If you’ve ever visited the construction site of a stick-built home, you’ve probably noticed piles of debris and wood throughout the site. Unfortunately, not all of this material is recycled.

That’s not the case with modular construction. In Excel’s Liverpool, PA, plant, our wood is pre-cut, which results in very little waste. This efficiency is not only better for the environment, it’s also another way we’re able to keep costs down throughout the construction process.

If you’re a prospective first-time homeowner who wants to take advantage of the government’s $8,000 tax credit, we should remind you that time is running out.

Many people assume they have until the end of the calendar year to make their purchase, but the deadline for the free money is actually November 30. That means you’ve got a little more than two-and-a-half months to close on the house of your dreams (and yes, that includes new modular homes).

Whether or not you can choose a design and close on a new modular home within that timeframe is debatable, but if you’re looking at existing homes, you’d better get on the ball. Due to recent changes in the mortgage industry, it can take several weeks or months for some lenders to wrap up the entire process. If you have any questions about the timing of your efforts and the likelihood of qualifying for the tax credit, contact your local lender or real estate agent. You do already have a real estate agent, don’t you?

The Sisters of St. Francis aren’t getting any younger. The Colorado-based group of nuns found it increasingly difficult to go up and down the stairs of their aging and outsized convent in Denver, so they hired a designer and builder to create a campus of modular homes (rendering above) in which the sisters could live and carry out their holy work.

According to Fast Company magazine, the Sisters of St. Francis are self-described “green nuns” – a rapidly growing sector of the sisterhood who believe that ecology and spirituality are inextricably linked. That’s one of the reasons they chose modular as their construction method of choice and why the 16 homes are designed to be as environmentally friendly as possible.

The project is called Aria Denver and includes, in addition to the nuns’ residences, 160 homes, 110 rental apartments, and 80,000 square feet of retail and office space. Designer Michelle Kaufmann offers some details on her blog, including her admission to being a “junky” when it comes to watching the modular process in action.

“It never ceases to be thrilling seeing the modules get set,” said Kaufmann on her blog. “Especially when they make it look so easy, when I know first hand that it is anything but easy.”

Amen to that.

Of course, the modular method of construction – building something in large pieces that are then assembled either in a factory or at an off-site location – isn’t limited only to houses and other buildings. Lots of things are built modularly and often reap the same benefits of modular housing construction (efficiency chief among them).

A classic example of modular manufacturing can be seen in automobiles – a collection of large parts, which can be swapped out in order to upgrade the vehicle without having to upgrade a lot of other parts to accommodate the change. The engine can be removed and replaced with a different one. The tires can be replaced easily. Interior options are easy to modify too.

Modular construction can also be used to make swimming pools – built in sections, transported to a location and pieced together to make a backyard oasis in much less time than it would take to build a pool on-the-spot. Like modular homes, customers even design their own pool, in any shape, to fit any location and have it delivered soon thereafter.

Is there anything the modular process can’t make better? We’re hard pressed to think of anything, but then again, we’re probably not the most objective source.