Why do modular home builders seem to fail if the build is so streamlined?

[Mr Gus]

https://www.constructionenquirer.com/20 ... factories/

Essex-based housing association Swan is shutting down its in-house loss-making modular housing factories.

[Oldgreybeard]

Absolutely no idea. Our house was a modular build. I designed it, sent the drawings to the factory, they produced the modules, shipped them to site and erected the house in a week. Cost of the build itself was about 10% more than a conventional build to that stage, but overall came out at being about 20% cheaper, due to the saving in time (much reduced labour on-site).

The other major benefit was quality control. Factory built panels are easier to make accurately and consistently, so airtightness and insulation effectiveness is generally a lot better.

There is a massive amount of reluctance to work on houses built like this, though. We had several firms walk away from doing basic stuff like plumbing and wiring, as they knew nothing about the construction method and didn't want to work on something outside their comfort zone.

[Mr Gus]

Exactly, it should have leapt ahead by now but apparently isnt, fault checking a production line is easier than constantly roaming a muddy housing estate.
Build inside, less weather vagueries, better environment for workers, facilities, waste recycling, disposal, re-use...

So what / who holds it back?
My sparkie mate trained (EEB as was) on a big build (wybo lakes, where the tesla chargers are just north of the black cat roundabout) back in the 80's but things still seem "foriegn & unworkable" to many tradesfolk) ..his biggest grumble was the so called "storage" of the modules for the hotel, soaking wet & black mould upon receipt..

[ducabi]

Absolutely no idea. Our house was a modular build. I designed it, sent the drawings to the factory, they produced the modules, shipped them to site and erected the house in a week. Cost of the build itself was about 10% more than a conventional build to that stage, but overall came out at being about 20% cheaper, due to the saving in time (much reduced labour on-site).

The other major benefit was quality control. Factory built panels are easier to make accurately and consistently, so airtightness and insulation effectiveness is generally a lot better.

There is a massive amount of reluctance to work on houses built like this, though. We had several firms walk away from doing basic stuff like plumbing and wiring, as they knew nothing about the construction method and didn't want to work on something outside their comfort zone.

Have you put somewhere a more detailed description of the process you went through to build the house? My current house is more a playground at the moment and the long term plan is to build something of much better U value (hopefully a passive house). On the other hand when I read horror stories of people not being able to hang radiator straight, i feel like I won't build the house until I have enough time to do it myself. But i have some hopes in companies building modular houses.

[Oldgreybeard]

Absolutely no idea. Our house was a modular build. I designed it, sent the drawings to the factory, they produced the modules, shipped them to site and erected the house in a week. Cost of the build itself was about 10% more than a conventional build to that stage, but overall came out at being about 20% cheaper, due to the saving in time (much reduced labour on-site).

The other major benefit was quality control. Factory built panels are easier to make accurately and consistently, so airtightness and insulation effectiveness is generally a lot better.

There is a massive amount of reluctance to work on houses built like this, though. We had several firms walk away from doing basic stuff like plumbing and wiring, as they knew nothing about the construction method and didn't want to work on something outside their comfort zone.

Have you put somewhere a more detailed description of the process you went through to build the house? My current house is more a playground at the moment and the long term plan is to build something of much better U value (hopefully a passive house). On the other hand when I read horror stories of people not being able to hang radiator straight, i feel like I won't build the house until I have enough time to do it myself. But i have some hopes in companies building modular houses.

I did have a blog about it, but the website I used became defunct about 7 years ago now, and I stupidly didn't make a backup, so have lost all I put together, I'm afraid.

One conclusion I reached early on was that I'd have to do a great deal of work myself, as there are just so few competent tradespeople about. Bloody hard work, though, and not just physically. I was 58 when I started the plot hunting phase, 60 when I started the build and 64 when I finished it. Damned near killed me in the process, too. Not so much the physical work, but the toll it took on my mental health, working on my own all the time, with no one to talk with or bounce ideas off. Thankfully my wife (who was still working full time) spotted what was going on and dragged me off for treatment. Not sure what might have happened if she hadn't done that, to be honest.

[marshman]

I did have a blog about it, but the website I used became defunct about 7 years ago now, and I stupidly didn't make a backup, so have lost all I put together, I'm afraid.

have you looked on the "waybackmachine" to see if an old copy exists there?

https://archive.org/web/

[Oldgreybeard]

I did have a blog about it, but the website I used became defunct about 7 years ago now, and I stupidly didn't make a backup, so have lost all I put together, I'm afraid.

have you looked on the "waybackmachine" to see if an old copy exists there?

https://archive.org/web/

Thanks, yes I did check there, and some posts from the old forum are there but sadly it didn't archive the private members section, where people posted their blogs. Might be because a log in was needed to se that section, i think.

[Swwils]

It's safe to say it's "easier" now. You can have 24/7 access to YouTube or other interested people online. Lots more resources and access to CAD etc.

There are also several long form bloggers on YouTube which really help capture the details involved in the work if you can afford the time. I just watch them on 2x speed.

As for modular builders, isn't it an age old problem of shipping large bits to places? There must be some reason we historically gravitated to assembly of small bits into large things on site. Romans complained of bad architects who shipped pit clay and marble hundreds of miles rather than using local materials - we still do the same thing with cedar cladding instead of superb English larch.

[Oldgreybeard]

As for modular builders, isn't it an age old problem of shipping large bits to places? There must be some reason we historically gravitated to assembly of small bits into large things on site. Romans complained of bad architects who shipped pit clay and marble hundreds of miles rather than using local materials - we still do the same thing with cedar cladding instead of superb English larch.

Our entire house and garage travelled around 400 miles on a single articulated truck. It was unloaded in less than a day and erected with a locally hired 100ft jib crane over the course of a week.

By contrast, the ground works (just levelling the ground, putting in service trenches, etc,) involved over 50 18 tonne trucks to remove spoil, around 12 trucks of concrete, plus flatbeds carrying a couple fo diggers, a dumper, on site water tanker, toilets, scaffold, etc.

The house used far, far less transport and resources than the site prep work.

[Mr Gus]

So, I've just read in the Guardian that Zelensky is waiting for buses, money & MODULAR HOUSING (temporary) ...so who is supplying this, at what cost, & why have we not utilised cheap skills training based labour & professional trade mix ourselves?

Open prison inmates.. new skills
Transitioning homeless..
Refugees & asylum seekers, ...to enhance cv, in lieu of food & board,
Young people interested in various building, plumbing, electrical, planning, catering etc?

A few newly redundant airports going spare up & down the country...
As I get tired of saying combine foriegn aid with providing decent modular cube housing & infrastructure that assists recovery in many senses of the word, get belter value for money with less spaffed away overseas, at home with seconday rental uisness potential for sporting events, Silverstone etc.

A real chance to make low carbon, low energy temporary housing cheaply if done properly.

I recently saw a "deal" a council had arranged renting badly insulated site offices as a homeless option, ..remembering how utterly s*1t they were as classrooms (less so as kitchens due to cooking heat) my mind boggled as to energy costs.

Opportunity by government wasted for sites like Doncaster & various RAF / USAF uk bases that have wound down, molesworth, alconbury, wyton, etc.