Green-Friendly New Styles Put 'Mod' Back in Modular

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Factory-built housing is touting environmental benefits and a fresh look to win a new generation of buyers as the industry continues to fight an image of cheap design and endure the same housing slowdown pummeling conventional home builders.

Among the industry's innovations: tiny backyard houses where baby boomers can house aging parents, two-story log houses and a three- story factory-built town houses.

The century-old manufactured-housing industry still competes with prices estimated at 20 percent to 25 percent lower than building onsite and faster move-in time. And its housing remains a fixture of the highways, where trucks haul their wide loads - half a home at a time - to their locations. But the nation's housing slump and tighter lending standards for factory-built homes are forcing some changes that tilt toward more upscale buyers.

Fans of what's variously called "prefab" or "modular" or "manufactured" housing say the industry is poised for new growth as architects explore fresh designs and more people associate the housing style with higher standards, better energy efficiency and less construction waste.

Definitions abound for this type of housing and can be confusing to buyers. "Manufactured" homes - the majority - are built to a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development code that industry experts say makes "a well-built" house. "Modular" or "prefab" homes are fewer in number but tend to be higher-end and more expensive.

It's the modular sector that's grabbing the most attention for cutting-edge design.

"In the Northeast it's been a really big business, and it's been going across the country," said Sheri Koones, Connecticut-based author of Prefabulous, a book exploring breakthrough factory-built homes from Massachusetts to San Francisco Bay.

The book features log homes, lodges and mansions - all built in factories.

Higher-end house construction is "still a small part of our overall product," said Allan Lemley, general manager of a Karsten Homes factory in Sacramento, where 150 employees manufacture up to two houses a day. "But we expect it to grow."

Recently, a dozen manufactured homes were displayed at Cal Expo, one of many home shows where retailers and manufacturers put their wares before the public.

Prices ranged from $60,000 to more than $200,000, not including cost of land, fees and thousands more dollars for foundations and site preparation.

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