Blueroof To Build Modular Communities

Roof is the limit for ‘green’ housing aimed at elderly
By Kim Leonard
March 30, 2007

Blueroof Technologies Inc. is expanding its vision from building one single-family “smart” house at a time to creating an entire community for elderly or disabled residents that could be reproduced almost anywhere.

The technology company that a local engineering professor and a retired high school principal founded offered plans for a 10-acre Independence Zone that would surround its gadget-packed model cottage in McKeesport, a suburb of Pittsburgh.

“This zone will become someplace where somebody can be fully independent regardless of their challenges, their handicaps,” said John G. Bertoty, executive director of the nonprofit company.

Blueroof Technologies and its sister firm, Blueroof Solutions, have existed for about five years and recently gained momentum by selling energy-efficient, handicapped-accessible modular homes to families and to agencies that run supervised group housing.

Blueroof owns or has put money down on a few properties, Bertoty said, and has identified 35 others that are tax-delinquent or in need of redevelopment.

Fifteen to 20 more technology-equipped modular houses would be built, according to Blueroof’s plan, along with a technology center and headquarters for the company and perhaps a community grocery store.

The first of the zone’s additional houses to be built would be an energy-efficient demonstration house, and a group home for people with disabilities, Bertoty said.

Bertoty, a former McKeesport High School principal, and Technology Director Robert A. Walters, an engineering professor at Pennsylvania State University’s campus in the city, first worked together on technology education programs.

The partners later turned their attention to the area’s large elderly population, deciding to create a company that would create jobs while selling affordable, technology-equipped homes to allow older residents to continue living by themselves.

The smart cottage became a test bed for a variety of computerized systems that secure the house and announce visitors, remind residents to take medicine and even track when they turn on the water or stove or flush the toilet — features that allow a relative or caregiver to monitor action in the house from another location.

Walters said a two-bedroom, single-story house equipped with a basic security system in McKeesport would sell for around $110,000.

“We can add technology as needed for the resident,” he said.

The company has sold or is building about a half-dozen homes for individuals or families, and is getting orders from service providers such as Allegheny East, which runs 11 group homes for residents with mental retardation and other disabilities.

“This is the first time that we have built from scratch,” Kate Bayer, the agency’s marketing and development director, said of a three-bedroom, Blueroof-built home that will open shortly.

Monitoring technology will help the on-site caretaker, she said.

“It was such a wonderful way for our folks, especially the ones that are aging, to stay in the community,” Bayer said of the house.

Blueroof — sustaining itself with $900,000 in grants from Allegheny County, foundations and other sources — forged partnerships with Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh researchers working on a National Science Foundation-funded study on using technology to enhance quality of life.

In addition, Blueroof is staying focused on its goal of providing education and technology-related jobs in the McKeesport area.

The firm has five employees, and brings in interns from Penn State and other universities to work and study at the cottage, and eventually the technology center, Walters said.

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Upwardly Mobile

By JENNA PORTNOY
Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Will and Gail Reeser’s children were grown and their beloved 11-room Richboro home suddenly seemed much too big when they started pricing condos and townhouses.

But a mobile home? It simply wasn’t an option.

“I had the attitude that, nah, it’s just a trailer park,” 69-year-old Will Reeser, a retired swim coach, said, admiring his manicured lawn along a suburban-style circle.

Then, he and his wife, Gail, visited friends at the Village at Buckingham Springs on Durham Road in Buckingham and understood the manufactured homes community was perfect for them. In the decade since, the age-restricted development has expanded to capacity, or 645 homes.

Despite the popularity and relative affordability of mobile homes — an umbrella term for any dwelling built off site — Bucks County data back to 1989 show only a smattering of them have been proposed, let alone built. In Montgomery County, no new parks have been developed in at least five years.

There are several reasons for the downturn, including prohibitive zoning, the stigma associated with mobile home parks of yesteryear and ever-rising land costs.

Yet, housing advocates say, mobile home developments should not be cast off.

“With more creative planning and foresight the use of modular homes could be very advantageous to the economy of the state and to individual families who could afford modular homes,” said Santo Gairo, founder and executive director of the Bucks County Housing Group. He also happens to live in Buckingham Springs.

“Everybody thinks of a trailer park,” he said, “but modular homes are different; they’re much more sophisticated.”

That’s the argument championed by Mary Gaiski, executive director of the nonprofit Pennsylvania Manufactured Housing Association.

“We know the price of housing in Bucks and Montgomery is not cheap,” she said. “It would be nice if people had some stepping stone areas to get them started along.”

Manufactured homes with minimal amenities attract retirees as well as families with costs around $40,000, she said.

But that’s just the beginning. McKee Group said homes in the Buckingham community it runs start at $175,000, plus a monthly fee of about $400 the buyer pays to rent the land on which the home sits.

By contrast, of all the homes sold in Central and Upper Bucks County and Eastern Montgomery County in February, the median price was $280,000.

“It excludes all the people who work in these communities,” Gairo said, citing new teachers, police officers and government workers.

Mobile homes make up just 1 percent to 3 percent of the region’s housing stock and nowadays only about 6,000 are manufactured in the state, compared with numbers more than double that a decade ago.

Ultimately, manufactured homes sales suffer because it’s tough to change the stereotype that such communities breed social problems and aren’t aesthetically pleasing. That’s why zoning codes often discourage mobile home living.

“There’s still that perception that manufactured housing brings in a lower class of resident and nobody wants them,” said Gaiski of the housing association.

Some developers capitalize on that fear and submit plans for mobile home parks as leverage to goad municipalities to amend the zoning code or make some other concession.

“They’ll typically say we’ve already done what we have to do for that type of housing,” Gaiski said. “To challenge them is very costly and lengthy. And time is money.”

Elaine Mothes, vice president of manufactured housing at McKee, said Buckingham thwarted her company’s attempts to put homes on another 80 acres.

In Montgomery Township, however, the Village of Neshaminy Falls has expanded several times since 1978 to place 867 homes. In the last phase, 103 homes sold in seven months, Mothes said.

“The township saw value in having affordable housing and senior housing,” she said.

Those aren’t things Reeser, the longtime Buckingham resident, worries about now that his community is built out.

He’s content to enjoy his 1,700-square-foot home and the company of his neighbors. Friends go out for pizza on Fridays, hold boccie ball tournaments, organize picnics and play cards.

“Plus, I like to mow my own grass,” he said, stopping to wave to a friend driving by. “Hey Lucky,” he called out. “He’s the luckiest guy I ever saw playing poker. He always wins.”

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Home Depot to Sell Modular Housing at New Orleans Stores

Home Depot and Homestar Builders will begin selling modular homes in New Orleans through Home Depot stores.
27 March 2007

The Home Depot and Homestar Builders will begin selling modular housing at Home Depot stores in New Orleans as part of a pilot program launched in conjunction with the New Orleans Home and Garden Show this week.

The modular housing pilot program will address some of the housing and housing labor shortages affecting the region as it continues to rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The modular homes produced for the program are manufactured in Texas and Alabama and will be built to meet the International Residential Building Codes — the same as required of site-built homes. Code compliance will be inspected by third-party inspectors to assure quality and compliance.

“There’s such a high demand for skilled home construction labor in New Orleans that it really makes it difficult to meet the overwhelming need for affordable quality housing there,” said Steve Chittenden, project manager for The Home Depot’s Home Services. “Working with Homestar Builders, we believe we can help meet this need by offering uniquely designed, quality-built homes that are manufactured offsite, transported to the owner’s property and finished using products and services offered through The Home Depot.”

The size of the homes will range from 620-square-foot homes with one bedroom and one bath, to 2,078-square-foot homes with four bedrooms and two baths.

Homestar Builders will provide on-site project supervision including site preparation, set and build out, and financing and insurance if requested. The homes will be for sale with options so home owners can customize their homes.

For more information, visit www.myhomestar.com.

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Pre-Fab Is Eco-Friendly

Pre-Fab Building Could Cut Construction Waste By 90%
26 March 2007

Making components from timber frames to kitchens off-site can significantly reduce the overall amount of waste produced by the construction industry.

This was the finding of a report published by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) this week which compares the waste levels of existing off-site construction with those of traditional methods and looks at areas where there is scope for growth.

According to the research, off-site manufacture already offers the construction industry benefits in terms of time and cost predictability, health and safety and skills.

However, the report suggests that there is the potential to make a significant difference to the amount of waste the industry produces.

Some of the biggest waste streams in traditional construction are packaging (up to 5%), timber (up to 25%) and plasterboard (up to 36%).

Up to a 90% reduction can be achieved by reducing wastes such as wood pallets, shrink wrap, cardboard, plasterboard, timber, concrete, bricks and cement by increasing the use of off site manufacture and modern methods of construction.

The report also identifies the key off site manufacture and modern methods of construction systems that offer significant opportunities to reduce waste levels on site, including:

prefabricated kitchens and bathrooms;

timber frame systems;

light steel frame systems;

structural insulated panels;

pre-cast concrete systems

The work also investigated sectors, which currently use relatively low levels of off-site manufacture, such as retail, the NHS, schools and private housing. Results showed that there is the potential to make substantial reductions of waste in these sectors, especially with so many large-scale projects in progress.

Mervyn Jones, WRAP’s construction programme manager for waste minimisation at WRAP said: “Off site manufacture has already been shown to provide a number of benefits to the construction industry, but we wanted to develop firm evidence that confirmed the potential benefits in terms of reducing the amount of waste the industry contributes to landfill.

“The results of the work are very positive and clearly demonstrate the opportunity to reduce waste through the uptake of off site manufacture and modern methods of construction, especially in some of the UK’s landmark projects, such as the Olympics, Thames Gateway and in single or key worker living projects.

“Increased use of off site manufacture and modern methods of construction could help the industry take serious steps towards achieving the target of reducing waste to landfill by 50% by 2012.”

Decisions to use alternative construction methods to reduce waste can also form part of Site Waste Management Plans, which are expected to become mandatory in 2008, helping to demonstrate a contractor’s commitment to minimising waste at the outset of a project.

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Modular Mansions

Modular Mansion For Sale
By Susan Nova
March 30, 2007

Prefabricated homes are no longer unusual in this area. As the technique of manufacturing modules in a factory has become more sophisticated, any configuration and size, even mansions with five digits of square footage and high-end detail work, are possible.

One new modular home in the Cos Cob section of Greenwich, set on a quarter of an acre, has been listed by Maureen Fox of RE/MAX Associates in Greenwich for more than $2.4 million. With four or five bedrooms and 3.5 marble baths, the 4,150-square-foot Colonial has marble fireplaces in the family room and master bedroom, Brazilian cherry floors with inlays, crown moldings, bay windows and tray ceilings. The shingle-and-stone house has a full attic, a full basement and a two-car attached garage.

Modular houses were erected here as early as the turn of the 20th century. Stamford had at least two Sears Roebuck & Co. houses two decades ago, when “Houses by Mail” by Katherine Cole Stevenson and H. Ward Jandl was published. Sears sold prefab houses from 1908 to 1940, starting as low as $153 for a four-room house, without bath, to one with eight rooms, 2.5 baths and a two-story portico with fluted columns at $5,972 or more.

“I wish to acknowledge the receipt of the ready-made building,” Irvin Cameron of Powell, Kan., said in a 1918 letter to Sears. “The house is all right in every respect and has saved us labor and money. I would recommend its use to anyone going to a new country as we did. Having the house on the train with us, we were able to have it up and move into it two days after we reached Powell. We now have as nice a little house as anyone.”

The Hodgson Co., Alladin Homes and Montgomery Ward also sold houses by mail after 1895, but Sears was the most successful with 100,000 sales, according to the book.

One or two Sears houses may survive in Greenwich, but a new type of prefab, multimodule house was erected here in 1934.

Quentin Twachtman, a construction engineer and son of famed artist John Henry Twachtman, was erecting a modernist prefab home on Riversville Road by July 7, 1934, according to a Greenwich Time story.

The 47-module house was intended to demonstrate the potential of a modern, low-priced home, according to Quentin Twachtman, who worked with his architect brother, J. Alden Twachtman. The house would not be sold or rented, but it was furnished and used to introduce this type of construction to Greenwich.

“When complete, the edifice will be composed of forty-seven different sections,” the story said. “The technical term by which the building is called is ‘pre-fabricated.’ “

The one-story house would have a living room, dining room, kitchen, three bedrooms, two baths, a furnace room and a one-car garage.

“The various sections necessary for the construction are poured, ten at a time in a foundry in East Port Chester,” now Byram, the story said. “When finished, the building will be fireproof and air-conditioned. There will be no radiators but ducts in the floor will supply the necessary heat from the hot-air furnace.”

“A membrane containing electrical wiring will be placed in the flooring between oak and cement walls,” the story said. “The building is composed mainly of cement with an outer veneer of brick.”

The story found the three-quarter-acre lot ideal, with its nearby brook and “thick foliage and shrubbery.”

No information could be found on whether the Twachtman experiment had any success, but the house is no doubt gone by now.

Nearly 12 years later in March 1946, the first postwar prefab house in Greenwich was under way. It was to be a 51Ú2 room bungalow on Ridgeview Avenue in the Rock Ridge section of town.

In December 1943, building had come to a halt because construction materials were devoted to World War II. Only $134,820 in building costs were recorded that year, according to “Greenwich Before 2000.” In the 10 years after 1946, building expenditures totaled $10 million.

Built for Mary Francis by well-known contractor Herbert Nordholm, the Rock Ridge bungalow’s cost was estimated at $10,000.

The bungalow’s basic house modules, called shells, were built by Johnson Homes Inc. in Pemberton, N.J. They included only the four walls and the framework, a form of prefab construction that today would be called panelized. Nordholm finished the rest on site. He had to find hardware, plumbing supplies and some lumber, all still in short supply at the end of the war.

“While the federal government has supported the manufacturers of factory-built houses through special priorities, it is still difficult to obtain the materials to finish such projects on the site,” Greenwich Time said.

In that era, there were 25 pre-fab manufacturers in the country.

In 1947, the Greenwich Housing Authority completed Mianus Village in 44 working days, providing housing for 40 veterans on the old Olmstead property, according to “Greenwich before 2000.” Those homes probably were pre-fabs, too.

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Trendsetter to Build Modular Housing for U.S. Army

By Kelly Sheehan
March 22, 2007

El Paso, Texas — Fleetwood Enterprises Inc., based in Riverside, Calif., has announced that Trendsetter Homes, its modular housing division, has been selected as a supplier to provide military housing to the U.S. Army at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. Terms of the multi-million dollar contract were not disclosed.

The project is part of the Army’s Military Housing Initiative, an effort to significantly upgrade on-base housing at Ft. Bliss, which encompasses 1.1 million acres. To complete the project, Fleetwood has teamed with another modular building firm, American Building Systems, and additional companies such as Hensel Phelps, prime contractor and owner of the government contract; Benham Cos., an architecture firm; and The Warrior Group, tasked with delivering completed units.

“The benefit of modular construction for this project is the speed of delivery to the site, as well as less clutter on the site and disturbance of base operations,” Douglas Henriquez, director for Trendsetter business development, told MHN.

“Because these apartments will be built off-site, we will significantly decrease the congestion, noise and debris issues associated with conventional site-built construction,” added John H. Riddle, vice president of Trendsetter Homes. “Modular housing construction ensures a remarkably safer job site.”

Eight months ago, Trendsetter Homes began offsite construction of the 470 units at its modular housing facility in Belton, Texas. Trendsetter is building these units to create seven apartment buildings that can house 940 Army personnel. Henriquez said the project should be completed by the end of 2007.

Henriquez explained that Trendsetter builds each unit separately. “The boxes are delivered to the site in numerical order, with nomenclature defined on the units,” he said. “The boxes are craned up onto the site, placed into the foundation built by Hensel Phelps, and are lag-bolted and secured into the site itself. We keep doing this, box by box.”

Trendsetter expects that this initial phase will enable full-time operation of its Belton plant for at least seven consecutive months. The Army is exploring the possibility of hiring Trendsetter to complete additional phases of housing, as well as a number of similar projects at other bases.

Henriquez said Trendsetter got it start with modular building in the 1950’s, to help address housing shortages after World War II. “Although we have taken on some civilian projects, our strongest ties have been with the military, by building homes for the heroes of the military forces.”

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Introducing Concrete Modular Homes

First Concrete Modular Homes Earn Fortified ”for Safer Living®” Designation
03/21/2007

TAMPA, FL — Royal Concrete Concepts is the first manufacturer to provide single-family concrete modular homes that will earn the “Fortified … for safer living®” designation from the Institute for Business & Homes Safety (IBHS), a nonprofit association of insurers and reinsurers.

The “Fortified” program specifies construction and design guidelines to increase a home’s resistance to natural disasters such as hurricane winds, wildfires and flooding, with localized guidelines based primarily on the extreme events that may occur in the region where the home exists.

“All single-family homes offered by Royal Concrete Concepts will receive the Fortified for safer living designation when sited according to our qualifying criteria,” said Chuck Vance, Fortified program manager for IBHS. “By offering affordable homes up to 2,500 square feet, Royal Concrete Concepts is furthering the ‘Fortified’ program’s goal to make disaster-resistant housing an option for more people.”

In order to meet or exceed the High Velocity Wind Zone requirements of the Florida Building Code, Royal Concrete Concepts will utilize patented, steel- reinforced concrete modules designed to withstand Category 5 hurricane force winds. Integrated insulation provides high-energy efficiency while providing strong resistance to heat.

“Homes by Royal Concrete Concepts are designed to ensure quality as well as maximum performance in safety and energy efficiency at an attainable price,” said Wally Sanger, president of Royal Concrete Concepts. “The potential for reduced insurance premiums and improved energy efficiency contribute to the lower total cost of ownership of a Royal Concrete Concepts home.”

Royal Concrete Concepts is nationally recognized for manufacturing stronger, safer schools and classrooms that give school districts the ability to meet growth demands in less time and at lower costs than conventional construction methods. Their modular residential product line includes a wide variety of floor plans and options approved by the State of Florida’s Department of Community Affairs.

For more information, please visit: http://www.royalconcreteconcepts.com

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Homebuilder Brings Jobs

Company Offers Low-Cost Solution To Gulf Housing Recovery
Bob Moser
Mar 21, 2007

The International Trade Center’s largest tenant showed off a new assembly-line style of home-building Tuesday, considered a possible low-cost solution to housing recovery in the Gulf Coast.

Louisiana System Built Homes occupies 300,000 of the 1 million square feet at the former Martin Mills Fruit of the Loom factory in St. Martinville, which closed in 2000. The process is streamlined to follow a factory-style model, proven to cut costs and turn out highly engineered modular homes that are at least 80 percent complete.

“We’re building quality houses that are so energy efficient, it’ll cost you $2 a day to live in that house,” said Aubrey Shoemake, LASBH president.

Energy savings will come from building panels made with Oriented Strand Board, an engineered wood, and six inches of insulation foam inside the walls. Electric tankless water heaters, about the size of a school textbook, will heat water at a fraction of the cost of traditional gas water heaters.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency confirmed LASBH’s modular homes withstood a hurricane better than site-built homes, and they are able to withstand 140 mph winds or higher, Shoemake said.

Homes are being sold only to builders, who’ll place the pre-made pieces on empty lots and apply finishing touches for the homebuyer.

After costs for the builder are added in, these homes have sold for $120,000 to $160,000, on average, in other states, said Katrina Collette, spokeswoman for LASBH.

The company expects to churn out an average of three homes per day eventually, with the assembly system running around the clock with three shifts of workers.

The first batch of 24 homes, which may be completed within the next two months, has been ordered by a builder for Lafourche Parish. More than 100,000 people have registered with the Road Home program to rebuild homes in Louisiana, potentially a key customer base for LASBH and other modular home builders.

More than 30 people are employed, many from the St. Martinville area that struggled after Martin Mills closed seven years ago. Two hundred employees likely will be hired by the end of the year, Shoemake said.

Tommy Theriot, a St. Martinville native, is one of the first locals to join the assembly line system. He had been doing part-time painting and maintenance jobs in Lafayette but said he is happy to have a steady job again much closer to home. Theriot will focus on installing plumbing, one of the last steps to building the modular homes.

Most materials for the homes also are being bought from about 10 area businesses.

Acadiana Building Compon-ents, which opened in the former Kaplan Rice Mill seven months ago, could see an incredible boost in its production of engineered roof and floor trusses by working with LASBH, said co-owner Rick Cloud.

“They’re avoiding the weather in this factory,” he said. “It’s a standardized, faster building process for everyone.”

The trusses, triangles used in the home’s framing, will be held at the hinges by metal connectors with dozens of little teeth, instead of traditional nails.

Homes with these trusses can withstand 150 to 200 mph winds, Cloud said, and have saved the roofs on homes in Florida under extreme weather conditions.

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