904 356-JOBS (5627)

904 356-JOBS (5627)

Jacksonville firm pushes modular building as solution to delays (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — The term modular construction often signals images of metal, portable classrooms on the edge of school campuses or trailers on construction sites — something temporary and cheap — but that’s not the full picture.

For builders like Fabricon Modular, a brand of Jacksonville-based BHRS Companies, modular construction consists of fully finished buildings with electrical, plumbing, flooring and sometimes even furniture in place, which can then be shipped from the factory and placed on a desired site.

The only difference between traditional vertical construction and modular or prefabricated, BHRS CEO Brandon Hurd said, is where it’s built. The costs, materials, permitting and quality remains the same — modular even offers clients an advantage with a faster path to market and eliminates labor shortage issues the construction industry faces.

“We need to overcome the perceptions and preconceived notions of modular,” Hurd told the Business Journal. “We’re excited to bring it mainstream.”

Built in a warehouse, shipped via semi-truck, ship or train and dropped into place by a crane, these modules that become buildings can help owners open for business in half the time because underground work and site preparation occur simultaneously with off-site vertical construction.

While Fabricon Modular waits for months on end for site permit approval, its team can assemble the building for a drive-thru, hotel or apartments. Whenever that site permit is approved, the building can be placed and open for business, often decreasing the development schedule from 24 to 12 months, Hurd said.

There aren’t any limitations regarding appearance or function other than the height of the ceiling due to Department of Transportation regulations, but there are creative ways around those restrictions.

Modules are built in a controlled environment, which eliminates disruptions like weather or subcontractors not showing up. This niche in the industry could help solve the large risks in construction, Steve Menke, who has worked in modular construction since 1986, said.

“Absolutely everybody I’ve spoken with in the construction industry sees this as a viable path forward to compensate for, as of recently, the labor shortage that the trades are experiencing worldwide,” Menke, Vice President of Fabricon Modular, told the Business Journal. “Having that workforce in a controlled environment that shows up every day eliminates that risk that’s associated with that construction project.”

The industry includes owner developers, dealers, contractors and manufacturers — direct or wholesale. Manufacturers, like Fabricon Modular, manufacture the modular buildings for sale, lease or rent directly to end-users.

There are 96 direct manufacturers in the world that are represented by the Modular Building Institute, the only international trade association serving non-residential modular construction companies. That list is not comprehensive of every company.

Several, self-branded modular companies are portable leasing companies that don’t build things like hotels, coffee shops and offices.

Although modular construction can work for a range of uses, it’s most advantageous for repetitive buildings like bank branches or drive-thru coffee place franchises that want to open quickly, Hurd said.

This type of construction won’t make sense in every application, but it’s uses have far surpassed the origins of leasing portable buildings. Several, high-traffic buildings are a result of modular construction, and most people don’t know it.

“Disney has been using it for years, and there are hundreds and hundreds of modular hotels that you probably slept in that you don’t even know they’re modular; three-, four-story buildings,” Menke said.

Since the early 2000s, when hoteliers like Marriott and Hilton started buying into the concept, the industry has continued to grow and has been used for larger buildings like apartment complexes, dormitories and assisted living facilities.

It’s moved into the residential real estate industry as well. Builders like Georgia-based Affinity build modular homes while a local engineer designs the foundation.

Hurd hopes to introduce this evolving industry to more owners from customers like consumer brands to hotels and multifamily developers. He has plans for growth in the next year including a potential second factory and a pipeline of projects.