roadblock.
And on top of that, traditional construction methods and materials cause a surprising amount
of gas emissions and waste.
But there are some really cool trends around more sustainable building practices that may
change that ... if you can get past some preconceived notions that pop into your head when you hear,
"modular homes."
These aren't your father's modular homes ... cheaper, cleaner, extremely energy efficient, and still
customizable.
Can modular homes keep the dream of home ownership alive, as well as make a positive impact on
the environment?
I'm Matt Ferrell.
Welcome to Undecided
Both the manufacturing of building materials and energy consumption of homes are major
contributors of carbon emissions.
The most commonly used structural materials like concrete, steel, and aluminum account
for 22% of global CO2 equivalent emissions.
In a typical building, 55% of embodied carbon is in the structure and substructure.
But an even more fundamental issue: building a traditional home has become way too expensive.
According to an analysis performed by the National Association of Home Builders, spikes
in softwood lumber prices during the COVID-19 pandemic raised the average cost of a new
single-family home by $16,000.
Also, the Producer Price Index registered a boost of 50.8% in iron and steel scrap,
and all this makes peoples' dream of owning a house even harder.
On a personal note, I've been experiencing a lot of these price spikes because my wife
and I have been looking into building a new home, which is partially why I went down this
rabbit hole.
I’ve got really bad timing for deciding to build a home right now.
But, we may have a cheaper and greener alternative that can make a big difference: prefabricated
modular or panelized homes.
Now a modular home may make you think of something like a mobile home, or something not as durable
as a traditional stick built house.
I know I did a little bit, but in my hunt to build an energy efficient home I found
some interesting things.
There are some significant differences between a modular home and what most of us call a
"mobile home," which is actually a manufactured home.
A modular home is a house that is completely built off-site, section-by-section, inside
a building facility, and then transported to the final site and installed on a traditional
foundation.
These factories are massive, climate-controlled facilities that assemble homes according to
the International Residential Code (IRC), which means it complies with all state and
local building regulations.
IRC is similar to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the U.S., and
both roll out standards for quality and safety.
Similar to modular homes, manufactured homes are also built inside climate-controlled facilities.
But when it comes to manufactured homes, HUD requires each home to have an attached steel
chassis to help with its transportation.
Usually, manufactured homes have a pier and beam foundation with skirting that can be
used to customize the house.
They're considered a vehicle for tax and zoning purposes and can be relocated.
In a nutshell, manufactured homes have to comply with Federal HUD building requirements
and modular homes comply with local requirements like a traditionally built house.
To complicate things a little bit more, there's another variant of modular home to consider:
panelized homes.
In this case, just the structural components of the house (walls, roof and floor systems)
are built inside a factory and delivered to the worksite where it's finished just like
a site-built home.
But, the panelized building system is usually more costly than modular.
When a modular home has been completely produced, a semi-truck transports the different sections
to the building site.
Then, with the help of cranes, the parts are assembled on a typical poured foundation,
like Lego blocks.
After it's assembled, the building process is just like a conventional build: it's connected
to the utility grid, the interior fitted with appliances, cabinetry, flooring — everything
finished out just like a typical build.
These indoor-built homes are usually a single story, but there are companies making larger
two or three story models as well.
They require less on-site assembly because you're putting together and mating a few completed
sections.
But, a modular home will have equal or superior quality and a significantly lower price than
a comparable site-built house.
Because they're built indoors, bad weather doesn't delay or affect construction.
And with most of the assembly done before it's shipped to the site, the building time
on location is significantly shorter.
One of the big reasons that Modular homes are more affordable compared to on-site construction
is due to waste.
In the United States, over 500 million tons of construction and demolition debris are
produced annually.
Prefabricated homes can help cut back on that waste.
An on-site home may have a few dumpsters worth of waste and scrap by the end of construction.
Compare that to some modular home companies that may have a couple of garbage cans worth
of waste.
Better for the environment and your wallet.
And while modular homes may not be as customizable as on-site-built homes, they do still have
enough customization options to fit your style and needs.
But here's where it gets really interesting if you're like me and looking to build a net
zero home, or something closer to the passive home side of things.
That means a significant savings on your electric and heating bills.
They can operate approximately 15% more efficiently than site-built homes, having solar panels,
water storage, low-energy light bulbs, and other green features.
Many modular home companies are focused in on energy efficiency and assembling homes
with an incredibly air-tight envelope, high insulation value, ERVs for air circulation,
and triple-paned windows.
Some offer designs that can meet green building standards like Passive House, which I already
hit on in a previous video.
I'll include a link in the description.
Depending on the company, some homes can be as much as 75% - 85% more efficient than a
standard built home.
The three key factors that determine the cost of modular homes are: location, size, and
design.
Enhancements such as custom flooring, countertops, utility hook-ups for electrical equipment
and plumbing systems can be additional costs.
And if you want a larger, luxury home ... the price is obviously going to go up.
Like I mentioned, location is a major factor in cost no matter the type of house you want
to build.
For example, a modular home in New York, where the median home value is a staggering $669,500,
will cost much more than a home in West Virginia, where the median home value is just $99,000.
In addition, to keep costs under control, homeowners should buy modular homes from nearby
factories because the further the factory is from your build site, the higher the transportation
costs.
The companies I've been looking at for myself are all located in New England, where I live,
to keep those costs down.
But how long does it take to build a modular home compared to a standard build?
The process always starts with the design.
In the case of predesigned modular homes, this period is much shorter since the design
is already done, so the customer basically picks a design and the contractor deals with
pricing and site prep.
But, for custom modular homes and site-built homes, the design stage takes more time since
some changes may be necessary or the client is asking for customizations.
Permits and zoning can take about three months for both modular and typical construction,
and grading and site work takes about one month.
But after that is where we start to see some time-optimization.
For modular construction, the foundation is finished within two weeks and, at the same
time, the house is being constructed in the facility.
On the other hand, the foundation work for a typical home takes about a month, and you
can't start building construction until that's finished.
The modular home parallel build path isn't the only edge it gets.
Being built indoors means no weather delays.
While the whole process of building a typical home takes almost one year, modular construction
can be finished in 8 months from permits to finishing.
Of course that can change with the design, size, contractor company, and location of
the house.
Or if you're trying to build during a pandemic.
Construction timelines are much, much longer right now across the board.
Regarding cost, a modular home typically costs 10% to 20% less than a stick-built home.
A conventional stick-built, non-luxury home costs about $150 to $250 per square foot while
a modular home can cost from $50 to $250 for some luxury houses.
But, additional features, design modifications, taxes and transportation that vary with the
location can impact the price of a modular home.
The cost breakdown is 50% for construction, 15% for finishing, and 35% for the shell materials.
So where do you start to look if you want to get one?
There's no shortage of interesting companies in the market to take a look at here.
The California-based Shelter Dynamics produces three sizes of modular houses.
It's a little bit like Goldilocks here.
The company has a 1-bedroom, 450 square foot house, ideal for an individual.
Or a 750 square foot, two-bedroom house for a couple or small family.
And a 1,000 square feet, 3-bedroom modular home.
For people who don’t want the responsibility or cost of a big house, or people looking
to downsize, these can be great solutions.
The modular homes produced by Shelter Dynamics are net-zero ready, featuring Energy Star
appliances, on-demand tankless water heaters, LED lighting, a “Mini-Split” heat pump
HVAC system with separately controllable zones, and a standard solar panel array with options
for larger systems and battery backups.
Their price is under $200 per square foot.
Still in the U.S., Phoenix Haus sells five types of prefabricated homes, selling options
featuring from two to four bedrooms, triple-pane windows and doors and a 24-hour continuous
fresh air system.
Some of the models feature heat pumps, solar panels, slab insulations, and other energy
efficiency features ... even Passive House Certification.
In the U.K., nHouse also offers several models of modular homes featuring eco glazing, LED
lighting, air-source heat pumps, high-insulation, sustainable timber, and more to provide low
running costs.
Some innovations are a home management system, house battery, solar panels, car charging,
and even a robot vacuum cleaner.
The nHouseB2 Self Build Home is a 1604 square foot, two bedroom modular house that starts
at £124,000.
In Canada, the Legendary Group ... that's the name of the company, not me calling them
a legendary group ... they produce panelized homes costing between $85 - $125 per square
foot.
The finished cost of a completed home could vary from $250 - $350 per square foot depending
on the finishes.
The company's homes come with a hybrid wall system complete with factory-installed siding,
trim, windows, and doors.
And according to the company they're assembled in 3 days or less after delivery.
That's just a few examples from around the world.
Companies I've been looking at here in New England for myself are BrightBuilt Homes,
which makes modular homes, and Unity Homes, which makes panelized modular homes.
Both offer incredible, energy efficient houses.
I've been really surprised by the prices and flexibility available to build out a net zero,
energy efficient home.
In 2020, the global modular construction market size was $72.11 billion, and based on analysis
made by Fortune Business Insights, the market is expected to grow from $75.89 billion in
2021 to $114.78 billion in 2028.
With a growing trend to achieve net-zero emissions in the coming decades, governments all over
the world have been providing incentives with tax reductions, grants, and rolling out policies
to drive energy efficiency and renewable energy.
At the same time, modular home companies have been stepping up to help reduce energy consumption,
reduce construction waste, and opening up more possibilities for people who can't afford
expensive site-built homes ... and it doesn't hurt that they're move-in ready 30% to 50%
quicker than traditional houses.
I've been looking into building out a net zero modular home for myself, but it's been
slow moving because of the pandemic delays and price hikes.
Is this something you're interested in?
And would you like to see videos on my experiences going through the process?
Jump into the comments and let me know.
Also, if you'd like to hear about follow-ups on each of these videos, I do a podcast with
my brother each week.
Check out the Still To Be Determined Podcast here on YouTube or your podcast platform of
choice, like Spotify, Apple, Google ... it's everywhere.
I'll include a link in the description.
And not completely related, we've also kicked off a super nerdy podcast where we're going
through all of Star Trek in chronological order, talking about what was going on in
the world when the episodes were made, and our general thoughts.
For that check out the show Backtreking ... available in all the same places.
If you liked this video be sure to check out one of the ones I have linked to right here.
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And as always, thanks to all of my patrons and to all of you for watching.
I’ll see you in the next one.