Ep.56: The Ins and Outs of Off-Site Construction with David Cooper

Remodelers and custom-home builders are used to being on a job site, building from the outside in, whatever the weather. Modular or prefab homes are built in a controlled factory environment, from the inside out, and have made strides in quality, architectural complexity, and production processes.

In this episode, David Cooper talks to Tim and Steve about modular homes, their history, what the future holds, and some of the misconceptions about prefab homes.

David is the managing director of Connecticut Valley Homes of East Lyme, CT, with design studios in Fairfield and Westerly, CT. David is an award-winning modular home expert. CVH has been in business for 40 years, building more than 1,600 custom homes, and specializes in teardowns, rebuilds, and coastal construction.

Modular home building is a growing industry, spurred by technology — especially AutoCAD — which allows modular builders to create custom homes. Modular builders can construct essentially the same homes as on-site and stick-built homes. They build to the same codes using the same materials, but the process is different. David says his company can have a homeowner move in 120 days (or less) from the time they put the house on the foundation, and he talks about other facets of off-site construction, including:

• How they compete on quality
• The five types of modular homes
• Building in a controlled environment
• Energy benefits of modular construction
• Sustainable building processes
• Having lower liability on site
• What the building process looks like
• Using robots to frame walls
• Getting all the clients’ decisions up front
• The differences in inspections
• The ballet of coordination in the factory and on site
• How the money works out
• The beauty of no change orders
• And more …

It’s an insightful look at another part of the home building business and the different production processes they use.
 

Super Early Bird Discount for The 2019 Production Conference Ends Friday, June 7th

PRODUCTION CONFERENCE ’19: BIGGER & BETTER!
After two outstanding years, we are excited to host the 3rd Annual Production Conference, held alongside the 2019 Remodelers Summit at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando, Florida. In addition to hosting the event in the same hotel as the Summit, we’ve made even easier to register for BOTH events at the same time!