People in the UK prefer to build their homes every year, which can be a rewarding experience that can help them to build their dream home, however, it is also quite challenging and time-consuming.
Many UK residents prefer to choose their own home design all by themselves or consult a certain expert, however, many people often prefer to go for a flat pack house instead. Such homes can help you to have some of your say while doing the overall design.
In countries like Sweden, Germany and even Japan people have increased their modular housing recently, however, in the UK the number is only 15,000 out of the 200,000 homes that come up every year.
A few pros and cons of this option are as follows:
Pros:
- Often, they can be a cheaper option than any traditional brick-built homes.
- These homes can also be a good investment because they are extremely environmentally friendly
- Can save your money in the long run as it remains cool during summer and hot during winter
- Higher quality control can be achieved with a modern construction method
- A Fair degree of accuracy can be expected as they are built off the site.
Cons:
- Needs exact measurements as they are built off-site where chances of error exist
- No changes are possible easily on site if any error has taken place
- Needs to be transported very carefully and the size of the transport may often limit it.
Because the costs of such flat pack homes can be around 12 percent more than any traditional method, therefore, most house builders often hesitate to take this option as they are afraid that their profit margin may considerably reduce if they want to remain competitive.
That is one of the great reasons why this current modular housing initiative remains limited to only affordable housing schemes of the government, hotels, and other foreign investments.
However, all traditional builders must take initiative to start introducing this concept of building homes if they are interested to keep up with the various new entrants coming to the construction sector. This change is needed to address the issue of housing shortage in the UK.
Also, they may be forced to go for this new method to fight against the rising costs needed to hire skilled workers keeping in view of Brexit and it is important to understand that the industry can no longer depend on migrant labourers to get a cheaper workforce.
There is an issue as the industry is not trying to recruit as fast as workers are going to retire, so this along with rising costs may force them to shift to MMC.
Modular homes that can be produced in a factory can in a few cases, be assembled just within a week where less labour is needed. They can easily be erected indoors hence getting less exposure to the various outside elements of a building site, and less noise pollution for the surrounding residents.
So, can this be a new solution to address the housing crisis in the UK?