OMG!
In an article in the Financial Times, Blu Homes co-founder Bill Haney made one of the wildest, most unbelievable statements that any modular, or prefab as they like to call their homes, has ever made.
Bill stated that last year they had $40,000,000 in bookings last year and are on track to do $80,000,000 this year. Even Mastro Geppetto couldn’t have imagined Pinocchio spinning this kind of tall tale.
Update 11/8/13: I just heard from Maura McCarthy, co-founder of Blu Homes. She clarifies what Bill Haney said in the FT article:
To address your specific concern around our bookings.
Bill’s quote is correct – we did about $40M of bookings last year. That
is effectively orders for modules, our general contracting services (most of
our clients opt into this as well), design services and full delivery and
installation. We are more like a full service “one stop shop” for end buyers,
and it sounds like this difference is where the misunderstanding lies.
I’m not sure that there is a single modular residential factory in the entire United States that will do $80M this year and here is a factory that sells homes with a starting price of almost double what any other modular factory homes does making this claim. And Blu Homes is only 4 years old.
Bill Haney makes it sound like his vision of modular housing is new and just about the only real prefab out there when in reality Cardinal Homes was building a folding home decades ago. He also fails to mention an entire modular industry that has been in place and producing hundreds of thousands of homes over the course of 60 years.
If you thought Maura McCarthy, the other co-founder of Blu Homes, stretched things a bit, somebody should check Bill’s nose.
The last line of Blu Homes’ article is absolutely the most absurd thing I’ve ever read a reputable news organization write about modular housing:
“Prefab has experienced false dawns before. Hopes are high that this time will be the real deal.”
CLICK HERE to read the Financial Times article of November 1, 2013 and decide for yourself if he is the new reigning king of modular or just another wooden puppet come to life.
