Fast-Track Prefab for Hurried Clients
Date Posted: August 20, 2024
Posted In: Discussion,
From Offsite Builder: Building a custom home is undoubtedly more efficient when using offsite methods, but not every customer has the time or inclination to undertake a custom project, although they still want high quality and a custom look. To serve these customers, some prefab companies are offering a portfolio of predesigned single-family homes that can be delivered quickly.
Modular builder Anthony Zarrilli, CEO of Zarilli Homes in Brick, N.J., has had this option for more than 12 years, with a quick-delivery portfolio that he offers in New Jersey and the Florida Keys. “Most of my clients in New Jersey want something very custom and the fast track doesn’t always work as well,” says Zarrilli. “For my clients in the Florida Keys, it works much better.”
The quick-delivery process is the same as it would be for a custom home, he says: “It just goes much faster and more efficiently than a fully custom home design and finishes.”
The typical customer for this type of home is either a first-time buyer with a limited budget, or someone with a strict timeline who is interested mostly in bedroom and bath counts.
Customers can make only modest changes to the home. As soon as they start making the house footprint larger or smaller, “it is thrown back into the custom-home line and [that adds] time and cost to the project,” Zarrilli says.
The bottom line for a prefab company looking to start a fast-track program? “Think about the market you are serving and the most common attributes your customers are looking for,” he says, “and incorporate those attributes into the design and finishes of the homes you are going to offer.” He cautions that the designs of these homes need to evolve with market trends. “To be successful, you will have to [continually] adapt to changes from the customer and the industry in general.”