Doug Stimpson, vice president and general manager of All American Homes in Dyersville, in northeastern Iowa told MHProNews that business has increased 30 percent in the last four years, and already this year it is up five to ten percent.
President Todd Burds of Burds Housing, Inc. in nearby Peosta said, “In the past year, we were 35 percent higher in the number of modular homes we sold. We are expecting similar growth in 2016.”
Stimpson said his company, which employs 75, usually shuts down for six weeks in the winter, but this year that will be shortened two to four weeks due to higher sales. He added, “The improvement in the overall economy and the lower interest rates have certainly helped. The winter has been relatively mild, and that helps, too.”
Burds Housing was founded in 1972, and offers both manufactured and modular homes which Brothers Todd and Tim Burds customize before sending the blueprints to factories where they are built.
The majority of Burds business is within a 100-mile radius of Dubuque, and they see the opportunity to grow, in part, because more site-built homebuilders are retiring and no one is replacing them.
As MHProNews understands, many construction workers left the industry in the wake of the housing downturn, and contractors are finding the pool of available tradesmen thin. ##
(Photo credit: thonline/Dave Kettering–Alex Deutmeyer, left, and Nathan Jasper work on a modular home at All American Homes.)
