Modular Homes Up the Design Ante for Custom Builders

The Woodmere, one of Ballymore Homes' most recent projects, was built for a family of eight with six girls. The order was tall. The lot size was 70 by 100 feet. The customer gave Ballymore, a full-service contractor that partners regularly with other firms on modular projects, a wish list that included bedrooms and bathrooms to accommodate the family as well as a spare bedroom, pantry, butler's pantry, mud room, spacious dining room and large kitchen ith attached breakfast room and connecting family room. The firm called on the experience of architect Jozsef Solta from New Canaan, Conn.

“I have worked with Jozsef over the past 15 years. He and I have done many projects together over the years from large to small, and I knew he would be the right fit for this project,” says Donal Finlay, president of Ballymore Homes.

The firm was able to fit about what Finlay says was 98 percent of the client's wish list into the 4,200 square-foot house. On-site, crews poured a 10-foot finished basement with a walk-up attic space. An added touch was the laundry chute from the second and first floors into the full-scale laundry room in the basement. Upstairs opens up with a foyer, an oak stair case and a Velux Sun Tunnel skylight that provides tons of streaming natural light. The house also has radiant heated floors throughout (including the basement) with a multi-floor sensor system that gives give feedback to the special thermostats.

The company didn't skimp on the small stuff, either. “We installed a beautiful 2½- by ¾-inch rift and quarter-sawn select red oak with a medium dark stain throughout. The dining room through the library has great ¾-inch dark black walnut accent strips with an inlaid design in the corners to give that rich feeling,” Finlay says.

To Finlay, the level of design will continue to become more and more sophisticated. “When I started building modular 14 years ago I visited many local architects in my area to talk about modular building, and they were not interested. Today the times have changed, and they are calling now and asking the questions like 'Can you build this?' as their clients are driving the demand to modular systems.”

The Ibsen, named after the street on which it sits, is the progeny of a relatively recent relationship between Haven Custom Homes and Sandy Spring Builders. The home was made under the Sandy Spring Classic Homes name, a brand of homes created by the companies' strategic alliance.

“[Building modular is] nothing more than a highly precise, very high quality technique that is becoming ever more attractive given its value proposition,” says Smalley. “It's specification certain, quality certain, price certain and time certain.”

It was this level of efficiency that won Haven a contract for a new custom home on a ½-acre in one of the swankiest neighborhoods in Bethesda, Md.

Sandy Spring Builders' Leibovitz talks of the transition the company made from traditional stick-built homes to highly customizable modular building — a rather dramatic transition that occurred within a year. “It's a pretty new relationship, but we've pushed our techniques and they've pushed theirs. It doesn't hurt to get more sophisticated,” says Leibovitz. He says the company rarely builds the same floor plan twice.

It also doesn't hurt that the Energy Star-rated Ibsen features ultra-high-end finishes. Among the perks are a gourmet kitchen; formal living and dining rooms; a walk-out basement; oversized trim and other accents and dual-staircases.