Mainebiz

J U LY 2 8 , 2 0 2 5 R E A L E S TAT E / C O N S T R U C T I O N / E N G I N E E R I N G F O C U S "We're usually able to produce four to five times the amount of square footage per person per year, versus on- site construction, because it's much more efficient," he says. Some of that is due to the elimina- tion of long, daily commutes to on- site projects in remote rural areas. "ey wake up at 3 a.m., get to the job site at 7 a.m., take advantage of good weather days, work longer days, then leave at 7 p.m. and get home at 11 at night," he says. "Most of our work- ers live within half an hour of our facility. ey can put their kids on the bus, make those baseball games, and have a much better work-life balance." en there's construction efficiency. In the field, "e framer does his work. He leaves. e house sits there a week. en the roofer shows up. A week or two passes. en the sider shows up," says Butcher. "We have all those work- ers in the factory back-to-back. e moment one crew is finished, the work moves on. We eliminate those delays and wasted travel times." Detailed planning Backyard ADUs, headquartered at 247 Coons Road in Brunswick with teams in Maine and Massachusetts, was founded in late 2019 by Christopher Lee and Austin Gregory to design and assemble net-zero-ready modular homes as accessory dwelling units, accessory apartments or granny flats, combining prefab construction techniques with on- site construction. e mission grew to include houses and apartment buildings. Backyard now has 36 employees. "We're building one house per week, to be two houses per week by the end of 2025," says Lee. Backyard facilitates the planning process, works with off-site construction partners to build components, and pro- vides sitework, assembly and finish. "We cut our teeth over the last five years figuring out how to design, price and build a modular structure predict- ably and affordably," he says. e builds go quickly. "When all the parties are coordinated, it cuts the time by 30% to 40% overall" compared with on-site construction, 20 » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E Owner John Veit Atlantic Limousine of Maine Scarborough Applies to loan amounts under $100,000. Minimum credit score of 650 required. Loans must be repaid through a qualified SBSI deposit account using Automatic Funds Transfer. New equipment purchases require a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 90% or better. Used equipment purchases require an LTV of 80% or better. Three-day turnaround begins with the receipt of a completed application. An application is considered complete when the Bank has received: tax return representing a full calendar/fiscal year of operations; personal financial statement; appropriate disclosures; corporate documents (may vary depending on applicant). Three-day turnaround excludes non-business days and holidays. If Saco & Biddeford Savings is unable to meet the three-day turnaround guarantee, applicant will be eligible to receive a credit of $150 at time of closing. APPLY NOW P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y B A C K YA R D A D U S Christopher Lee of Backyard ADUs says construction that uses modules made in factories, then shipped to the site, can cut timelines considerably compared with on-site builds. V O L . X X X I N O. X V I

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