There is a new pattern emerging in why new modular factories are being built where they are. Unlike modular factories of old that built homes for builders within a large geographic area, hired sales reps to find builders and mostly built custom single-family homes, today’s new factories are taking a different approach.
Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, new factories are approaching building by going after niche markets and developers within a much smaller radius of the factories.
A good example is Kinexx Modular Construction, a young company making its mark in the Chicago market with townhouses manufactured for tight city lots.
Kinexx’s affordable duplexes are being used at the Harrison Row Townhomes, which cuts costs and enables the developer to complete a home in just 90 days.
The three-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bathroom townhouses and duplexes built by Kinexx will be around 1,600 square feet and go for $245,000, which is well below the market rate for an area where housing prices have risen faster than nearly any other neighborhood.
“Ours was designed to be an urban infill product,” said Joshua Braun, CEO of Kinexx.
Kinexx has built single-family homes in Back of the Yards and in South Shore, and has partnered with West Side organizations on an eagerly awaited plan for 250 single-family homes in North Lawndale in the next three to five years. Its project in East Garfield Park is the first time it has tried townhomes.
Kinexx isn’t the first modular home factory to build for a limited clientele within a limited geographic area and it won’t be the last but if other potential factory startups are still trying to figure out how to enter the housing business, they should look at what Kinexx is doing for Chicago developers.
Building for select developers in a small regional area in a factory that isn’t burdened with millions of dollars of automated and robotic equipment debt just might be the magic key affordable and attainable housing developers are looking for.
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Gary Fleisher is the Editor in Chief of Modular Home Source and Offsite Builder. Email at [email protected]
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