Chapter 2

The road to materialisation: from the idea to the first modular home.

After taking the first steps with our studio, and despite seeing the great potential in modular homes, we were faced with a dilemma: how to realise our vision without losing control over the manufacturing process? The initial idea was clear: design and market modular homes, but not necessarily manufacture them ourselves. We wanted to outsource that part, leaving the manufacturing to specialised companies. So, we started researching and contacting different manufacturers. We looked at various options, from 2D concrete structures to 3D modular structures, and we also considered the option of metal structures.

Concrete appealed to us because of its modular concept, but we were faced with a significant limitation: it did not offer the design freedom we were looking for. On the other hand, steel had many structural advantages, especially in terms of overhangs and the ability to create freer designs, but it required a level of lightness that left us uneasy. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but we kept looking.

In the meantime, we decided to go a step further and set up our first showroom. We chose the MN4 shopping centre in Valencia to locate our showroom, and there, for the first time, we could see how our idea began to materialise. It was a unique experience, both on a professional and personal level, I moved there and attended the clients first hand. We received visits to the house, where they could see, touch and experience the product. It was a crucial moment for us, as in addition to validating the idea, we were also confirming that the product really liked and met expectations. This showroom was the first physical testimony of what we were doing and a decisive step to consolidate the concept of offering housing in a modular and accessible format. That was the first real contact with the client and, at the same time, an opportunity to show what we had in mind, a tangible product that people could live and feel.

However, we soon realised that even when we opted for industrialised construction, we still faced a similar challenge. Before we took the step towards industrialisation, the biggest obstacle was the impossibility of being on site every day. We knew that in order to get things right, we had to control every detail, but we couldn’t be on every job site at the same time, let alone over long distances. This limited our ability to scale up and take on more projects. By opting for industrialised construction, we thought we would have more control, but, to our surprise, we encountered the same problem: the factories were far away and, although production was more standardised, we were totally dependent on the quality of the work carried out in them and on fluid communication with them. We were still unable to be present at every stage of the process and, worst of all, we had to answer to the customers who had placed their trust in us. We felt equally powerless to have complete control, which prompted us to look for a more effective and controlled solution.

So the real revelation came when we started working with a leading Valencian construction company. This company, always at the forefront of construction innovation, had a capacity for adaptation and execution that made it ideal for what we had in mind. Although initially the idea was to outsource, in the end the synergy with this construction company turned out to be the turning point we were looking for. They had the know-how in the execution of the work, while we provided the vision, design and marketing. So, we teamed up and started to develop our first modular homes in the construction company’s warehouse in Bocairent.

This period, when we started to make the first tests of our own manufacturing, was fundamental for the creation of our EMHOA construction system. 2014 was a fun year exploring all the possibilities. Those were decisive months that gave us the push and the know-how to officially create the company.