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Costco Broke into a Surprising New Market: Modular Housing

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Re: Costco Broke into a Surprising New Market: Modular Housing

#21

Post by thelastgallon »

joshe wrote: post #17

An excellent unintended consequence of forcing builders into modular housing might be a much more robust modular housing market. Sort of like Tesla starting with higher cost Roadsters and Model S cars until there is scale to compete at volume. It would be terrific to see some productivity gain in construction, which as actually declined since 1987. See the Single-Family graph here: https://www.bls.gov/productivity/hi…

Robust and energy efficient.

From: https://cleantechnica.com/2024/06/12/one-home-builder-grows-...

Clayton, a leading single-family home builder, recently made big environmental news by deciding to convert nearly all of the 42,000 modern manufactured homes it builds annually to be certified ENERGY STAR and Zero Energy Ready Homes (ZEHR). These certifications mean that its manufactured homes will be much more efficient, save homeowners money on their utility bills (up to 50%) and provide premium energy-efficient appliances that are often considered unaffordable to the average family.

Clayton’s switch to ZERH also means nearly all of its homes now come with a heat pump water heater (HPWH), which likely represents the single largest procurement of HPWHs in the history of the technology. To put it in context, the entire HPWH market in 2022 shipped 141,000 units, and Clayton alone will increase this total by 30%!

Re: Costco Broke into a Surprising New Market: Modular Housing

#23

Post by skybrian »

I think this is bit misleading. Costco contracted with a builder for this particular store. If it works out, maybe they'll go with them for a second store, and then who knows?

But it doesn't mean Costco has become a builder, and the conditions resulting in the store being built in this particular way are local to some parts of California.

Re: Costco Broke into a Surprising New Market: Modular Housing

#25

Post by thelastgallon »

Lets hope Costco actually gets into the home building business and offers dozen packs of homes with a Super Premium Membership, $1000/year. Like they do with Chicken.

Costco’s inflation-proof $4.99 rotisserie chicken, explained: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23207301/costco-rotisseri...

"But there’s another reason the birds have remained so affordable. In 2019, Costco made an unprecedented move to source its chicken at even lower margins: It set up its own feed mill, hatchery, and slaughter plant in Nebraska, and contracted nearby farmers to raise over 100 million birds each year, all under the name Lincoln Premium Poultry (LPP). It could be saving the company up to 35 cents per bird."

Re: Costco Broke into a Surprising New Market: Modular Housing

#26

Post by Dylan16807 »

jokethrowaway wrote: post #7
mlyle wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The picture of modular housing isn't at all what this project is going to look like. Yes, prefab does add some constraints but you only produce a building that looks like a stack of shipping containers if that's what you want. And, is this development really so bad? There's a bunch of additional housing created; Costco gets their store built; we have mixed use, where a lot of people aren't going to need to take a car…

Buildings that could have been beautiful and enrich the city and the lives of tenants will end up being stack of containers to bypass government imposed minimum wage and endless regulations. No wonder why soviet union buildings looked like a bland block of concrete. If this is not a cautionary tale on the dangers of regulation, I don't know what is. Congrats to Costco for finding a trick and getting things done, desp…

It's going to look like an apartment building. I don't see an issue.

Re: Costco Broke into a Surprising New Market: Modular Housing

#27

Post by forgetfreeman »

mannyv wrote: post #16

All housing is prefab, at least on the low end.

I've worked in the trades off and on since the 90's and modular construction has always been superior to stick built in terms of build quality. Why this style of construction gets lumped in with manufactured housing (trailers) is an enduring mystery to me.

Re: Costco Broke into a Surprising New Market: Modular Housing

#28

Post by m463 »

mlyle wrote: post #19
jokethrowaway wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buildings that could have been beautiful and enrich the city and the lives of tenants will end up being stack of containers to bypass government imposed minimum wage and endless regulations. No wonder why soviet union buildings looked like a bland block of concrete. If this is not a cautionary tale on the dangers of regulation, I don't know what is. Congrats to Costco for finding a trick and getting things done, desp…

I don't think the renders of the actual planned development look at all like a stack of containers. That heritage will show inside, though: there's probably not going to be any rooms that are really wide. But modern apartments tend to not have too many of those anyways.

I would imagine some rooms will be double-wide.

more seriously, it seems mobile homes nowadays come in 14, 16 and 18' widths and 66 to 80' lengths.

It seems shipping containers are 8' wide and usually 20, 40 and 45' long.

I suspect there are ways to make multiples of these dimensions.

I also wonder why you couldn't just take a truck and load it up with a stack of walls that are laid out with a crane.

Re: Costco Broke into a Surprising New Market: Modular Housing

#29

Post by TulliusCicero »

bsder wrote: post #13
akira2501 wrote: post #2

So a compliant result that makes none of the involved parties truly happy and produces an outcome that no one would have ever asked for. California is very good at this.

Actually it seems to make most people quite happy? Costco seems okay with it. Housing gets built that circumvented the NIMBY's. The development is mixed use with a grocery store in walking distance instead of driving distance. Local labor gets paid an appropriate amount instead of being undercut by illegal labor (a HUGE problem in California). And it's not like current 5 over 1 construction is particularly aesthetic.…

Calling Costco a grocery store is perhaps a bit of a stretch, but yeah the outcome seems fine to me.
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