When Disaster Strikes – Modular Homes Mean Quick Recovery

Disasters Come In Many Forms

A disaster comes in many forms, and almost always without warning. It can be a natural disaster such as a flood, tornado, or hurricane or a catastrophic event such as a fire or water damage. Whatever the cause, fortunately the homeowner survives. Unfortunately, their home doesn’t. Along with the loss of the home is typically the destruction of the contents of the home. The loss of family heirlooms, pictures, and pets add to the stress of the disaster.

The process to rebuild typically isn’t fast and is intertwined with insurance negotiations, meeting claims adjusters, finding records, etc. Add to that the need for temporary living quarters and replacing property and the road to recovery from the loss of a home is painful and slow. Starting to think about replacing the home doesn’t even begin until weeks or months after the initial loss.

Why Do Modular Homes Work Well for a Faster Recovery?

In many cases, the existing home is too damaged and to repair it is either impossible or just too expensive. The best option is to remove the existing home and replace it with a new home. Depending on the type of damage, the existing foundation my even be reused for the new home.

In some natural disasters, it isn’t just one or two homes that are lost. It could a few families, dozens of families, or even thousands of families that have had their home destroyed. When this happens there just aren’t enough skilled craftsmen to cost effectively and quickly replace the homes that will get the community back to “normal”.

Related: WHY SETTLE FOR A SITE BUILT HOME?

Using modular construction to rebuild offers many benefits over the traditional site-built method:

• Speed – Because modular homes are constructed indoors, weather doesn’t cause the same delays as it does with on-site construction. You don’t choose when disaster strikes. When the time is right, modular construction lets you rebuild whatever the season.
• Energy Efficient – The modular building process itself promotes energy efficient home construction. Your home is built from the inside out. With access to interior walls throughout the building process, typical air infiltration points are sealed better than with onsite construction. What this means to you is that the building envelope of your custom home is fabricated to be super energy efficient. Increased insulation, high-tech sealants, and the use of advanced materials are just a few of the reasons to that give modular construction advantages over dated, conventional construction methods when rebuilding a home.
• Flexible Design – Custom modular homes are beautiful. You have the ability to create a home in virtually any style and in practically any shape. You can choose your modular home’s materials, both interior and exterior. Homes can be designed with large tile showers, huge open spaces, and unique and roomy custom kitchens. Modular homes can be set on foundations for large finished basements or on pilings for beautiful coastal homes. Our homes can be set on top of mountains or along the edge of lakes. They can be built practically anywhere! You can design your home to take advantage of the energy efficiency and flexible design inherent in modular construction. Modular construction is synonymous with custom, well-built, beautiful homes.

Designing a New Home

One of the things I hear most from homeowners that have suffered the loss of their home is that our home was perfect, we want to rebuild the exact same home. This is natural, your home is your safe place. The place you feel comfortable. For someone that has lived in a home for years, perhaps decades before they lost it, they want to get back to that familiar feeling that their home provided.

However, once the family gets past the shock and works through the grieving process, it is time start planning to replace the home with a new home. In designing the new home, we may start with the original plan, but we start to make subtle changes. Think about it, in any home there is at least three things that you would change if you could. When it comes time to rebuild, you get that chance. The opportunity exists to make the home that was perfect even more perfect. Add a kitchen island, change a door swing, open up the living space… the list goes on.

Modular construction is flexible enough to allow you to rebuild your home even better than it was before – better design, better materials, and with much better energy efficiency or to use it to build a completely different home that meets your current lifestyle. Losing your home is a traumatic experience that no one ever wants to go through. However, when disaster strikes, modular construction can help ease some of pain by providing a new home quickly, and with features that will turn the new house into your home!