VAIL \u2014 Can modular homes solve the affordable housing crisis in Vail and other ski towns across the West, and maybe even save the planet as an added benefit? Maybe, but it\u2019s still early days in the prefab revolution, cautioned developers and experts in the modular industry this week at the inaugural U.S. Mountain Community Summit in Vail.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s an evolving industry that is getting better every day,\u201d said Michael O\u2019Connor, principal and chief operating officer of Triumph, the development company that used modular construction at the Town of Vail\u2019s Chamonix local\u2019s housing project in West Vail. \u201cI\u2019m a believer. But it\u2019s got its own unique challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n
Triumph is also currently undertaking a 139-unit modular project in Truckee, Calif., with three different prefab companies providing the units that are predominantly built in a factory setting and then shipped to the development site. The idea is to control variables in on-site traditional construction such as mountain weather, pricey local labor and other factors.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo many people are recognizing the difficulties that California is kind of leading the country in, like limited labor pool, very expensive local subcontractor base, projects too expensive, taking way too long to build,\u201d O\u2019Connor said. \u201cYou can control that risk by doing it in a controlled environment in a factory and get two-thirds of the project built and limit your exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve Glenn, founder and CEO of Plant Prefab in Rialto, Calif., said modular construction can streamline the building process, cut down on waste and basically make buildings so much more efficient and environmentally sustainable.<\/p>\n
Buildings as a category in the United States, Glenn said, consume more energy through lighting, heating and cooling (39 percent) than both industry (29 percent) and transportation (32 percent), adding that 40 percent of all raw materials that are extracted on the planet are used for building materials.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the bad news for those us who believe there is increasingly bad climate change is that the buildings that we live in and play in and learn in and work in are the worst of all,\u201d said Glenn, whose company spun off of\u00a0LivingHomes<\/a>, which has had dozens of its homes LEED certified. \u201cThe good news is the technology to dramatically reduce the energy, water and resource use exists, and it\u2019s increasingly no more expensive than non-sustainable materials.\u201d<\/p>\n Plant Prefab uses certified materials that reduced outgassing, solar energy, far more efficient insulation and more of it than is mandated, LED lights, energy efficient appliances and water systems that recycle for irrigation. Their homes are modular but very contemporary, and actually cost-competitive in the Vail Valley, O\u2019Connor said after Glenn\u2019s presentation.<\/p>\n The problem is that California and other more populous West Coast states are sucking demand their way, and modular companies have recognized they can get $120 a foot out there and maybe only $100 a foot in Colorado, so they\u2019re heading west, O\u2019Connor said. There are some start-up companies coming into Colorado, including one in Grand Junction, but Chamonix units were trucked in from a company in Boise, Idaho, called Nashua, and transport adds costs.<\/p>\n While Chamonix made sense as a modular project, O\u2019Connor said it\u2019s not a slam dunk that future workforce or local\u2019s housing projects in Vail will continue to be cheaper and more efficient with prefab. One of the hurdles is financing, with most banks refusing to close on construction loans until a building permit is pulled, but modular companies want their money up front.<\/p>\n \u201cFinancing it is completely out of synch with what\u2019s typical, and that\u2019s challenging,\u201d O\u2019Connor said. \u201cThe financing community has not completely figured it out, but they\u2019re coming around.\u201d<\/p>\n Glenn said US Bank has started working on modular-specific loan products that could reverse that trend, but he admits his company has yet to do an affordable housing project in a mountain community. Neither has Brian Abramson, co-founder and director of business operations for Seattle-based\u00a0Method Homes<\/a>, which has worked in ski towns on the market-force side.<\/p>\n Abramson strongly believes modular construction, especially technological advances like wet-core construction \u2014 with all the rooms with plumbing prebuilt \u2014 can help solve the acute housing crisis in both urban and mountain communities.<\/p>\n \u201cThe same problems that are happening in mountain towns are amplified in our market because of dramatic cost of living increases, real estate increases, so, especially in the affordable housing space, there\u2019s a lot of skepticism [of modular in Seattle], more so than I heard here, which is actually really validating to hear how much it\u2019s been embraced in the mountain communities,\u201d Abramson said.<\/p>\nFixing the financial lag<\/h2>\n
A solution to a crisis<\/h2>\n