Our Factory
Unity Homes, Inc. will build the healthiest, most energy-efficient and affordable modular homes in the United States.
Unity Homes Production Facility SketchOur manufacturing process concentrates most of the work associated with building a home in a factory setting. This allows us to combine quality control, bulk purchasing of materials, and state-of-the-art technology, with factory efficiencies and quality assurance systems.
Our development team has great experience in and knowledge of modular housing production systems, which they are applying to creating both the production facility and the homes.
Following an extensive search of available properties to house our production facility, the Unity Homes development team concluded that the best option was to build our own factory, and that the best location was in Marion County, Mississippi. By starting from scratch, rather than trying to fit our operations within an existing building, our team is designing a facility that will have maximum efficiency and flexibility.
On October 30, 2007, the Governor of Mississippi, the Honorable Haley Barbour, along with the Marion County Board of Supervisors, announced that the first Unity Homes production facility would be located in the city of Columbia, Mississippi.
Unity Homes, Inc. also announced the appointment of James A. Jackson as its first President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Jackson will take Unity Homes' reigns on November 1, 2007.
Over the coming months, Mr. Jackson will oversee the rapid development of Unity Homes operations, including the construction of its new 86,000-square-foot modular housing facility at the Marion County Industrial Park. Our schedule calls for the factory to be open by September 2008 with an initial staff of over four dozen homebuilders.
The factory will also serve as a base of operations for our field crews, which are an equally important part of our building process.
In cooperation with the Pearl River Valley Community College system, we plan to begin job training programs in mid-2008, in anticipation of building our first house by September 2008. Find out more about Unity Homes' future job opportunities.
Once the factory is open, we will welcome customers and other partners to come and see how we make the country’s best affordable houses.
What is a Modular Home
Unity Homes Production Facility SketchModular housing is one solution to the post hurricane housing shortage that is gaining traction throughout the Gulf Coast and Delta. Not to be confused with what is often referred to as “manufactured housing” or trailers, modular construction offers some significant advantages over traditional site-built homes that are particularly well suited to the current challenges facing Gulf Coast recovery:
1. The efficiencies of building housing in a controlled factory environment can deliver more housing, faster, with less waste, than site built operations. When operating at full capacity, the Unity Homes manufacturing facility will be capable of producing two 1,200-1,400 sq ft homes a day. With 90% of the construction taking place in the factory, these homes can be “set” on site and ready for occupancy in as little as 2-3 weeks. By dramatically reducing construction waste and weather-related down time, and by maximizing the labor efficiencies of assembly line production, significant savings can be realized by the consumer.
2. The inherent precision of factory production produces a more rigid structure with fewer defects than “stick built” housing. In the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, government studies found that modular homes experienced less damage than other types of homes because of the precise and inflexible construction, making it ideal for resisting hurricane winds.
3. The efficiencies and cost savings of modular housing are further magnified when applied to in-fill housing. Large site-built developments often take the modular process “outside” by establishing material depots, centralized work stations and other modular derived approaches in large housing developments. Such techniques are impossible to apply to in-fill construction.