PA is the home to more than a dozen custom modular home factories serving almost all the states east of the Mississippi River and last week Governor Tom Wolf toured the Champion modular home plant in Liverpool,PA. He probably felt right at home, as he once owned Wolf Organization, a distributor of lumber, building materials and kitchen and bath cabinetry.
 |
| (L) Dave Reed, VP Champion Modular with Governor Tom Wolf |
Wolf was at the manufacturing facility, formerly Excel Homes, in recognition of its reopening by Champion Homes, which received funding from the Department of Community and Economic Development.
It’s wonderful to see the incredible work being done at these facilities, and I’m proud that the commonwealth has partnered with businesses that are committed to investing in their employees and their local communities,” Wolf said.
Excel Homes, Liverpool filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy and ceased operations in May 2016. The Liverpool plant reopened 18 months ago and now is under the Champion Modular umbrella. Dave Reed, vice president of Champion Modular, originally is from the Susquehanna Valley and heading up the new plant location, he said, “felt like coming home.”
Reed added, “We brought back 90 percent of the employees from this region. It was really a blessing to bring them back to work, and they have done a wonderful job. We are here for that reason. It’s the people that we have invested in most of all.”
Champion owns 36 plants across the United States; five are in Pennsylvania.
“Two of those are called Champion Modular, which is a division focused specifically on modular construction that is more of a higher-end, single family residential home product,” Reed explained.
About 250 homes of that type are built annually out of the Liverpool facility, which serves the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic markets, including New York City, Boston and Washington, D.C., where he said cost of labor for construction is very high.
Related Article: PA Factories Rule US Production of Custom Modular Homes
PA is the home to more than a dozen custom modular home factories serving almost all the states east of the Mississippi River and last week Governor Tom Wolf toured the Champion modular home plant in Liverpool,PA. He probably felt right at home, as he once owned Wolf Organization, a distributor of lumber, building materials and kitchen and bath cabinetry.
Wolf was at the manufacturing facility, formerly Excel Homes, in recognition of its reopening by Champion Homes, which received funding from the Department of Community and Economic Development. Excel Homes, Liverpool filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy and ceased operations in May 2016. The Liverpool plant reopened 18 months ago and now is under the Champion Modular umbrella. Dave Reed, vice president of Champion Modular, originally is from the Susquehanna Valley and heading up the new plant location, he said, “felt like coming home.”
Reed added, “We brought back 90 percent of the employees from this region. It was really a blessing to bring them back to work, and they have done a wonderful job. We are here for that reason. It’s the people that we have invested in most of all.”
Champion owns 36 plants across the United States; five are in Pennsylvania.
It’s wonderful to see the incredible work being done at these facilities, and I’m proud that the commonwealth has partnered with businesses that are committed to investing in their employees and their local communities,” Wolf said.
“Two of those are called Champion Modular, which is a division focused specifically on modular construction that is more of a higher-end, single family residential home product,” Reed explained.
About 250 homes of that type are built annually out of the Liverpool facility, which serves the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic markets, including New York City, Boston and Washington, D.C., where he said cost of labor for construction is very high.
“We can come in and build it here in Pennsylvania with a great labor force and provide a very affordable opportunity for them.”
Excel is the top-end brand of the modulars that is produced out of the Liverpool plant.
“We have a challenge in our market right now, whereas the average buyer’s income level, that median buyer income, cannot reach most of the homes … so they are looking for a solution for affordable housing, which is exactly what our industry provides. So I think we are in a very good position to help support that, and we see a tremendous opportunity for growth in our company.”
Gearing up for the increased need, Reed is looking into automation for some of the jobs in the plant. The average wait time for a modular home involves a six-week backlog, but right now all plants are in a 12-week backlog.
Since Champion took over the plant it has brought back 215 former Excel Homes employees.
“We see continuing growth here in Liverpool,” Reed stated. “We think this is a great region to build our product because the labor force is fantastic, and we have a great material distribution. So there are a lot of vendors that supply material locally that service our industry.”
