It is surprising to find out how many people still think of modular houses as trailers. Having been exposed to beautiful modulars in my own town, I find great pleasure in showing friends some of the magnificent houses I have found in the last few years. They totally break the stereotype people have of this type of construction. I was first taken with the concept of modular houses when one rainy day several years ago I watched a friend's house being set. The boxes, or modules, one by one, were lifted with a crane and set in a foundation that had been poured several weeks earlier. I returned on the second day and the house was almost completely intact. It took several months to finish the exterior and interior, but it was ready much sooner than any other house I had ever seen. Watching this event caught my interest and I have been a proponent ever since.

Modular housing is a growing trend. Whereas in the initial years of production the modules were generally simple boxes, modular construction has become significantly more sophisticated, often producing houses that are impossible to differentiate from traditional stick-constructed ones. In 1990, there were twenty thousand modular houses built in the United States. By 2003, there were almost thirty-eight thousand modular homes built (according to an annual survey on modular construction by Hallahan Associates, an industry consulting firm). This number continues to grow each year, with a larger portion of modular homes being upscale.