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Posted by usm-admin on Sep 26, 2016 in Blog |

What’s in a Name – Modular, Manufactured, Prefab, Offsite?

If you are like many home buyers today, you might be a little confused over the terms used to describe a “non-tradionally built” home. So let’s start right there with the term “traditional” home. When you see a home described in this way, it simply means that the home was built the “traditional” way that homes have historically been built. A home buyer works with a general contractor to design their new home, the contractor gets the permits, hires subcontractors, orders the materials, the materials are shipped to the home site where the construction BEGINS. (We’ve simplified it a bit here for this article, but those are the basic steps). This method is also referred to as “site-built,” stick-built,” or “conventional”. This is the way a majority of homes are built in the United States, but it is NOT the most efficient of effective way to build a home! Unlike site-built homes, there are a full array of processes where the construction begins somewhere other than the home site....

Posted by usm-admin on Jun 16, 2016 in Blog, Featured |

Los Angeles Prefab Construction Industry Definitions

How many times a week do you hear the words ‘modular’, ‘mobile home’, ‘prefab’ and ‘manufactured’ used to describe what the modular construction industry builds? I see it just about every day and if you are a modular home builder you also hear it a lot. So what are the differences? Mobile Home, Double Wide, HUD and Manufactured homes are usually defined as a home regulated by federal law (Code of Federal Regulations, 24 CFR 3280): “Manufactured homes are built as dwelling units of at least 320 square feet (30 m2) in size with a permanent chassis to assure the initial and continued transportability of the home.”, the requirement to have a wheeled chassis permanently attached. They are built to the HUD, not IRC, building specifications and are the second largest type of homes built after site built homes. Prefabricated, Prefab, SIP and Panelized homes refers to any part of a building that has been assembled offsite in a factory or manufacturing facility and transported in complete or sub-assemblies...

Posted by usm-admin on May 24, 2016 in Blog |

Green Building Trends: An Architect’s Perspective on Prefab Construction

By Kathy Werder In October 2000 a massive flood in Uckfield, England, put parts of the town under 6 feet of water severely damaging a McDonald’s restaurant. Just two weeks later, that same McDonald’s was up and running again. How? With speed, quality and efficiency, modular construction has become the ideal solution for both temporary and permanent space required in sectors such as healthcare, higher education and low-rise offices. Today McDonald’s is at the forefront of prefab or modular construction technology in the United Kingdom and has set up several franchises using the sustainable prefab construction model. Each structure took just four weeks to build, and a reduced impact on the environment and the improvement of whole-life performance are among the many benefits. Advancement of technology in the 21st century has given rise to this faster, more cost-efficient method of building construction. It is so named because each individual unit (module) of the building is prefabricated in a factory while the foundation is prepared at the actual construction site. After the modules...

Posted by usm-admin on May 18, 2016 in Blog |

Prefab Construction: Keeping Waste Out of Landfills

When we think about the overflow of our nation’s landfills, we probably picture limiting our food waste; recycling plastics, glass and paper; and keeping out potentially harmful hazardous waste. What we probably don’t consider is one of the largest sources of waste generation, construction and demolition (C&D) waste. It is estimated that anywhere from 25 to 40 percent of the national solid waste stream is building-related waste, with only 20 percent of C&D waste being recycled. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated, in 2003, that 164 million tons of building-related waste was generated in the United States annually. Those are pretty staggering numbers. But, how can we scale these down to understand the amount of construction and demolition waste generated in a typical building project? A standard new building project produces an average of 3.9 pounds of waste per square foot. To put this in perspective, a mid-sized 50,000 sq. ft. office building will produce 195,000 pounds of waste. That’s almost 100 tons! If that project first includes building...