Built Modular by BOXX Modular

An August 2019 report from the commercial construction index showed the modular construction industry doubling its growth over the past five years.

Now an $8-billion industry, modular construction is experiencing even more growth with the onset of the pandemic, with the need for health centers to build quick and efficient solutions for emergency treatment facilities and other solutions growing.

What considerations drive the costs associated with these projects, and how do businesses strategize around these costs? Paul Lubertine, Director of Construction & Contract Services for Vanguard Modular Building Systems, provided his insights.

Many of the project inquiries Lubertine said Vanguard’s recently received have been COVID-19-related, including educational systems trying to plan out various overflow and social-distancing scenarios.

“We are getting orders, putting in units, and doing projects now for schools, but it’s early in the process,” Lubertine said.

While education, commercial and industrial office space, and healthcare are industries doing a lot of business with modular construction these days, the cost factors vary.

“Building use, equipment and utilities required to run the equipment within those buildings determine the cost differences of a project,” Lubertine said.

“The cost drivers that affect a project primarily are building size, its application—whether it’s a typical office, or a classroom, or a laboratory, or a medical facility. Building specifications will impact the cost. But these costs can be controlled through offsite design and manufacturing.”

Looking at all of the cost variables, Lubertine pinpointed a building site’s location and condition as the one that loomed the largest over a project.

“Each site is different and has its own set of challenges,” Lubertine said.

Topography, building placement (is it freestanding or connected to another building), and access to utilities all possess varying cost implications.

The saying, “one size does not fit all” certainly applies to today’s school classroom needs, where many factors go into consideration in designing the building. Flexibility, affordability, and ease of construction make modular buildings a perfect fit for schools looking to expand capabilities or just trying to get the ideal classroom size that meets their budget requirements.

Jody Werner, Sr. VP of Sales for Vanguard Modular Building Systems, LLC, provided insights into the factors that determine school classroom building sizes.

“One of the trends we see now, due to space, is people starting to go vertical with the classrooms,” Werner said. “They’re adding a story.”

But what determines the classroom size? Werner said it depends on many different factors. The type of school (private, charter, public, higher-ed) plays a role in class size needs, as do varying state regulations and requirements.

“At a Montessori school, for example, you have to have 40 square feet of space per child versus 20 square feet per child for a public school,” Werner said.

How much available space does a school has to use on the property is another factor in building decisions.

If a school requires a small classroom, Werner said it could be built and installed much faster than a larger class. But if larger is needed to get the job done, Vanguard’s modular solutions still provide a quiet and controlled environment.

While schools can opt for a standard modular classroom build, customization is available.

“Normally, a building comes with an eight-foot ceiling. A lot of times, you’ll have a customer that wants a nine-foot ceiling,” Werner said. “Some rooms require lab space, and you need fume hoods and exhaust systems in there. But, really, it’s about the material used in the building.”

The Vanguard sales team works with customers to guide them through the process of getting the exact classroom to meet their needs.

Peter Eberle, President & CEO, Vanguard Modular Building Systems, kicked off the first Built Modular episode with his take on the flexible and affordable solutions modular construction brings to temporary and permanent building projects.

The nature of prefabricated, modular construction allows for factory assembly without dealing with nature’s elements. This process allows development to happen quicker and less expensively, an attractive option for many building projects’ needs.

Among many efficiencies Eberle said modular construction could bring to a project, from less material waste to quicker construction time in a controlled environment, is safety.

“When you’re building in the factory, it’s single-story, so you’re not putting a tremendous number of workers three, four or five stories in the air or higher,” he said. “Everything is plug-and-play, and the quick assembly allows for fewer workers on site.”

There is also a strong green component to modular construction, because the buildings have the flexibility to move into different locations.

“If you take a building and move that building from point A to point B, I don’t think you can get much greener or efficient,” Eberle said.

Everything created in the factory utilizes materials purchased in bulk for use on multiple projects, further reducing waste.

While modular construction is often permanent, temporary modular construction is on the rise, and Eberle offered some examples of situations where the flexibility of this type of build makes sense. School districts may need temporary buildings to handle the additional student population, and these modular buildings are movable, so a school system could relocate it for use in another area if the need should arise.

Some businesses may need to utilize a “swing space” for a temporary situation while they finalize a new building.

“We build these temporary modular buildings to adhere to several state codes to be repurposed and relocated with ease,” Eberle said.