In response to the article about the increasing challenge of housing to meet the new energy codes, Ken Semler, President of Express Modular and a board member on both the MHBA and the BSC of the NAHB, sent over a comment that I feel is too good not to share with everyone.
He is issuing a challenge to the modular housing industry and I think it might just be one that you should really consider taking seriously.
Here is Ken’s challenge:
This is one area that I feel the modular construction industry can really stand out. In California, current requirements for a code compliant house means it will be Net-Zero by 2020. While our knee jerk reaction to hearing about more regulations is to push back I believe we should really think about this as an opportunity.
What building system is better suited than any other to take advantage of this? As an industry, if we collectively attack this, we will be the only way to effectively meet building code and provide a Net-Zero home in a systematic and automated way in the residential building industry. Steve Lefler has already done it. Harris Woodward is doing great things with High Performance modular construction in Maryland. We are already on the path!
Now think through the implications. As a modular home builder you are providing homes that have no energy bill. What could that save a home owner in a current “used” home? $150 – 800/mo? When you build a new home using modular construction now you don’t have that bill any longer! You can either take that savings and put it into a nicer home with amenities you really want or pocket the savings. If you are an appraiser, how much more is a home worth that has no electric/energy bill? $20,000 more, $50,000 more, even $100,000 more. Think about how Net-Zero modular homes could revolutionize the building industry and put it head and shoulders above site built construction. There would be NO competition!
I would submit that there is no other more effective way to meet this upcoming California code than with modular construction. Instead of fighting it and buying time for competing construction methods to catch up, as an industry let’s embrace it and be there in 2020. In 1961 it was impossible for a man to walk on the moon. Kennedy set the goal of doing it by the end of the decade and with much effort, in 1969 it happened. I am challenging the industry to standardize on Net-Zero modular home construction by 2020!
