Are Burn Zones Blank Canvases for Modular Builders?

Many homeowners who lost historic homes in the Los Angeles County wildfires are looking to quickly replace them with manufactured homes.

Survivors from the Eaton and Palisades fires are eying modular or prefabricated construction for their replacement homes, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The off-the-shelf housing is simpler to manage, faster to build, and cheaper than designing a custom home. But there’s a catch.

For years, modular companies have promised to revolutionize the home building industry — only to fail spectacularly. Or wade through technological problems. Or face skepticism about limited designs and quality, according to the Times.

Those unconvinced by modular construction fear that fire victims may turn to a lesser and riskier product because they’re overwhelmed by the alternatives.

“You have 8,000 residents, some of whom have never had to change a tire, all of a sudden thrown into this,” Freddy Sayegh, an Altadena resident whose family lost homes in the Eaton fire and leads an advocacy group for survivors, told the Times. “It’s not that they want a modular home.

“They want easy home building.”

Modular housing might work for some people, she said, but too many modular homes would erase Altadena’s rich architectural past.

Mass-produced housing benefits in cost and speed, especially after disasters.

Community groups, architects and builders are trying to jointly buy materials and develop shared designs for new houses, including ones that fire survivors could select from a brochure, similar to the century-old Sears catalogs.

But unlike builders eyeing blocks of tract homes on undeveloped land, property owners in the fire zones have set desires and circumstances. Different insurance payouts and design preferences make it harder to act collectively, according to the Times.

Modular construction could be an answer, for some. Companies can build a house in a factory, truck it to a site, crane it onto a property and then bolt it to a foundation. Done.

Cover makes parts for its homes in an 80,000-square-foot factory, then snaps them together on site, “like Legos,” said Alexis Rivas, co-founder and CEO of the Gardena-based firm, who has spoken with 300 fire-affected homeowners.

Modular construction, however, has had manufacturing and completion issues.

Katerra, a startup based in Menlo Park, drew nearly $3 billion from investors before declaring bankruptcy in 2021, six years after it was founded. Modular startup Veev, based in Hayward with ties to Israel, shut down after raising $600 million.

A 2022 report from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation found few low-income housing developments in Southern California had tried modular construction. The first project experienced delays and cost increases because of inexperience and unclear division of work between the manufacturer and general contractor.

Last month, Steadfast LA, a wildfire recovery nonprofit founded by developer and former mayoral candidate Rick Caruso, announced it would provide as many as 100 free modular homes to L.A. fire victims.

The two-bedroom homes, built by Redwood City-based Samara, will go to residents of low to moderate incomes who are uninsured, underinsured or elderly and otherwise lack the money to rebuild on their land.

The 950-square-foot homes cost about $500,000, including site preparation and permitting, Mike McNamara, CEO of Samara, told the Times. He pointed to their fire-safe design, such as metal roofs and double-pane windows.

“It’s brand new, all-modern materials,” McNamara said. “Everything about it is probably significantly superior to what burnt down.”

— Dana Bartholomew