It all starts with the lot. Dark living spaces in a home suck. You can’t move the sun, so you’d better design your home with the lot’s orientation to the sun in mind, or your home will have sucky spaces. Read more on “Your home shouldn’t suck!” »

As I rolled up to the scene of the day’s modular home set, there was a slight chill in the air; a typical spring morning in Northern Virginia.  The weather forecasters had called for showers throughout the day, but the set crew was determined to work through it.  Already without any rain, the crane operator had his hands full with picking up 40,000 pound boxes over high-voltage power lines on a narrow lot in Arlington; the rain would have added a nuisance element for the riggers and the set crew.  As the first truck pulled the first module into position, the the cloud cover thinned out enough to allow the sun to poke through…maybe it wasn’t going to be such a nasty day after all! Read more on “Modular Set Day” »

I find myself constantly having to explain to prospective customers why modular homes are superior to site-built (or “stick-built”) homes, so I’ve compiled a “Top 10” reasons, Letterman style, for you:

10.  It’s the state-of-the-art in homebuilding

For centuries (literally), human beings have built their shelters the old-fashioned way, one board (stud) at a time.  In the past two decades, the modular industry has taken giant leaps forward in both focus and capability to the point where virtually every modular plant is able to produce modules for Custom homes.  Read more on “The top 10 Reasons Why Modular Homes Are Better Than Site-Built Homes” »

Some people think it’s a weakness to admit that they’re not perfect, but while the pursuit of homebuilding perfection is a passion (obsession?) of mine, I feel it takes a bigger person to admit they don’t get everything right all the time. There are a myriad of moving parts in homebuilding; sooner or later, all builders have to come to grips with this reality. Good builders put systems in place to keep things from going wrong. Better builders put new systems in place so the same things won’t go wrong again. The Best builders do both, but above all they don’t shy away from responsibility, and always turn miscues into opportunities to prove their worth to their customers. Read more on “Sometimes Things Go Wrong” »

You hear it a lot: “They just don’t build ‘em like they used to.” When it comes to homebuilding, it couldn’t be truer. Years ago, homes were built by teams of skilled workers who often went to vocational schools, took pride in their work, and had the know-how to truly be called “Masters of their trades.” Read more on “They just don’t build ‘em like they used to!” »

For years now, many modular builders have had to deal with the stigma the term “modular” has had in the past, mostly due to public knowledge lagging behind the new advancements in that industry.  Many have attempted to avoid the label, choosing “Systems Built” instead, or simply only focusing on the advantages modular construction brings without clearly advertising “MODULAR HOMES BUILT HERE.”  Thankfully, public opinion is finally catching up to modern reality, so modular homebuilders can now proudly announce themselves for who they are.
Read more on “Modular Homes Built Here” »

For as long as I can remember, there has been a traditional rule in construction, a secret passed from old builders to their young proteges.  The rule states that a builder can offer customers two out of three of the following, but not more:  speed, quality, and price.

• You can have good quality delivered in a short time, but it will cost you a lot more
• You can have quick delivery and a good price, but your quality will suffer
• You can have good quality for a good price, but it will take a long time to deliver

This rule, also referred to as the “Impossible Triangle,” has been passed on between builders, traded as an inside joke or a knowing look when a customer asks for all three at once, and up until recently, has been the honest truth for homebuilders and their customers.  Modular has changed all that.  Modular, because of the efficiency of building in a plant and concurrent to the permitting process, allows builders to deliver on speed while keeping quality high and price equal (or even sometimes slightly less).  If I had to give an insider’s perspective on modular to the consumer, it would be that if you are going to build modular, you should expect to pay equally (or only slightly less) for a custom modular home as for a comparable custom stick-built home (“comparable” is a difficult thing to gauge, because stick-built home quotes typically start off as 2×4 construction, aren’t necessarily ENERGY STAR, can use cheaper construction techniques, etc.).  To get a quality product, you have to pay a fair price; that rule is the same as it always has been.  What has changed is that the modular builder is now able to build you a quality product in much less time than the stick builder, because the application of time to the construction timeline has changed, so the traditional rule has been broken in a way that favors you.  That is where savings come in:  because the carry cost of land under construction is expensive, as is living somewhere else while you’re waiting for your home to be completed,the abbreviated timeline translates to less associated costs.  Because now more than ever time savings translates to cost savings, the modular process ultimately is the cheaper way to go when you consider time as a commodity.  So while the age-old rule of speed, quality and price is still true for traditional builders, the modular world has created a world where you can have it all.

Firing a contractor in the middle of a project is like getting a divorce:  it’s ugly, and it’s expensive.  Dishonest contractors know something you might not:  once work commences, your project is no longer desirable for any other contractor.  If you’ve been talking to contractors, just ask them how they would feel about taking over a contract that was stopped in the middle of work from which the previous contractor was fired.  You might be surprised to hear—EVEN IN THIS ECONOMY—what the answers are.  Add to it that most likely if you fire a contractor that you will not feel like paying them as much as they feel is owed to them at that point, so they will likely slap you with a mechanic’s lien and law suit, and you’ll want whoever takes over the project to help your counter-suit by acting as an expert witness for you.  You’re now asking for them to volunteer to be embroiled in a law suit.  Thanks, can I get a side of kick-in-the-teeth with that?  Read more on “Don’t divorce your contractor!” »

There is a saying, (well, it’s more than a “saying” but anyway…) that every Plebe learns at the U.S. Naval Academy, and it goes, “Time, Tide, and Formation wait for no one….”  It’s something that I learned when I was a Plebe, and it has stuck with me throughout my professional life.  Time and tide (or weather) wait for no one; that is self-evident.  Similarly, clients, if they are to be loyal clients, will not wait for slow contractors.  When forced to wait, loyal clients become angry clients.  Here is some general advice on how to approach the important question of time with a contractor. Read more on “Time, Tide, and Loyal Clients” »

Most contractors can have a reasonable idea of what a typical customer expects, so why do they spec it lower and give you an unreasonably low price?  Two words:  Change Order.  Change orders, while a perfectly legitimate instrument of contract modification, are the dishonest contractors’ tool to bring his profitability up and turn a loss for him into a gain.  I think back to a contractor some friends of mine had used to put an addition onto their home, and how they were shocked when, after the rough-in phase (so, bear studs, wiring, heating ducts, and plumbing, no insulation or drywall), the contractor said, “I’m done.”  Steve (name changed) was beside himself because the work was not done to his expectations, but sure enough, there wasn’t a clearly defined set of specs stipulating where the project ended.  The contractor knew that, so he played him.  You can imagine what Steve’s bargaining power was with that contractor when they sat down to discuss that change order and heard the pricey new cost involved… pretty dirty trick.  Why the change order tactic works for the dishonest contractor is because there is a legitimate additional cost associated with changing things mid-stream compared to doing it differently from the start.  Changes require re-work, ordering new material, slowing down other phases, bringing in different workers, or having to re-do any of the previous work, which translates into legitimate higher costs to the contractor, so you can’t simply use the change order practice or relative steepness in price as a means of spotting a dishonest contractor.  The fact is, change orders are expensive, so avoid them by planning and choosing well before work begins.  And have the discipline not to change things once work is underway.  If you have done enough planning and specified the job right, any changes you make mid-stream should not result in a significant enough gain for your project.  Be confident!  Guard against buyer’s remorse and stick to your original plan.