March 19, 2020 Brandon Teachman

Shorten Time to Market and Increase Value with Modular Buildings

When considering your construction method, a faster schedule and increased job site safety carry significant advantages.  You can be up and running as quickly as possible to capitalize on high demand, in addition to realizing the reduced risks in a safer environment.  The end customer of the construction project can also take advantage of additional economic benefits.

Prefabrication in a controlled factory environment, such as Excellerate, allows for the off-site construction and the on-site preparation to happen simultaneously, with the on-site foundation being built at the same time the fully customizable modular building is being constructed in the factory.  A factory-built modular building enables multiple trades to work within the restrictions of numerous units simultaneously, something that cannot be achieved with traditional on-site construction.  When considering a data center, for example, more than six trades are likely needed to complete the project, including electrical, HVAC, fire suppression and low voltage. When the fabrication is completed on site, these trades must work sequentially and cannot work in the same area at the same time.  In a manufacturing environment, the trades can access several modular buildings at the same time, with no need to have materials transported to the site and no downtime. Depending on the size of the job, this can save days of labor per trade.

A pre-configured solution contributes to a project’s end goals in several ways.

• Quality – Most modular building manufacturers have a rigorous quality assurance process. At Excellerate, this process includes fully documented factory testing and detailed inspection throughout the build. These details can consist of measurements, functional testing, paint quality and more. This off-site quality process reduces the project punch list, which often accounts for a large portion of delays and reworks on site.
• Safety – By taking labor hours off the job site, you also reduce the likelihood of a safety incident; a manufacturing environment has been proven to be a safer environment for construction. At Excellerate, we’re proud to have gone over a year to date without a recordable injury.
• Optimization – A modular building has an optimized footprint thanks to its modularity and compact design. This includes designing for serviceability, designing with industry standards for local support, reduced energy consumption of HVAC systems due to an optimized design and enhanced uptime due to design.
• Economic Advantages – Utilizing modular buildings also has additional economic advantages, such as accelerated depreciation, tax classification advantages and efficient deployment of capital expenses (CapEx). The ability to defer capital should also not be overlooked as an opportunity. This allows the end customer to continue to collect interest on their investment or reduce the time paid on a loan while not receiving income from the unit.

Simply put, prebuilt modular buildings continue to gain in popularity. They have proven to shorten construction timelines, simplify project management and reduce installation time and cost. Your job site safety is increased, and you have better use of your capital. If you would like more information on how modular buildings can improve your building project, please don’t hesitate to contact me.