Site sectors
A villa, a staff row and a resettlement plan can share a light-gauge wall. They do not share a snow load, a permit class or a crane radius. Pick the region tab for the constraint that usually arrives with the inquiry.
North American inquiries often arrive with an ASCE 7 wind speed and a seismic design category already named by the project engineer. The selected supplier can detail hold-downs and a foundation interface to that sheet. The sheet is not an IBC approval. Occupancy still sits with the authority having jurisdiction.
A second argument shows up on accessory dwellings. One side treats a relocatable module as a faster secondary unit because it can move if the lot plan changes. The other side treats a permanent modular house as the clearer path to financing and to a full energy check. Both still need the fire resistance discussion at the wall and the openings, not a sentence that calls the panel fireproof. If the weld scope includes structural steel beyond light-gauge screws, the procedure can be written to AWS D1.1. That reference is scoped, not decorative.
European files tend to name Eurocode wind and snow, and steel design under EN 1993 when a hot-rolled frame is part of the house. Execution to EN 1090 is a destination requirement for some structural scopes. Our team does not accept that execution class on a residential panel pack that was never assessed for it.
Sandwich panels quoted against EN 14509 still need a system reading. A PIR core can win the U-value comparison at 75 mm. Rock wool can win the fire and acoustic discussion and will add weight to the lifting points. EPS sits between them on cost and needs the reaction-to-fire evidence read beside the joint detail. The thermal bridge at a steel stud remains even when the panel centre looks strong on a brochure lambda.
Gulf and Red Sea plots push coating choice before architecture. Z275 on light-gauge steel, plus sealed laps, is the usual coastal row. A painted beam on a shaded porch can still be specified if the maintenance cycle is written down. Desert dust changes the way gaskets are packed, not the storey count.
Staff housing beside industrial sites often prefers volumetric rooms because the crane window is short and the wet areas should arrive finished. The opposing view is the freight invoice: a panelized cassette set can move more bedrooms per 40HQ when the road and the pad crew can accept a longer site programme. We request supplier pricing for the cube both ways. A 45 m/s wind figure proposed for a hypothetical Omani villa is not copied onto an inland plot without a new exposure check.
Asia Pacific briefs range from a 2 storey modular home on a suburban lot to a 60-unit resettlement row. Consider an illustrative brief that lists 0.50 kPa wind pressure, 50 mm walls and a 1.5 kPa roof live load. Ask the project engineer to confirm site exposure, wind uplift and the applicable load combinations before the supplier prices the roof connections.
Repeat plans make the pilot module valuable: diagonals and openings measured on unit one keep the jig honest. They do not freeze the interior. A 3 bed 2 bath layout and a 2 room plan can share the shell steel and still differ in the sanitary carrier. Furniture after the freeze date is a variation. Local energy rules for a permanent house remain outside the factory certificate set.
Write the country, the exposure and whether the authority is treating the house as relocatable or permanent. Add quantity and storeys. The desk will say which of the four notes above actually applies, and which number has to be recalculated.