Mobile Homes and New Communities

Room modules manufactured as large as practicable will inevitably succeed in providing the bulk of housing in the future. Traditional stick-built housing has advantages of low depreciation, user acceptance, and inherent esthetic values, but its cost per square foot is rising so fast that within 15 yr it will retain only 15% of the new housing market. At that time 85% of all single and multiple dwellings under construction will fall into the category of industrialized housing—mobile, modular, or other box type prefabs. The skilled labor pool of the conventional building trade has been diminishing in number while the mobile home industry has filled the need for lower cost housing and entered an economy of scale with plenty of manpower available, prefabrication under one roof, mass purchasing, and a sophisticated marketing system.