Skilpod: a home as a product

By manufacturing modular timber-frame houses in its own production workshop via an optimised construction process independent of the weather, Skilpod can not only work very quickly but also extremely cost-efficiently. In three months, a house can be built in this ‘industrial’ way. Thanks to excellent preparation, the house – trucked to the site and then placed by crane on a pre-built substructure – can be connected to utilities immediately. From building permit to completion, the whole process takes about three months. A lot of research and development preceded the product and the process, and most importantly: an industrial philosophy. New construction techniques or adapted building standards can be quickly integrated into the process on a large scale. It has resulted in a supply of a limited number of modern standard houses with an excellent price-quality ratio. The floor plan and layout are fixed; the finishes can be chosen by the builder. An extra outlet? You can’t. However, a garden shed, solar panels or a carport can be provided.

Corona

The company was already building entire neighbourhoods of module houses, mainly in the Netherlands, but was forced by corona to change the gun’s shoulder when major projects were suddenly postponed or even scrapped altogether. Managing director Filip Timmermans and partner Jan Vrijs decided to focus on the private market: from business-to-business to business-to-consumer. They have since offered a limited number of modules, from 80 to 144 m2. Customers don’t seem to mind this limited choice at all: it saves them headaches. Moreover, the offer is in line with the search for compact, well-thought-out and affordable homes. The surface area of houses has decreased significantly over the past decades. Yet house prices have skyrocketed. By the way, project construction by Skilpod is more sustainable than conventional construction: not only is a lot of transport saved in production, the houses are built with wood while building with concrete and cement leads to substantial CO2 emissions.

Residential rental company

Late last year, the company invested in new production capacity and staff, with funding from ING and PMV (Cofinancing+). The Kempen construction company Groep Van Roey took a 20 per cent stake in the company, as did Limburg businessman Ismaël Ben-Al-Lal. The latter specialises in sustainable energy with his companies and set up a housing rental company that rents sustainable homes at a unit price, including the energy bill. With his know-how and that of the other partners, Skilpod aims to sell not only housing units in the future, but also additional services.