Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z J U LY 2 8 , 2 0 2 5 F O C U S 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 he says. "It's pretty significant. From groundbreaking to move-in, in a single-family house, it only takes us eight weeks and we'll compress that to six weeks going into next year. It's extremely fast." ere are also pre-construction gains. Lee says his company can design iterations and pricing updates at the same time, smoothing the way to final drawings in perhaps three months versus eight to 12 months. Different mindset Lee notes that, while employee train- ing might be easier on the factory side, on-site assembly requires an under- standing of a process that differs from conventional builds. "It's extremely different from a typical job site," he says. "So it's been difficult for us to hire and train and get people into a mindset where, every day that passes after you put the box on the foundation actually matters with the overall schedule." A key difference? e modular units hit the foundation complete with dry- wall, plumbing, electrical and finish. at leaves a punch list of tasks that need to be completed in a precise order. "It becomes a detailed project management problem," says Lee. "If you mess up the order of operations, you can all of a sudden be ripping out drywall and reworking things and losing a lot of the efficiency that was gained in the factory in the first place. It's a different skill set." Backyard obtains most of its modular volume from Professional Building Systems in Middleburg, Pa. KBS, also a supplier, is working with Backyard on the development of 20 energy-efficient, affordable condos at Maine Cooperative Development Partners' Dougherty Commons in Portland. "e big thing we do, that's made modular work well, is that we're very specific on utility hook-up details and the finish details when the boxes hit the foundation," says Lee. "at's typically one of the gaps when people leave it to figure out in the field. We've learned we've got to figure it out up front, with long, detailed conversations between the factory engineers and our engineers." Panel systems Ryan MacEachern started his modu- lar career with KBS and set off on his own in January 2020. His company, Maker Construction in Hebron, has five employees and two primary lines of work. He manufactures panelized components such as walls and roofs for other builders. And he performs sitework and assembles buildings made from panels and modules built by his own team or by other manufacturers. His primary partnership is with BrightBuilt Home, a Portland firm offering architectural design and project facilitation for high-performance and modular residential design. 21 C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E » MALONE COMMERCIAL BROKERS CONNECTED, LOCAL, SAVVY Ryan MacEachern of Maker Construction says the advantages of panelization in- clude being able to build the components off-site, then flat-pack and ship them. Off-site production can be a substantial means to solving the affordable housing crunch. — Ryan MacEachern Maker Construction P H O T O S / C O U R T E S Y M A K E R C O N S T R U C T I O N

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