The Grottos go big with modular homes in Lithopolis, Ohio.

The Grottos, under construction in Lithopolis, becomes one of the first modular home developments in Ohio. In May 2007, Domus Veram LLC started the Grottos of Lithopolis, a 75-acre subdivision off Lithopolis Winchester Road southeast of Columbus consisting of 39 lots ranging in size from 1.7 acres to 3 acres. The homes will range in size from 3,000 to 7,000 square feet and will be priced from $500,000 to $825,000. All of the homes will be designed, engineered and built in a factory. Bill Taylor, General Manager of Domus Veram, said the home prices are 20 percent to 30 percent less than comparable "stick built" homes because of manufacturing efficiencies. These are not mobile homes. They're similar to traditional houses, but are built at a factory and shipped in pieces to the construction site. The houses are then assembled by workers with the aid of a crane. A modular house can be finished in two to three months, Taylor said, rather than the six months or more in takes to finish a stick-built house. According to the James B. Hilz, Executive Director Building Industry Association of Central Ohio, Domus Veram isn't the first builder in the region to put up a modular house but it is the first to undertake an entire development with modular homes.

If there is any stigma from the name or the production process, it hasn't dampened sales. Domus Veram - Latin for truly home - has sales agreements on 11 of the 19 houses planned for the first phase of the Grottos' project. Karen Darwin, a Minneapolis resident with family in Columbus, was one of the development's first customers. She built a 3,860- square-foot house at the Grottos as an investment. "They have figured out a way to take the waste out of the process, which makes the whole process very lean," Darwin said. The process results in cost savings. "One of the things about this is that you get more house for the money, and consumers will always want more house for the money," she said.

Domus Veram has another project, the proposed 176-house Watkins Farms, that was scheduled to start before the Grottos project but an annexation delay in Canal Winchester put its first project on hold. Allan Neimayer, administrator of planning and zoning for Canal Winchester, said public hearings on the rezoning request for the 125-acre property were held about a year ago. "The territory is in the Groveport Madison school district but Domus Veram would like to have it in the Canal Winchester Local Schools district," Neimayer said. If the school district switch is accomplished the village could then annex the land, but Domus Veram will have to reapply to restart the effort." We hope they come back. We think it's a good fit for the community," Neimayer said.