Early pricing sets revealed that typical on-site construction was expensive and the schedule hardly achievable: to deliver Lady Liberty Academy in time and on budget, we needed to rethink our entire design process.

A trip to Pennsylvania (the haven for offsite wood construction in the Northeast) let us solicit bids from both wood-modular and steel-and-concrete modular manufacturers. Wood volumes were cheaper but a combination of combustibility, durability and short spans made wood-only structures not desirable. Steel and concrete (non-combustible) modular proposals worked well but were significantly over budget. During the bidding process and in conversation with one manufacturer—experienced in both wood and steel-concrete off-site methodologies—a new hybrid system was designed: a steel frame structure clad with wood-stud infill walls, floors, and ceilings.

Though this solution reduced costs, the project was still over budget. Further conversations with concrete manufacturers specialized in factory built concrete wall panels revealed another critical way to reduce the project’s cost: precast concrete foundations. Building the foundation walls offsite was faster and allowed us to avoid pouring concrete in a very difficult winter, making it possible to finish within the nine-month deadline and without exceeding the budget.