Profiting with pre-fab.

• Author: Ajango, Deb
• Position: Prefabricated homes

Technology innovations make prefab a practical alternative for northern housing, whether you're building a new home in Anchorage or constructing multifamily dwellings in the Bush.

Prefab or modular construction has roots that predate building of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. Providing housing and space for Alaska's oil, mining, timber and fishing industries often imposes difficult building environments. Premade structures, however, can be built indoors, then shipped to remote areas of the state almost as quickly as facilities could be built on site.

The benefits of prefab buildings are most evident in Alaska's remote areas. Consider, for example, what it would cost to construct buildings in the Bush from scratch. First, there's the high cost of shipping building materials to the Bush. Then, structures are sometimes needed to store the construction materials. In addition, labor costs mount as materials are moved from storage to the building site. In the case of large construction projects, camps must often be deployed to house construction workers flown in to build the facility. Building seasons are short, rushed and weather-dependent. Though village residents can supply some of the labor for a remote construction project, they also may need the summer months for subsistence purposes.

Headstart on Housing

Prefab and modular buildings, however, side-step all these problems, giving their manufacturers a firm foot-hold in Alaska's construction industry.

Typically, prefab (prebuilt) or modular (built in sections or units) projects are commercial or industrial in nature. For example, to house workers on their North Slope oil fields, oil companies purchased 70- to 80-ton prefab structures from Veco and shipped them up the Dalton Highway to the North Slope. Other businesses or industries that have used prefab or modular units in Alaska include Alascom, the military and even fishing guides.

But the success of the commercial and industrial arms of the prefab business seems to mirror Alaska's boom and bust economy. Today, the most promising use of prefab and modular units is for housing, spurred by improved technology.

Prefab housing contractors previously had to deal not only with the difficulties of building quality homes in northern environments, but with industry-related glitches.

For example, prefab houses are built in the Lower 48-in pieces, using mass-production techniques. Finished units are either turned out in sections, with one part...