On January 12th I wrote “Fragmentation and Regulations Continue to Impede Modular Housing Growth” about two problems facing the modular housing industry today.
This morning I received an “Anonymous” comment written by someone still working with what appears to be a long history in our industry.
Their observations of these two highly charged problems sheds more light on why the modular housing is the best option for future construction but more importantly why that is not materializing.
A “must read” comment:
Coach, Having been around when the states in the Northeast gradually changed over to allow modular to be factory inspected and not invasively field inspected I would like to offer the following for you and your readers. The states fear at the time was that the industry would build and inferior product and that their inspectors had more real knowledge than any inspector or third party doing sections in a modular plant.
Talk to any Third party agency and ask them what they had to go thru to get certified, accepted or licensed by a state and you will see that the process is not easy. Read thru any Q.A.M. and you will see that the documentation is not just few copies placed In a book someplace and ignored. But the process was established to give credibility to the Third Parties and the process being used for inspections. This was the best most states could come up with to prove to their locals that the state as protecting their constituents. Initially it was a rocky start with locals demanding the right to know more than what the states were saying needed to be provided.
Most states helped the industry fight back against the locals with phone calls, letters and copies of the way the legislation was passed. It did help,but it still was not easy.
In my opinion the system took a turn for the worse when the codes consolidated and the code became more and more restrictive and prescriptive. Building officials or the agencies they hired required more and more information to satisfy this higher degree of structural design and compliance. What was simple header built into a wall became a structural element that required at least a page of calculations that had to be sealed by a licensed professional, while all along our stick built cousins go submit and plan with structural elements extracted from the Wood Frame Construction Manual.
Now to your point of fragmentation. Consider that there is such a thing as an “On Frame Modular” available in the southeast and not a product widely recognized in the Northeast and that is the start of the industry going off the rails.
Next consider that in some regions the Modular industry is still confused with the “HUD” industry and it gets even worse. How many articles do you have to read about a manufactured home (HUD) being thrown out of a subdivision, but was labeled as a modular home, before you begin to see why the industry does not get traction.
Another point to consider is that as an industry it is hard for us to work together and agree on a cohesive marketing plan that will benefit the entire industry and just those special few.
What do we do to foster or nurture the future of our industry? Do we actively train or offer training to potential builders of our product? What will the future hold for us is we are not bringing up the next generation of builders to promote our building system and grow the industry?
Look, this industry is not anywhere near what it was many years ago. Our ability to build more complex products to expand our market place has improved immensely. We handle the complexities of the building code requirement that are thrown at us to survive and we make it a standard operation procedure in our factories. I jokingly think to myself that if the coal mining industry thinks that over regulation makes doing business almost impossible they should spend a day in our shoes in our factories.
In closing I am more concerned about the overall future of the single family detached home building industry as we know it.
Does anyone have clue as to what the millennials want for housing? And how will those needs fit into our business plan?
