Conquering Lebanon's construction industry
Only until some recent time ago, a "prefabricated house" was some synonym for small steel rooms placed to accommodate workers in a construction or industrial field or in parking lots; a practical alternative - and most importantly, easily dismantled - to solid, costly and time-consuming concrete construction.
The rise of construction costs and the need for "time", for practicality and so on paved the way for a prosperous business in Lebanon: Prefab houses. That wouldn't have been the case though if suppliers were not there to sense the promising prospects of their business, yet not aggressively communicating their solutions to the market and still relying mostly on basic traditional marketing.
Joseph Alam, head of "Zeidan House", a company specialized in prefab construction since more than 30 years, stated that operations in that field were launched along with the unfortunate displacements that occurred during the civil war. "People needed quick solutions as they had to flee their hometowns" he says. But then, according to Alam, the use of prefabricated units prospered in industrial fields mostly, as well as in construction sites, open showrooms, street snacks etc...
"Barely 5% was the share of our production for residential purposes, but now it's up to more than 20%, while serious inquiries about residential prefabs go up to 50% of the total inquiries we get from the market" says Alam. "In matter of quantities, we're sending an average of 5-6 serious offers every single day during the last 3 years" he adds.
It's rare however to spot such houses in cities, and probably that's why such figures may not be so obvious for everyone with the absence of effective exposure of these achievements, though one can easily notice the increasing amount of advertisement in mass-media outlets (printed or electronic mostly) for prefab solutions companies.
As Alam explains, demand for prefab houses is mostly concentrated in regions of the south, the north, Akkar, Bcharri, and minimally in Keserwan in Mount Lebanon.
That sounds kind of obvious when thinking of who would build - or rather "install" - prefab houses. Customers' profiles are mostly dominated by people who own relatively small pieces of land (mostly less than 1,000 sqm) in their hometowns, and fail to afford the cost of new lands in other regions or the cost of performing concrete construction. Prefab houses are thus in most cases being taken as solutions for secondary housing, especially in summer high-seasoned regions, but also increasingly becoming primary solutions the further one goes away in distance from cities, knowing that medium or high-rise buildings cannot be constructed there anyway due to zoning regulations.
But then prefab construction is not being restricted anymore to low-budget customers who cannot afford land and construction costs away from their hometowns. The market is getting more and more aware of the benefits and advantages of this kind of solutions, as well as of the capacities that new advancing technologies and materials are allowing day after day.
As Alam explains, prefab houses carry several essential advantages: less cost, less time, better quality, mobility, etc.... But that's just not all. Prefab construction is capable of expanding in size as well. "We're producing prefab units that range from 2 sqm up to 500 sqm and it's also possible to build duplex units. For sure though we still cannot do tall buildings" affirms Alam. "Price-wise, prefab construction costs around 300 - to - 350 dollars per square meter, which means around 20 - to - 30 percent less than concrete construction" he adds.
Alam finally hints at legal advantages that prefab customers are often making use of. "In regions where there are no municipalities, people are resorting to prefab houses to avoid having to go through the regular legal procedures of construction, and therefore avoid as well the zoning restrictions when their land area is too small or not suitable for construction. And in some places, customers perform a simple exchange of papers with municipalities, by which the land owner promises to dismantle his prefab house if asked to do so, and in exchange the municipal authorities won't interrupt the placement if no serious reason exists. But in these cases, we place our prefab products on their responsibility of course" explains Alam.
Sources at the Order of Engineers and Architects however deny such a possibility, affirming to EKARUNA that prefab construction is legally classified just like any kind of regular construction. These sources however say that it's actually possible for municipalities to neglect or ignore their responsibilities in that regard, but if at some point the owner gets in a position where he needs to legalize his property, fines will definitely apply. EKARUNA also contacted several municipalities in regions where prefab houses are becoming an increasing trend (especially in mountains). These also affirmed that it's absolutely not possible to allow any kind of construction, not even for a tent, without proper licensing.
Habib el-Rayess, head of Cedar Houses, a prefab company specialized in wood-frame construction confirms the above, especially that there are concrete foundational structures to place. "So residential prefabs definitely require regular licensing" he affirms.
According to Rayess, the cost of construction and placement of this type of prefabs costs somewhere near the cost of conventional concrete construction, but carries nevertheless a lot of advantages. "These prefabs can be easily dismantled first of all. Plus the time to place it is around 30% less than what it takes for concrete. More importantly as well, these kinds of houses are eco-friendly and energy efficient, due to the high insulation capacities. They're also resistant to seismic activities and to snow storms. And the most interesting part of all is that these houses are very healthy for their occupants. They're made of wood and do not involve any chemical materials, not even in the paintings. In advanced societies, that's what house-seekers care for the most usually. " he explains.
Rayess also affirms that demand is increasing, despite the low investments on advertisement. "We're relying mostly on word-of-mouth marketing. And we're dealing with inquiries for 4-to-5 units everyday" he says.
That demand is mostly concentrated in mountainous and semi-mountainous regions where lands are less-costly than in cities or suburbs. Demand is also considerable in luxurious places like Faqra and in some further growing places like Batroun and Beit el-Kekko, according to Rayess.
With regard to supply, most prefab firms are doing the construction locally, especially that these products require much less labor comparing to conventional construction. Some firms are also recently resorting to imported solutions as well, bringing to the market innovative technologies, qualities and materials that may not all be acquirable or at hand locally. In many cases as well, companies are selling complete pre-manufactured modular homes that are just lifted and set in place on the designated land.
Prefab houses are after all a very widespread concept for housing worldwide, despite the image that has often been associated with low-quality mass-production in the past (mostly in times of war), and despite the fact that obtaining housing loans for prefab houses is still subject to stricter guidelines.
So will 2011 witness the rise of new industrial players leading the market further towards innovative construction techniques and technologies? The coming months will tell...
© Ekaruna 2010
