Love your property and your town but are ready for a serious home upgrade? A Whole-House, Modular Renovation Just Might be the Answer.
Today’s homeowner has many choices when it comes to an older home. In areas where land is expensive, like Fairfield County, CT, many small and older homes are being torn down by developers and replaced with homes that cover as much of the property as allowed by local zoning. But, suppose you have a property that you love and don’t want to move. You want to update the house but don’t want to live through an endless renovation.
That’s when you should consider modular!
Tutor Victorian Whole-House Renovation:
Before and After
After the Renovation: Douglas Cutler Architects / Modular Architecture 4,000,000+Before the Renovation: $550,000
The simple 8 step process:
- The design drawings are prepared by a licensed architect with experience in custom modular design.
- The shop drawings are generated by the factory.
- The drawings are then reviewed, approved and stamped by a third party engineering firm.
- Your builder will take these approved plans, the foundation plan and any other drawings required for the conventionally built assemblies, and submit everything for building permit issuance.
- The factory construction begins and the modules are built to exact specifications by experts.
- The modules are delivered to the building site and assembled.
- The builder completes all the conventionally built aspects and interior finishing.
- Voila! You move into your custom renovated home months ahead of schedule!
Take a look at a few more before and after, modular renovations…
Traditional Whole House Renovation
Before the Renovation: 350,000After the Modular Renovation: Douglas Cutler Architects / Modular Architecture 1,760,000+
Contemporary Whole House Renovation
Pre-Renovation Value $400,000After the Modular Renovation / Douglas Cutler Architects Modular Architecture 1,500,000+
Rustic Whole House Renovation
Pre-Renovation Value $800,000After the Modular Renovation / Douglas Cutler Architects Modular Architecture 2.000,000+
Call the Architect First!
We recommend hiring a licensed professional to examine the existing home and determine the feasibility of a modular addition. If existing conditions allow for an addition, we suggest you work with an architect, experienced in modular technology, to assist you in creating a design that is not only functional but increases the ‘curb appeal’ of your home.
Today’s home is a far cry from the simple homes of our forefathers. The expectation is that they are green, efficient, roomy and beautiful. Talk to an architect first!
In the old days homes were simple. A single room with an open hearth, a few tiny windows and a drafty front door were the norm.
But today, a good, new home is designed to become an optimally functioning machine that supports many high tech systems. Heating, cooling, appliances, light, entertainment, water, etc. are the norm and need to perform as a unit. Why? Because they are constantly being used at the same time. Just think about what your family is doing at 5pm on a Tuesday night in mid January. Think about all the work your home is loyally performing without a whimper.
Think of Your Home as a Human Body
Getting all these high tech parts of a home to work as a team is not easy. Just like the systems within the human body, modern home systems need to be planned and placed precisely. Only with good planning can we obtain the optimal efficiency we all want for the long term.
It’s true. Many modular home factories now participate in the Green Building and Energy Star programs. But only an architect who is trained and licensed will know how get the maximum benefit out of every one of these complicated features. A draftsman in a factory just won’t know how to do it right.
Our hearts, in order to work most efficiently, are carefully positioned in close proximity to the other the vital organs that support it. The arteries going to and from your heart need to be the optimal length, width, and crafted from the best material to provide lasting support during times of rest AND times of stress.
Energy saving programs are exactly the same. If not implemented by a trained professional, they can result in, at best, a wasted effort for the homeowner and, at worst, a failed home.
Shouldn’t Your Home Perform Perfectly?
An architect is the professional who plans the implementation of all home systems such as foundations, decks, garages and detailed feature elements such as built-ins to accommodate appliances, electronics, entertainment area wiring, sound and so much more. So why would you not demand that an architect also plan for the ways to save money on your electric bills and the application of amazing green energy features. If not done correctly, your savings, and all those green benefits, will go right out the window!
Modular Architects are pleased that Energy Star appliances and LEED rated products are now being installed at the factory to support green modular building. For example, closed cell spray on insulation affords a very efficient insulation rating and is offered by most manufacturers. And, because the exterior is easily accessible at the factory, spaces behind the electrical boxes and plumbing are properly coated with foam insulation. This is not as easily accomplished with conventional building.
The Energy Codes put forth by the DOE has made energy conscious design far more efficient than 20 years ago. Mandated, low VOC paints and products limiting “off gasses” have made the indoor environment safer as well.
Newly improved, highly effect heat pumps are now being specified over gas and oil fired systems. The cost of operation has come down due to these latest heating and cooling technologies.
Why You Need an Architect to Design Your Modular Home
Hiring an architect well-versed in modular design will ensure that your home can include many of passive, energy savings features, such as:
- Glass walls orientation facing the sun for winter solar gain
- Sun shading to prevent solar gain in summer. (See the attached illlustration for details on how this works.)
- Minimal glazing along the home’s north walls to help reduce heat loss over the cold months.
- Active systems such as Photovoltaic Elevation web Bcan be designed into the architectural plan quite easily whether or not the home is modular.
The coordination of all these systems can, and should, be drawn into the plans by your architect, not your builder! They will work better AND they will look better too.
Remember. Custom modular design and construction is a hybrid form of prefab building. Choosing the right contractor/builder dealer is also a very important selection, but the architect always comes first!