Eco Investor June 2015

Features

Manufactured Homes and Sustainable Housing

Achieving more sustainable housing is an important environmental ambition as it reduces both the amount of unsustainable materials needed and the carbon footprint of the buildings. It can also have a big impact on both as housing is a huge part of every economy around the world.

There are now numerous ways to improve sustainability - using sustainably sourced materials such as plantation timbers; using recycled and chemical free materials; using light weight materials rather than carbon intensive concrete, cement and bricks; designing for recycleability and energy and water efficiency; installing energy and water efficient fixtures and appliances; and many more.

To this growing list we can add manufactured homes, particularly where these are well designed and well made to improve their environmental credentials.

Manufactured homes can be houses, kit homes, granny flats and dual occupancy homes. They are made in a factory and the parts transported to site where they can be assembled much more quickly than a normal home.

Manufactured homes are at the inexpensive end of the market, generally from around $80,000 up to around $400,000 to purchase with one Qld Government survey putting the average at about $250,000.

And they don't skimp on normal comforts and style. These days they regularly come in up to four bedroom models with standard features such as generous verandahs, carports, bay windows, modern kitchens with granite or timber benchtops, shower and bath or a spa bath, kitchen and bathroom tiles, built-in robes, internal and external architectural features, two storey models and so on in very presentable looking homes.

The interior of a manufactured home for sale for $249,000.

A manufactured home with a modern kitchen.

The homes generally leave the factory with essentials like external cladding, roof, electrical, plumbing, plaster, painting, tiles and cabinet work already done. On site, they are put on concrete or other piers and the services are connected. Some manufacturers say their homes are stronger than normal homes as they can have a steel chassis and are cyclone rated.

Such homes can offer many environmental benefits. Among them is the use of light weight materials rather than heavy bricks and concrete. The homes are on piers rather than concrete slabs. The homes are not oversized so they avoid the ‘McMansion affect' of a small number of people in an oversized house. They are said to be low maintenance. Their low cost can free capital for energy and water saving fixtures and appliances. Their manufacture in a factory is quicker and more efficient than using teams onsite. And they are transportable if needed elsewhere.

An environmentally inclined manufacturer or home owner could further improve these benefits through their choice of environmentally friendly materials.

Manufactured homes also tend to be installed on smaller blocks of land, so they have a smaller overall physical footprint, usually with some garden and no lawn or less lawn than in suburbia.

Their price, home size and land size make them very suitable for retirees. When grouped together to form villages such as a manufactured home park, a residential home park or a retirement village they can have a lower environmental footprint than say an equivalent number of units in a block of flats or an equivalent number of larger or family homes.

They also help solve some social problems for retirees as they encourage further independence and aid community living before the retirees may need to move to a nursing home.

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