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Many factory-built homes were created for trailer courts, mobile home parks, and mobile home communities that can oftentimes come with negative stereotypes. Modern manufactured and factory-built homes are now almost identical in appearance to site-built homes. These homes are built to meet tight federal standards for quality, safety, and durability. Today, they’re seen as an affordable, eco-friendly, modern alternative to custom site-built housing and builders are seeing more value in building these types of homes than ever before. Manufactured housing has experienced a major upsurge in production in the last few years and in order for builders to compete in this market, prioritizing home performance, comfort, and affordability is key. And it’s best achieved by incorporating reliable, efficient energy sources like propane.
‘A New Class of Manufactured Homes’ Welcome to the new generation of factory-built homes: CrossMod™. CrossMod is a term coined by the Manufactured Housing Institute to capture the essence of homes that bring added quality and innovation that buyers often feel only
can be found in off-site built homes. These new homes have the exterior aesthetics to fit in nearly any residential neighborhood, but bring the benefits and value provided only by the factory construction process. As housing affordability challenges continue to grow, families of all economic backgrounds are searching for attainable, high-quality homes that avoid an unsustainable financial burden. According to MHI, CrossMod homes placed on a permanent foundation and qualify for conventional financing help challenge exclusionary zoning ordinances, and are virtually indistinguishable from higher-priced, standard site-built options. With this new “hybrid” home, the industry has the potential to bring manufactured housing to areas around the country that have little or no exposure to off-site built homes.
How and Where Propane Can Help Creating quality, affordable homes involves an integrated, whole-building design — including the energy source powering the home’s appliances and major systems. By incorporating propane, builders, home retailers, and ultimately homeowners, can count on the energy source for better performance and higher efficiency. Propane’s versatility extends to a wide variety of residential appliances including water heaters, furnaces, clothes dryers, ranges and ovens, fireplaces, and standby generators. Plus, with propane, homeowners will see cost savings the entire time they own their home. Propane-powered appliances have lower annual energy costs compared with electric counterparts. For example: Propane tankless water heaters have 50% lower annual energy costs compared to electric storage tank water heaters. 68 | 2020 STATE OF THE INDUSTRY • MHINSIDER.COM
