Five Maine modular home manufacturers are banding together to possibly capture federal contracts for a battered New Orleans and surrounding Gulf Coast region.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has already reached out to companies that can quickly construct units for those who became homeless after Hurricane Katrina. FEMA spokesman James McIntyre said the agency has purchased 125,000 units, which is part of an overall plan to create housing for the approximately 300,000 households that have no home due to the storm.
McIntyre said at this point, FEMA officials will only purchase more based on the need it has seen in the reconstruction effort.
Preston Hartman, a spokesman at Sen. Olympia Snowe’s Washington office, said Snowe has begun inquiring into the feasibility of FEMA’s hiring Maine’s manufacturers to produce houses.
“She’s trying to let FEMA know – in the region and in Washington – what the companies can do and the services they can provide,” Hartman said.
There are only five modular manufacturing companies in Maine, all in the Oxford Hills area. KBS Building Systems, Waterford Homes, Keiser Industries, Oxford Homes and Burlington Homes are used to collaborating, having for several years hosted a joint showcase in spring, according to Barbara Olson, vice president of the Growth Council of Oxford Hills. The nonprofit agency seeks to strengthen industry in this area. Olson said they also share marketing strategies.
The companies employ more than 1,000 people, including installers, retailers and truckers, Oxford Homes President Peter Connell said Friday. On average, each company makes between five and six homes a week, he said.
The hurricane, while devastating to residents and to the economy of New Orleans, is providing many opportunities for builders, architects, engineers and others as the city starts to rebuild.
But Maine manufacturing companies might find that capturing FEMA’s attention is difficult. The companies have to compete with larger businesses closer to Louisiana, which are already equipped to make homes suitable for a Southern climate.
Connell said, however, that it is possible for Maine’s companies to make homes appropriate for the warm Gulf Coast and to FEMA’s specifications. “We’re all custom builders, we’re all very adaptable. We could build them how they would want them,” he said
According to a Sept. 23 press release, FEMA had contracted with 16 manufacturers for more than 90,000 units for almost $1.5 billion. McIntyre updated that figure several hours later, but could not speak on the total amount FEMA has spent on the effort.
Most of the manufacturers are located in the South; others are Michigan and Ohio.
“But there is a tremendous need,” Connell said. “And we could fill some of it.”
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