Many countries worldwide have severe housing shortages driven by various factors. Supply chain challenges make sourcing supplies and labor more difficult and time-consuming than before, but residential scarcity demands swift action. Could prefabricated and modular homes help?  

Increasing Efficiency While Tackling Labor Needs 

Modular and prefabricated homes differ slightly depending on how much of the residence gets built and assembled elsewhere. Manufacturers create prefab structures off-site, individually transporting the pieces to their destination to be put together. Some arrive already constructed.   

Housing manufacturers can capitalize on highly efficient assembly line methods to boost output. While labor market challenges still affect prefabricated and modular home companies, executives can mitigate them by limiting annual production to match the current workforce’s capabilities.  

One option is to open new factories once the market demands it. For instance, a new factory opening by a New Zealand prefabricated home company will create 100 new jobs and emphasize giving young people the skills needed for construction careers or similar business ventures.  

Many construction companies have also appealed to women, knowing that success would address industry shortages. In 2021, women represented only 10.9% of the construction sector in the United States. As such, the industry must concentrate on providing a safe, welcoming and supportive environment.  

In such cases, the barrier to entry could be lower than for other construction jobs. Some companies have apprenticeship programs to help people learn while in their roles, imparting fundamental skills over specific time frames, such as 18 to 24 months. Those who wish to develop their knowledge further or pursue management roles can do so to climb their career ladders. 

Training people to follow specific processes while in apprenticeship programs also elevates a company’s efficiency by emphasizing consistency and adherence to best practices. Once people learn the basics of their role, they enter productive workflows and gradually increase daily outputs.  

Improving Quality Control  

Companies specializing in prefabricated or modular homes have stringent processes to maintain customer satisfaction and high-quality results. They also have supply chain partners who provide each residence with various materials and essential goods. 

Traditional home-building methods are significantly more fragmented. Contractors and subcontractors handle their respective needs before moving on to their next jobs. Each party also typically works with individual supply chain partners, sometimes with limited client involvement. When plumbers and electricians purchase supplies from separate places, it is not always easy to trace items back to the source to fix faulty fixtures two months after installation.  

However, most modular and prefab home companies provide warranties. They also have customer service representatives ready to assist after residents occupy a home, connecting with the respective suppliers if buyers report problems. Plus, executives can track trends, proactively assessing instances of possible widespread defects to get to the root cause.  

Supply chain performance also translates to revenue growth since 79% of manufacturers excelling in that area profit more than competitors. That makes sense concerning manufactured homes because current or potential customers will feel more confident about choosing companies that can reliably acquire the necessary supplies.  

Supplier networks — which are relied upon by many modular and prefabricated home companies — can also lower customer costs. Dealing with product or supply shortages in conventional construction could mean paying more for specific items or taking quality-related risks by dealing with little-known or newer brands.  

Shortening Time Frames 

Many building information modeling (BIM) files exist for everything from staircases to specialty windows, giving people ample design and construction flexibility. A common misconception about modular and prefab homes is that they all look identical. However, the companies specializing in them often provide numerous colors, materials, layouts and other customizations. Even so, these residence types are usually ready for occupancy much faster than conventional construction methods allow. 

The accelerated timeframes are ideal for areas grappling with housing scarcities. One modularly constructed apartment building in Canada had its first tenants only 19 months after the pre-permit phase. People elsewhere hope modular companies producing single-family homes could adapt their construction methods to make complexes instead — an efficient and effective approach to targeting locations most impacted by current shortages.  

Ireland and other European countries face a migration crisis driven by refugees arriving from war-prone nations. Irish leaders recently revealed plans to build 167 modular homes for 686 Ukrainian arrivals. This is not an immediate solution, but substantially faster than other possibilities.  

Working with modular home providers also removes the variables associated with traditional construction. Since production occurs in a closed setting, lousy weather or vandals will not hinder progress, as could happen with non-modular buildings constructed in the open.  

One company offering modular homes in Spain sells small-scale options that take 30 days to build and one day to assemble. It focuses on sustainable, energy-efficient options that people could use as guest residences or their primary homes.  

Viable Solutions for Urgent Needs 

Supply chain issues can create housing shortages worldwide. Prefab and modular homes cannot address all of them, but the examples here and elsewhere highlight numerous advantages over traditional construction methods. As these solutions become more popular and accessible, city planners, consumers and others should increasingly consider them appealing alternatives. 

Author : Emily Newton

Cover image by Vadim Sherbakov on Unsplash