Library
Six pillars, every claim footnoted.
Each analysis stands on its own and links to the others. New pieces are added monthly; existing ones are revised when the data changes, with the revision noted.
The modular market is worth $111 billion. Or $20 billion. It depends who's counting.
Global forecasts for modular construction diverge by a factor of two. The disagreement is the story: definitions, not demand, decide the number — and North America is still stuck near five percent.
PILLAR 02 · ECONOMICSSchedule is proven. Cost is conditional. Financing is the real constraint.
"20–50% faster" and "up to 20% cheaper" are two different claims with two different evidence bars. The data behind each, the counter-evidence, and why the capital stack matters more than the crane.
PILLAR 03 · CODES & STANDARDSReciprocity, not regulation, is what modular codes are missing.
ICC/MBI 1200, 1205 and 1210 in the US, CSA A277 in Canada, MMC categories in the UK — the standards exist. What doesn't exist is a way for a module certified in one jurisdiction to be accepted in the next.
PILLAR 04 · PROCESSWhat a volumetric module actually is, and why the road decides its shape.
Volumetric vs panelised vs hybrid, the dimensions transport rules impose, how a line is sequenced, how much gets finished indoors, and what steel and timber each let you build.
PILLAR 05 · CASE STUDIESEleven modular projects, sorted by what they actually taught.
Katerra, Veev, 461 Dean Street, Factory_OS, Toronto's overrun, BC's 606 homes, Singapore's Clement Canopy, Hong Kong MiC, Croydon, AC NoMad and Boxabl — with the metrics and the lesson each one leaves.
PILLAR 06 · SUSTAINABILITYModular is usually greener. It is not automatically greener, and the bylaws are about to check.
Waste cuts of up to 90% and 56% fewer truck movements are real. So is the extra steel in a stackable module. With Vancouver now capping embodied carbon at permit, the industry will have to prove its LCA numbers.
Coming next
The North American factory map
Every operating volumetric plant in the US and Canada, with structural system, approvals held, and what we could verify about output.
What Build Canada Homes actually ordered
Following the February 2026 RFI through prequalification to the first awarded contracts — and whether the pipeline is the kind factories can invest against.
The double-wall acoustic test
We are asking manufacturers to publish STC and IIC results for stacked-module party walls. The first to do so gets the piece.