That line from the 1967 Paul Newman movie Cool Hand Luke perfectly describes what’s happening in offsite construction today. We have failed to clearly define the various types of offsite construction techniques and processes. The result is that we’re losing market share because buyers have a misconception about what we offer.
Modular, for example, is a type of construction that creates a 6-sided box with most of the electrical, plumbing, and mechanicals installed. It comes with a finished interior, including painted drywall and trim, as well as doors, windows, cabinetry and flooring. Modular homes are also built to the same IRC Code that site-built homes have to follow.
Today, however, the term modular has been hijacked by the manufactured housing industry for homes built to the Federal HUD (Housing and Urban Development) Code. In addition, manufacturers of components that range from wall panels to windows are also calling their products modular.
HUD-Code manufacturers’ homes clearly don’t fit the definition of modular. They were once called mobile homes and single- or double-wide trailers, but are now labeled as modular because it sounds better. Given many people’s negative opinions about trailers, I can understand why manufacturers do this, but it’s still misleading.
I don’t understand why component manufacturers have begun calling their products modular. I mean, things like wall panels, light-gauge steel frames, windows and other items built off-site and delivered to the jobsite. They are not modular; they are components.
However, the worst failure to communicate an accurate definition of modular comes not from within the construction industry, but from reporters with little experience in housing. These clueless writers routinely tell their readers that components are modular homes. Talk about fake news.
For instance, flat-pack homes have a real future in housing, but they are not modular, even though they’re defined as such by many publications. Some of the biggest publications in the US are guilty of mislabeling components as modular construction when, in fact, they are more like Lego sets with step-by-step instructions attached.
And let us not forget those YouTube influencers and advertisers that promote manufactured housing and RVs (recreational vehicles) as modular housing. They’re doing our industry a real disservice and I wish they would take a few minutes and learn the difference.
The bottom line is that while every housing component and module built in a factory and shipped to the jobsite is considered off-site, not everything off-site is modular.
