Going Green: Manufactured Homes are the Original Eco-Friendly Housing

September 28, 2018

“I don’t get no respect!” comedian Rodney Dangerfield used to say. Well, Rodney, we feel the same way. The new "green" fad in home construction has always been true about manufactured homes.

Skyline for web.jpgRecently, the traditional site-built home construction industry has touted “green construction”.  This supposedly offers Earth-friendly solutions to drastically reduce the carbon footprint created by traditional building methods. 

Manufactured housing has always been sustainable, green, and eco-friendly!

Efficient Construction Methods

Factory-built homes are constructed inside a manufacturing plant, with many benefits:

  • Avoids weather related delays.

  • Weather can’t damage materials in the open.

  • Standardizes processes to improve consistency and eliminate waste[i].

  • Purchasing materials in bulk quantity saves money.

  • Constructing in a temperature-controlled environment means consistent production results.

  • Greater precision, greater security.

  • Building by skilled tradespeople.

  • Rapid completion once home is on-site.[ii]

Less Transportation

Since manufactured/mobile homes are built in a factory, then assembled before they are delivered, transportation impact on the environment is reduced. The construction of site-built homes requires workers to travel to and from the site multiple times.

Reduced Waste

Building a single home at a job site is inefficient. One study by the National Association of Home Builders estimates that 8,000 pounds of waste material gets sent to the landfill when building a single 2,000 square foot stick-built home.[iii] 

With factory-built homes, waste is less because excess can be collected and used on another home. In short, manufactured houses are more sustainable.[iv]

One-quarter of all non-industrial waste in the United States is generated by construction and demolition. [v] In fact, the EPA states that 40% of the solid waste in the U.S. comes from home building sites – traditional, stick-built homes.[vi] 

Imagine how much cleaner our planet would be if everyone lived in a manufactured home!

Easier Living

Even after a manufactured home is delivered and installed to one of our communities in Iowa, it continues to be planet-friendly.  Manufactured homes are built with the same insulation materials, same brands, purchased in quantity and are more energy efficient than older, site-built homes. 

Plus, Hames’ land-lease communities make good use of home site space.  Less grass to mow means less gas emissions from the lawn mower!  Lovely green spaces in all Hames communities allows neighbors to congregate and get to know each other.  This makes us all happier planet-dwellers!

​Come and view our large inventory of eco-friendly manufactured/mobile homes at 5410 Wabash St. SW in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, or visit us online at www.hameshomes.com. 

#HomeSweetHames

[i] https://www.eesi.org/briefings/view/sustainable-and-affordable-new-options-in-factory-built-housing

[ii] https://prosperitynow.org/sites/default/files/PDFs/10-2017_Introduction_to_Manufactured_Housing.pdf

[iii] https://www.nextmodular.com/construction-waste/

[iv]  https://www.triplepundit.com/2009/04/prefabricated-homes-make-environmental-sense/

[v] http://buildipedia.com/at-home/design-remodeling/prefab-homes

[vi] https://www.nextmodular.com/construction-waste/

Loading Conversation