The Key to Successful Commercial Modular Construction
There are many challenges to modular construction, especially commercial modular construction which includes both temporary as well as permanent modular buildings used for schools, hospitals, office and retail facilities. (more…)
- Published in Modular Construction
Prevailing Wage Debate Hits Offsite Modular Building Sector
Tom Hardiman, MBI’s Executive Director recently opened a discussion on the specter of prevailing wages being applied to offsite fabrication. Needless to say, this posses a serious threat to the commercial modular building industry. If the states of California, Ohio, New York, and Washington are successful in forcing prevailing wages on the modular industry it would not only be very detrimental to the industry, but also to the industries that the modular industry serves. (more…)
- Published in Ramtech News
More Urban Schools Turning to Permanent Modular Buildings
A month ago, I asked the following question on the “School Construction News” discussion blog: “Have any of you used a Permanent Modular Building System to expand existing school campuses or build entire new campuses? It appears to work especially well with rural schools.” I expected to hear primarily from small rural districts.
Instead two large, prominent school districts, Milmont School District in Reading, Pennsylvania, and Miami-Dade School District in Florida commented that they regularly used permanent modular construction to add new campuses and expand existing ones.
While Ramtech worked in Texas with both the Arlington and Alief Independent School Districts in expanding a number of their campuses, most urban school districts throughout the Southwest do not realize that permanent modular construction is a perfect building system for expanding existing school campuses. Ramtech has been active in school construction for over 30 years and its Accelerated Building System saves both time and money compared to traditional site construction.
Why do districts like Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Ft Worth, and Austin not think of modular construction as a means to expand their campuses? The reason is simple: When large school districts throughout the SW (with the possible exception of California) think of modular construction, they think of temporary, portable buildings. They do not realize that permanent modular buildings can be built non-combustible, with the same concrete foundations as traditional site constructed buildings, while built to the same model building codes. Recently, the Modular Building Institute (MBI), the trade association that supports the commercial modular industry, committed to investing both time and money on educating both architects and school districts on the benefits of permanent modular construction.
This would aid those school districts that are working hard to get within their reduced budgets while providing high quality buildings much faster. Click here to learn more about permanent modular school construction
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Mike Slataper is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Ramtech Building Systems, Inc.
- Published in Ramtech News
Does the Term “Modular Construction” Still Fit?
Recently there has been considerable discussion within the Modular Building Institute on the use of the term “modular”. Some industry leaders believe that the term modular is confusing, and using it to describe both temporary and permanent commercial buildings is a mistake. In the residential industry, modular only refers to permanent homes, while manufactured housing refers to relocatable HUD Coded homes. In Europe, most modular companies refer to their building system as “off-site construction.” (more…)
- Published in Ramtech News
Modular Buildings Aid FEMA in Disaster Relief Efforts
From the flooding of the Mississippi River to the tornadoes that have spawned throughout the country, the rash of weather-related natural disasters has placed enormous stress on local communities and stretched the resources of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. (more…)
- Published in Ramtech News