The Basics of Portable / Modular Classrooms

Modular construction is an advanced form of facility construction in which a building is built in three-dimensional sections (or modules) in an enclosed factory environment. During the time that your modular building is bring constructed, site development teams are preparing your site and performing any needed on-site construction (a process called concurrent construction). This ensures that time savings are maximized throughout the modular building process.

Why Modular Construction?
Customers choose portable facilities and modular-constructed buildings for a number of reasons. These include the following advantages.

1. Speed
For customers who need building space fast, modular is one of the best construction techniques available. From start to finish, a new, custom-designed modular building is usually ready in a fraction of the time as a site built building. In fact, in many cases, the building is built in a matter of days. It is the licensing, permitting and approval process that takes up the majority of time.

2. Value
Modular buildings and portable buildings offer more value for customers' purchasing dollars. Many modular-direct builders are able to gain cost efficiencies ranging from bulk purchase of materials to manufacturing efficiencies in quality-controlled plants. The result depends on your needs. Modular buildings usually have a lower square foot cost than old fashioned construction.

3. Portability
Although an increasing number of schools are choosing the strength and architectural upgrades of permanent modular buildings, designed to last as long or longer than site-built construction, many schools prefer buildings that can be relocated as needed. Temporary buildings are engineered to withstand the rigors of multiple relocations, depending on your future space needs.

Choosing a Modular Construction Company
Working with a modular construction company - working with any construction company - should be a smooth and hassle-free process. Your new building should be of high quality and value and meet both your current and future space needs.

The process can be challenging to you, regardless of whether this is your first building or if you are routinely responsible for hundreds of thousands of square feet of new building space each year. The company with which you are working should make it a priority to give you the answers you need fast and to ensure that you're satisfied - even delighted - with your experience.

There are a number of qualities you, the customer, should look for in choosing a modular construction company to work with.

1. Expertise
First, does the company have project managers focused specifically on your market, or do they take a one-size-fits-all approach? The needs of educational organizations are different from that of medical institutions. Government agencies have different requirements from retail businesses. Even something as simple as office space will have different specifications and requirements depending on your specific needs.

2. Knowledge
How much experience does the company have with custom buildings? Many companies build small, more cheaply constructed stock buildings and have very little familiarity with custom construction.

3. Building Experience
Is the company a builder or are they a dealer who will "broker" your project out? Most companies in this industry are dealers; they do not operate their own manufacturing facilities but broker your project out usually to whoever will build cheapest for them. Although some dealers, especially in geographic areas such as California, provide a great deal of value and service to customers, many dealers elsewhere do not. In fact, some companies won't even tell you that they aren't actually involved in constructing your building. If you aren't sure where you building will be built and who will be building it, be sure to ask.

4. Service
Let's face it-working with a construction company can be a hassle. We have all heard horror stories about missed deadlines, cost overruns and having to talk to 10 different people and getting 10 different answers about your project. Make sure you find out what the company's commitment is to meeting your needs through every phase of the project. Does the company focus on making sure you are as knowledgeable about the process as possible, or are they just trying to make a sale? Is the company developing a solution to meet your exact needs, or are they trying to shoehorn you into a cookie-cutter building? Does the company encourage you to visit projects they've completed and to talk to past customers?

5. Quality
The modular building industry has come a long, long way from the days of ugly, leaky classroom trailers. The quality of design, materials and construction are just as important as the skill, experience and dedication of the people involved in ensuring your building project is successful. Advanced quality control systems should be in place to make sure every building meets the highest standards.

This article was supplied by Comark Building Systems, www.comarkbuilding.com, a national leader in the design and manufacture of quality temporary and permanent modular school space.

Product Roundup

Ramtech Building Systems
Since 1982, the Ramtech RT and LT model portable classrooms have led the way in providing innovative temporary and permanent solutions to the space needs of hundreds of schools. Whether you need to purchase or lease, their extensive inventory program of portable classrooms lets you select from a wide range of units, with and without restrooms, in stock and ready for shipment. Their temporary and permanent modular facilities are also available for other specialty classrooms, classroom wings, and complexes.
www.ramtecheducation.com

Anchor Modular Buildings
Anchor Modular Buildings sells a wide variety of modular classrooms and offices for schools in the Mid-Atlantic region. Anchor is a Christian, family-owned business that will work with schools to design and build modular space that meets their needs and stays within their budget. Anchor's projects range from small classrooms for churches to large school buildings for major universities.
www.anchormodular.com

Vanguard Modular
Vanguard Modular provides award-winning space solutions for churches and church schools. The company offers temporary or permanent buildings for offices, classrooms, fellowship halls, daycare facilities and even sanctuaries. The experienced sales team makes it easy for schools to create their own unique solutions. Vanguard can custom design buildings to visually match existing facilities' exterior or create the specialized floor plan needed. For faster and more cost-effective solutions, the company offers in-stock, Ready-To-Roll pre-leased units that are continually refurbished and prepped for quick delivery.
www.vanguardmodular.com

Work Space Plus
Work Space Plus supplies modular classrooms, daycare centers and offices to the private and public education sectors. The company has provided buildings varying in size from single primary and secondary classrooms to large university complexes. Many of the individual classrooms are manufactured with non-combustible materials with designs available that save valuable campus space by having fire-rated exterior walls. Choices are available to satisfy temporary or permanent space needs with finishes to meet most architectural styles. Buildings are available for lease or purchase.
www.workspaceplus.com

Allied Steel Buildings
Allied Steel Buildings is acclaimed for setting high standards for service and performance. The company provides high-quality industrial buildings, manufacturing facilities and commercial and religious structures that meet stringent and cooperative service standards in the steel building industry. The company efficiently delivers buildings from 19 steel building factories strategically located throughout the United States. The factory locations produce each pre-engineered building in its entirety, thus ensuring schools are receiving a complete steel building from one location.
www.AlliedBuildings.com

Triumph Modular
Triumph Modular offers a wide range of temporary and permanent modular classroom structures that can be customized to meet a variety of needs, including classrooms, laboratories, libraries, cafeterias, locker rooms, administrative offices or storage space. Individual modules are fabricated in a climate-controlled environment, including fixtures and nearly all interior finishing. The module is then shipped to school sites for installation or assembly with other completed modules to build a larger structure. In addition to offering lower costs than traditional "site-built" structures, Triumph offers attractive leasing options for many of their modular classrooms.
www.triumphleasing.com