Some would say VBC’s owner, Vaughan Buckley, appeared out of nowhere and began building a modular presence overnight. Let me tell you that is not what happened.
Coming to the US from Australia, building large modular commercial properties in downtown Philly, then buying a modular factory in North Carolina, putting together the Modular Mobilization Coalition, and buying the huge Kattera factory in California was definitely not an overnight endeavor.
Helping achieve his “overnight” success were some of the best people in the modular and offsite construction industry.
Dana Spain is one of the shining stars in VBC’s accomplishment and I knew I just had to reach out and talk with her. Here is my interview with Dana:
Gary Fleisher, the Modcoach: Dana, you are the Director of Community Relations for VBC. Could you explain what that entails?
Dana Spain: I wear a variety of hats at VBC. I started as a client, building my first modular project with Vaughan and VBC in 2016. I loved the process and decided that modular was the ONLY way I would develop moving forward. Vaughan and I partnered on several projects, at which point we were looking to purchase a factory to have quality control over the entire VBC process.
I was charged with securing investors for our Opportunity Zone businesses, including the Hamlet, NC plant. As a newly minted consultant to VBC, my title was Director of investor Relations. That morphed into Community Relations as I began to develop business relationships with non-profits, housing and other government agencies, and developers in the Affordable Housing space. My niche is helping developers build Affordable Housing affordably through modular construction.
Modcoach: What do you see modular construction bringing to affordable housing?
Dana: Modular in the Affordable Housing arena offers developers, agencies and non-profits the opportunity to build safe, respectful, market-rate quality, resilient housing at a lower cost than site-built. Often “Affordable” becomes anything but affordable to build and maintain when a project is subject to the various strings attached with LIHTC and prevailing wage requirements. Modular helps defray some costs and a lot of time. This allows for more housing to be built and occupied in a shorter timeframe; which aids not only vulnerable populations in need of housing but the developers and agencies to build more by stabilizing and refinancing projects faster.
Modcoach: VBC seems to have found the secret sauce when it comes to providing modules for large projects. Are developers finally beginning to discover modular construction?
Dana: That “secret sauce” is the result of a lot of “taste testing!” Our Design and Engineering departments continually look for efficiencies and ways to create best practices. Our Manufacturing teams test innovative products for strength, resilience, usefulness and cost effectiveness. It is a constantly evolving process.
As our projects grow in size, and our clientele tout their success with our process, more and more developers are taking notice. Changing peoples’ minds about modular is a lengthy educational process. We need to dispel the myths of modular construction, and the misconception that modular is somehow lacking the quality of site-built.
When developers realize that modular is cleaner, greener, more energy efficient, has better sound attenuation for community living AND it saves time to stabilization and refi, they are ready to make the switch and not go back!
Related Articles:
- Vaughan Buckley Construction Opens Modular Factory In North Carolina
- VBC Giving Foundation Offers Modular Industry A Way To Help
- VBC’s Acquisition Of Kattera, Inc Is Official
Modcoach: With VBC’s acquisition of the former Katerra factory in CA, will that be the launch pad for VBC’s move into modular construction in the West?
Dana: The short answer is: absolutely! We have had national inquiries for years; and have built multiple projects in Colorado, despite the costly logistics. The California factory allows us the opportunity to serve larger parts of the country, including the West, South West and Hawaii.
Modcoach: I notice you are quite involved with Haven Women. Could you tell us more about the goals of that organization?
Dana: I founded HAVEN Women when the former charity, Philadelphia Veterans Comfort House, was closing its doors. I took over the physical house and renovated it from roof to sewer pipes and everywhere in between. Once finished, we were encouraged by other VSO’s to open it as a female-only perimeter, as homelessness among female Veterans is on the rise, and sheltering options for them are extremely limited. HAVEN offers a robust enrichment program that enables our female heroes to make positive life choices and be prepared to reenter productive civilian life.
In 2020 I realized that we needed to take the further step of providing permanent housing to the ladies coming out of HAVEN, as options for safe, respectable housing, even with subsidies and vouchers in place, were scarce. With Vaughan’s blessing and encouragement, I founded the VBC Giving Foundation (www.VBCGivingFoundation.org). Our mission is to provide housing for our most vulnerable populations. Think of us as the modular version of Habitat for Humanity, but instead of one house at a time, we build communities. Our first project, the Veterans Village-Bernard Spain Campus, is a legacy to my late father, a US Army Veteran. The Village is VBC designed, manufactured and GC’ed, and will feature 47 market-rate style units but at Affordable rents. VBCGF aims to build a new Village every year, across the country, to do our part to combat the housing crisis facing underserved and under-resourced populations.
Modcoach: Dana, I want to thank you for allowing everyone to take a peek behind the curtain of VBC and also for your tireless work for Haven Women. I hope to see you at IBS in February.
Gary Fleisher is Editor in Chief of Modular Home Source. Email at [email protected]
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