By Kelly Morgan,Staff Writer

The future is here, and it’s manufactured housing.

According to the Maine Manufactured Housing Board, 79 percent of all new home starts in Maine are expected to be filled by the manufactured housing industry by 2010.

“It’s not just your 28-by-48-foot Cape Cod (anymore),” said Ed Keiser, owner of Waterford Homes LLC and a prominent figure in the manufactured housing industry for the state.

In fact, Keiser said Wednesday, his company can construct modular post and beam houses and even has managed to accurately replicate historic homes dating back to the 1700s. The replicas are modular, of course.

His buildings sell for anywhere from $75,000 to $1.5 million.

Keiser won’t be represented at the fourth annual Manufactured Housing Show in Oxford this weekend, but his business is representative of changes coming in an industry that has provided significant growth even while mill jobs have been lost in Oxford Hills.

Keiser estimates the industry has a payroll of at least $7 million when manufacturing and other related positions are considered, including housing sales, repair and shipping.

Growth

There are only five manufactured housing producers in Maine, according to Bob LeClair, executive director of the Maine Manufactured Housing Board. Three are in Oxford and the other two are in Norway and Waterford, he said Tuesday.

When people refer to Oxford Hills as the state capital of the manufactured housing industry, LeClair said, “That’s absolutely true.”

Few would argue that the industry hasn’t grown. In the last two years alone, two new manufacturing businesses have opened shop in Oxford and Waterford, said Pete Connell, vice president of the housing board and president and chief executive officer of the manufacturer Oxford Homes.

The demand for manufactured homes is “overwhelming,” he said Wednesday. His company produces about 250 homes a year.

According to housing board statistics, 759 modular homes and 1,474 mobile homes were sold in the state in 2000. The modular housing number has since more than doubled. In 2004, 1,600 modular homes were sold in Maine while mobile home sales dropped to 1,100.

Modular and mobile homes both are built off-site in factories or manufacturing centers, but modular homes are required to meet all building codes imposed by a town.

Mobile homes fall under regulations from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and are commonly known by terms such as “single-wide” or “double-wide.”

Bob LeClair said he believes the speed of production and affordability of modular homes has helped make them popular, as well as the fact that they are quality-controlled and are required to meet local building codes.

Jobs

More manufactured homes means more jobs for many state residents. Direct industry jobs have grown 25 percent since 2002, according to the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce.

Pete Connell said it’s estimated that now more than 1,000 people have found related work in the region. “(That’s) about one in 10 jobs in Oxford County,” he said.

The growth of the manufactured housing industry in Maine also means jobs elsewhere, however. Housing board statistics show that while there are five manufactured housing producers in the state, there are 65 outside companies that are licensed to distribute products here.

Pennsylvania and Canada are two of Maine’s biggest manufactured housing suppliers. Mary Gaiski, executive vice president of the Pennsylvania Manufactured Housing Association, said Wednesday that her state has 32 modular home manufacturing plants and 15 mobile home manufacturers. Manufactured housing is a $2 billion industry there and supplies an estimated 200,000 jobs.

“Maine is either second or third when it comes to where production is being shipped out of the Pennsylvania plants,” Gaiski said.

Whether Maine will someday produce more of its own manufactured homes remains to be seen.

“The industry clearly is a sleeping giant here in Maine that nobody recognizes,” Ed Keiser said.

GO AND DO:

What: Fourth annual Maine Manufactured Housing Show

When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, Friday through Sunday

Where: Manufacturing plants at three locations in Oxford and more than 80 fully furnished model homes open for viewing at 10 locations.

Information: People may call the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce at 743-2281.