
Nashua Builders is among Idaho’s top 75 privately held companies, starting in the mobile home industry; now one of the most flexible manufacturing companies in the modular building and prefab modular buildings industry. Nashua markets include all modular lodging projects, commercial modular buildings, modular school buildings, prefab retirement homes, modular hospitals, prefabricated modular buildings, offices and remote housing needs.
While we at Nashua Builders know all that is involved with prefab construction and modular building, we realize that your average person may not. Of course, people know how modular building is cost-effective, and that it is also making major waves in the architectural world when it comes to green building, but—what is actually involved? What is the process, and what are the individual steps to modular building? What exactly is prefab construction?
We at Nashua Builders thought we’d give a little prefab tutorial as a public service announcement to the world at large.
What is prefab/modular construction?
“Prefab” is short for “prefabricated building,” and is also known as “volumetric modular construction” in our circles, though we thought it best to keep it short and simple for everyday use. Prefab construction refers to a type of construction of a structure that takes place off-site. Prefab buildings are typically built 60 to 90 percent off-site in a three-dimensional form, designed to be constructed at one location, and then used by occupants at another. This makes for convenient timelines where no disruption need to take place at the site in question, and cuts construction costs in half.
The Four Stages of Prefab/Modular Construction
When we are getting ready to construct a new prefab building, there are a few steps that we need to take before we can really get to building. It’s not too much beyond the usual design plan for a building, but, since we are building off-site, there are a few more steps needed than usual.
1. Design approval by the client is needed and also by any regulating authorities in the area where the building will wind up.
2. We assemble the module(s) components in our controlled prefab construction environment, off-site.
3. We must then transport the modules to their final destination.
4. We then erect the modules on location to form a finished product.
Time Efficiency
While the building modules are being constructed in our factory, there is also site work is occurring at the same time at the location where the building will eventually land. This concurrent activity on the two sites allows for earlier building occupancy and creates a much shorter overall construction period. Usually all of this happens in one location, thus extending the building and construction time extensively. Because of this two-site process, the time taken to finish the project from beginning to end is essentially cut in half compared to that of conventional construction, and with the same life expectancy as those traditionally built buildings.
With more than forty years of modular building experience, Nashua Builders exceed our customer expectations, industry, environmentally Green and LEED design standards.
Call us today for your prefab and modular construction needs.
You may also want to read:
The Children’s Learning Center
What’s the Difference Between Modular and Prefab?
Modular Home Customization