There is a growing perception that manufactured homes, modular homes and pre-fabricated homes are built specifically for sustainable living and energy efficiency. Far more often than not, internet searches for “green homes”, “energy efficient homes” and “sustainable homes” return search results for manufactured homes of all kinds. For whatever reason, it’s a good thing for consumers. The leading builders of manufactured homes are keenly focused on increasing energy efficiency in home design to satisfy a growing consumer and environmental need.

The needs that many builders are catering to are consumers that want to build homes in remote areas an in high end areas where general contractor fees are sky-high.

If you are considering building a home in a remote area, manufactured homes are the way to go. It makes perfect sense: If you want to build a site built home in a remote area, then you’ll need a general contractor and subcontractors. Coordinating electric, plumbing framing, foundation work, finish carpentry and every other detail in a remote area can be very difficult. You may even find it impossible to get certain kinds of subcontracting specialists to perform work and if you do, it may be at a considerable premium. These considerations don’t even take in to account that local specialists in remote areas my not be well versed in energy efficient design or building.

Australia is known for its vast, expansive and unpopulated areas and many people find it desirable to build homes in these areas to “get away from it all.” A recent ABC News Australia report, Modular homes offer cheaper remote housing discusses this problem referring to homes built in a factory and assembled on site as the most preferable method given the remoteness of their West Coast and the cost savings. In fact, Australians are saving 30% on construction costs on average using modular homes constructed from cement, transported to their remote West Coast.

A growing number of individuals and families are looking to manufactured housing in America in either remote areas or in very high-end locales where site build home contractors charge excessively high premiums. In both areas, manufactured homes help consumers in two ways: (1) they accomplish the goal of the consumer, that is, building a high-quality home in a short period of time and (2) they reduce overall costs to get the same quality, if not better, than a site built home all the while offering the energy efficiency options high-end buyers are looking for.

Manufactured homes are often far more energy efficient than their site built counterparts. Hallmark Southwest’s Net-Zero Energy equipped homes are a testament to energy efficiency and more and more buyers of manufactured homes are expecting energy efficiency and solar photovoltaic options when shopping the marketplace. So while many traditional builders of manufactured homes are experiencing downturns in sales due largely to the economy, those buyers that want to live a sustainable, green life understand that high-end manufactured home builders cater to their needs. The growing assumption in the manufactured housing industry is that the companies that adapt and overcome, providing energy efficient or Net-Zero Energy homes will do well in the long term, especially with the market segment that has a deep care and concern for living a sustainable life.

While housing in general may be hurting, manufactured home builders, modular home companies and pre-fabricated builders that cater to people that want to buy a sustainable dwelling will do just fine.