Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/708576
AUGUST 2016 14 THE JOURNAL BY BRUCE SAVAGE COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT Educating Homebuyers While Also Transforming Manufactured Homes Makes Good Sense Promoting more ENERGY STAR homes built and sold makes so much sense to the long- term future of the factory-built housing indus- try. A recent announcement by Next Step, a national non-profit whose mission is to put sus- tainable homeownership within reach of every- one, while also transforming the manufactured housing industry one home at a time, proves this point in dramatic ways. In the words of Next Step, the benefits of factory-built housing are three fold: * Building a manufactured home takes about 25% less time to produce in a factory environ- ment than in the field. In a controlled environ- ment, there's no need to worry about weather, damage to materials and theft. This helps save money while controlling costs over the entire homebuilding process…savings that are passed on to the homebuyer. * In addition to faster production times, fac- tory-built homes produce significantly less waste. When materials aren't exposed to weather, theft or other factors in the field, ap- proximately 30% less waste in generated. This translates into money saved and less impact on the environment. * Finally, building homes in a controlled en- vironment allows manufacturers to scale processes that speed up construction of the homes. This efficient building system helps drive the price of the home down, transferring savings directly from the manufacturer to the homebuyer. What Next Step brings to the process is to help homebuyers better understand homeown- ership and how they can make better choices when selecting a home. Today's manufacturers have made tremendous strides in ENERGY STAR homes with improvements and new technologies such as Low-E windows, an en- ergy-efficient water heater, enhanced ceiling insulation, along with air-tight construction. Today's ENERGY STAR construction now de- livers a more comfortable home than ever before while also benefitting the homebuyer with im- proved operating cost for the life of the home. Next Step also works directly with home builders in a model that provides better, more affordable housing choices to homebuyers. Through this network, homebuyers gain access to homes that are designed to increase energy efficiency and maximize savings, placed on a permanent foundation to allow for fixed-rate home financing, and engineered to ensure af- fordability while maintaining quality standards. With its manufacturing partners, Next Step is able to deliver sustainable homeownership to an increased number of homebuyers across the na- tion each year. "According to our data, we have placed 244 Energy Star homes to date," states Stacey Ep- person, President and Founder of Next Step, s.epperson@nextstepus.org. "We estimate that these homes will deliver $6,718,000 in energy cost savings over 30 years, along with reducing 16,470 tons of carbon emissions over that same 30 year period." Marketing materials explaining the benefits of factory-built housing have been prepared and are available for order from Next Step. These materials range from a video explaining why the factory-building process is inherently better than site-building to brochures that illustrate how Next Step manufactured and modular homes offer homebuyers real advantages. The materials also showcase homebuyers talking about their experiences purchasing and living in factory-built homes. If you're looking for ways to spread the pos- itive message about factory-built housing, these materials really meet a real need. They help homebuyers fully understand how today's fac- tory-built homes give them good choices in pur- chasing a sustainable home that can provide energy-efficient homes that will make good eco- nomic sense in both the short- and long-term. These marketing materials are now available for order from Next Step at www.whymh.org. Next Step Network Members and Next Step's SmartMH Partners are eligible for a 50% off dis- count on materials. To access the discount, create an account and once your account has been granted membership status, order materi- als at the discounted rate. Congratulations to Next Step for showing the way to put sustainable homeownership within the reach of everyone while transforming the manufactured housing industry one home at a time. Bruce Savage is a national communications consultant to both for-profit and not-for-profit clients around the country. He formed Savage Communications Strate- gies six years ago to assist these clients with innovative approaches to challenging communications situations. He also recently formed www.AmericanHousingAd- vocates.com with Suzanne Felber to highlight on new social media how manufactured homes offer tremen- dous opportunities to millions of Americans seeking quality housing at affordable prices. Savage served for more than 16 years as the vice president of communi- cations for the Manufactured Housing Institute and he continues to work with manufactured housing industry members with various types of communications and marketing programs. He can be reached at 202-664- 4512 or bruce@savagestrategies.com. T J