THE MOD(ULAR) SQUAD: Boise company creates affordable solutions for commercial and community dwellings

Around 2007, modular home builder Guerdon switched its focus from constructing single-family homes to commercial modules for use in hotels, multifamily home buildings, senior living facilities and others.

Last year, the company had the opportunity to help citizens in Maui, the Hawaiian island which was devastated in 2023 after a series of wildfires wiped out many structures and killed more than 100 people. Guerdon was one of the manufacturers chosen by three developers that FEMA contracted to build single-family homes for displaced residents.

It switched the company’s focus for the course of one project, but it gave Guerdon a chance to positively affect people’s lives, said CEO Tommy Rake.

“When I got to see that video of the homeowner stepping into that home that we could share with our people in the factory and know they were a part of being a solution to somebody having a place to live,” Rake said during a tour of the Boise factory floor. “That was the most special part. The business side was good, but the fact that [we] provided something to somebody, and [we] benefited them that way, that was the most satisfying.”

Overall, Guerdon built 27, two-bedroom, single-family homes that were constructed at the company’s facility in Boise, then trucked to Seattle. From there, the units were placed on a barge and shipped to Maui. From there, each home was placed by crane into lots, where onsite crews added finishing touches.

The company was founded in 2001 as Guerdon Modular Buildings by Laurence “Lad” Dawson and Mike Bowers in a partnership with New York-based Innovatus Capital Partners. It now goes by Guerdon, LLC, and operates in several Western U.S. states, including Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, and internationally in Canada.

Though its factory is in Boise on Federal Way not far from Interstate 84, not many projects built in the factory end up in Idaho, said Paul Dille, director of marketing.

“We actually don’t have a lot of jobs here, locally,” he said. “It makes more sense for those high-cost construction markets like California, that’s where there are so many there.”

Dille stated that there was a time when the company was doing more outreach and education on the benefits to modular structures, trying to expand Guerdon’s project reach. But that has changed and the company is getting more inbound calls inquiring about their services.

Apartment buildings and hotels that are built using the modular units can save on labor costs in places like California because the structures are built with Idaho labor.

Along with a project that provided housing for homeless people in Skid Row neighborhood in Los Angeles, the company has built units for Hilton hotels, student and workforce housing, senior living facilities and others.

The company has pointed out that, along with potential labor costs, there are several other benefits to creating structures on a factory floor as opposed to on-site.

One of those is exposure to the elements.

“Do you want to build your computer outside in the rain? Do you want to build your automobile outside in the rain,” Rake asked rhetorically. “So, why do you want to build your product outside in the rain? In today’s industry, the buzzwords are ‘mold mitigation.’ Every site-built project has moisture trapped into it. They’re going to go as fast as they can to build. Here, we build from the inside out.”

With a dry, inside operation, structures can be sealed. Which also means that operations can continue year-round, instead of shutting down in extreme weather conditions like rain or snowstorms.

Safety is another factor when it comes to on-site versus facility-built structures, Dille said.

“This might be the fifth story of a building,” he said, pointing to an employee who was installing a window on a unit resting on the floor. “This is a really important seal, so you don’t want the weather coming in. Just imagine, if you’re on the fifth story in downtown L.A., standing on scaffolding, winds blowing. You’re trying to do a good job putting the window in.”

Dille stated that the worker didn’t have to worry about safety harnessing, high winds or extreme weather. He could focus on the job at hand to make sure it was completed properly. The units are typically sturdier than traditional stick-built structures, and because they are stackable with space between rooms on a completed total structure, they are more soundproof and have higher fire ratings.

At the Guerdon factory, there are 22 stations that can all be active at once, as was the case on a recent Wednesday afternoon. Separate crews will work on the base of a unit, which will then move onto the next station. One area will focus on framing, others on window and door installations, drywall, finish work, cabinetry and so on until the units roll out the opposite side of the facility to be placed on transportation for shipping.

The company was finishing about two and a half units per day on the Maui job, according to Bryan Shoemaker, director of construction.

“We have a factory here that has 22 stations at any given time,” he said. “There are 20 different modules on there, so if you build them at two a day, that means it takes 10 days to completely fill the factory. On day 11, number one rolls off, or one and two roll off. So, total duration for our 27 units, Sept. 30, 2024, is when we went online. Nov. 5 is when we went offline. [It was] five and a half weeks for our total scope.”

Though there was satisfaction in a job well built, delivered and installed on time – as is the case with all their projects – Shoemaker said jobs like the Maui homes hit differently.

“It’s a good, uplifting feeling,” he said. “Being in the modular industry, we see one of two different things. You either get [people saying,] ‘How come our local people aren’t building this?’ Or it’s fully embraced. And the community around [Maui], at least from our perspective, it was very embraced.”

For Rake, the impact that the product his company manufactures isn’t lost on the construction industry veteran.

“We’re not providing and automobile that somebody’s going to sell X number of years or wear out,” he said. “This is their life. This is what they’re about. We’re way beyond just building widgets or what have you.”