HDC Member Highlight: Whitley Evergreen
Over 75 years of off-site construction experience comes with a suite of services and benefits when building with Whitley Evergreen.
Whitley Manufacturing Co., Inc. was founded in South Whitley, Indiana, after World War II to provide homes for returning veterans. As you can imagine, the company has grown significantly throughout that time. By 1992, the factory had manufactured 25,000 units. In the early 2000s, Whitley expanded to two new locations, Rochester, Indiana and Seattle, WA. Whitley Evergreen is the local branch of the company and one of the newest members of HDC. Their multiple plants provide true coast-to-coast service of modular and off-site construction.
Whitley Evergreen’s focus on affordable housing is aligned with their efficient building practices and commitment to community. To Whitley Evergreen, the opportunities to participate in meaningful projects is one of the exciting things about the affordable housing market – knowing that these kinds of projects can draw and bring together all kinds of people with various backgrounds and skills, and helping the community grow at the same time.
Whitley Evergreen stands out in their construction processes, with modular construction principles? to manufacture buildings. In joining the HDC community, Whitley Evergreen would like to share open communication with members, as they are an extremely easy team to communicate with. The team encourages folks to ask any and all questions on how their modular construction process works!
They firmly believe that their method of construction is quicker, more cost effective, and a much less disruptive and environmentally responsible way to build. “We love to teach others of our practices and explain in detail and by example the advantages of modular construction,” explained Alan Duer, General Manager of Whitley Evergreen. “We are proud of how little red tape there is at Whitley Evergreen and our team’s willingness and excitement to explain the benefits of modular construction and the many unique and advanced processes behind it.”
They are also a company with a leading heart for compassion and community. The Whitley team actively looks to how they can assist in the community and help those in need. Recently, the Whitley Evergreen facility assisted King County and Catholic Housing in building the Elliot Avenue Homeless Transitioning Campus, comprised of numerous modular buildings to assist in helping those transitioning from homelessness. While the project was in construction, the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread across King County. The project partners were challenged to assist those transitioning from homelessness while also protecting vulnerable individuals on the street from COVID-19. Last Fall, project partners discussed the project, wins, challenges, and lessons learned with HDC members.
In joining HDC, Whitley Evergreen is an interested observer – keeping an eye on the many different types of affordable housing people are building and figuring out how their factory and modular construction can add value to a lot of the types of projects they are seeing. They are very interested in having a bigger role in developing building plans and creating future affordable housing projects.
“We are really excited about the future for the entire modular construction industry being involved in a lot more affordable housing projects. More and more folks are becoming aware of the control you have over costs and quality by using modular construction,” explained Alan. “We believe that these two more controlled variables in our construction processes will allow affordable housing projects to be not only be more affordable to the homeowner, but also the developer allowing for capital to be spared for possibly more future affordable housing projects.”
Whitley Evergreen sites their commitment to quality as the basis for their steady growth over the last 75 years. Alan highlighted this commitment, “One valuable lesson learned is to never sacrifice finishing your work to meet a schedule. Projects can be delayed for a variety of reasons, but the workmanship should never be compromised because of the lack of time.”
With Whitley joining HDC, they are excited to foster more relationships in the affordable housing sector and be a resource for those interested in offsite construction. If you and your team are interested in learning more about Whitley’s process, reach out to Alan for more information. You can also watch our Learn at Lunch with the Whitley team here.
Welcome to the HDC movement, Whitley! We are grateful to have innovative builders like you.
