A modular player scales in urban high-rise apartment projects

"VBC has a repeatable model for specific high-cost, land-constrained markets, particularly in the Northeast and on the West Coast. Since 2009, the company has opened a 328,000-square-foot factory in Berwick, Pennsylvania; acquired a former Katerra factory in Tracy, California, totaling 577,000 square feet; and expanded in Europe with a factory in Poland of more than 100,000 square feet."

"Buckley founded VBC around high-density urban projects typically 100 units or more, a niche he said many modular competitors avoided. When VBC launched in 2009, only about 0.25% of Philadelphia's construction used off-site components."

"VBC approached modular a little differently than our contemporary peers at the time, and it was because we had an urban focus. VBC targets large projects because the model's time savings and labor advantages are more meaningful in markets where construction is expensive and job sites are logistically difficult."

Modular housing is a growing segment in U.S. residential construction, especially in multifamily projects. Volumetric Building Companies (VBC) focuses on urban markets where construction costs are high. CEO Vaughan Buckley emphasized the importance of targeting dense urban projects, which offer significant time and labor savings. Despite the sector's mixed success, VBC has established a repeatable model and has delivered around 7,000 units since its inception in 2009. The company has expanded its manufacturing capabilities with factories in Pennsylvania, California, and Poland, aiming to address the challenges of high-cost, land-constrained markets.

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