FastCompany’s Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan reports that general contractor Skender has completed its first modular apartment unit prototype, assembled and furnished at its new modular factory on Chicago’s southwest side.
The 63-year-old firm launched a separate entity for modular construction, Skender Manufacturing, last year, and aims to start commercial unit production by June 2019. The firm has 10 confirmed development projects in place for its modular units, including a 110-unit condo building in Chicago’s West Loop.
The promise of the factory is twofold: The company believes it will cut construction costs by as much as 15%, and speed up construction by as much as 40%. “It shifts the mentality” away from the conventional building process, where a developer hires an architect, an engineer, and a contractor, and then the contractor hires out subcontractors, says CEO Mark Skender.
…The company estimates the factory will create 125 unionized jobs and it’s currently in conversations with several unions and will announce an agreement in the coming months. These agreements are critical, since Skender will work with each developer to decide on a production cost for each product. The first prototype ran about $275 to $300 per square foot, or $250 averaged over a multi-unit building; the cost savings for potential developers, though, will depend on the location and size of the project.
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