Wilton Villager, Business Section, Issue: June 6, 2002

Wilton Firm designs custom homes

By Jerrod Ferrari

            A Wilton Company is out to prove that factory built homes, or modular homes as they’re known , no longer carry the stereotype of being cookie cutter designs.

            Douglas Cutler , the owner and chief architect of Douglas Cutler Architects P.C. located at 221 Danbury Road, has fought hid own industry to bring more options to the customer.

            “In Fairfield County, people have million dollar pieces of property that they do not want to risk,” he said. “They come to us when they want a custom designed modular home.”

            He has become nationally recognized for elevating modular construction to an art, and has been featured in the New York Times as well as, Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

            Cutler, whose company has been located in Wilton for the past five years, says that modular homes hold an advantage over site built housing.

            “A factory house is built in the factory in about 5 days,” he said explaining that the complete process of shipping and instillation normally takes close to two months until you can turn it turn-key. “The quality of the homes are better.  They are sealed better because they have to be transported in pieces.”

            “Cutler said that the modular homes (units) are over-built so they can be hauled on wheels over roads to get to the site and so that a crane can lift them off the wheels and place them on a foundation making them a more structurally sound house.

            Among the company’s many ongoing projects Cutler has a 10,000 square foot house being built in Greenwich and a 1,000 square foot addition in Wilton, both with his designs.

            Not all of the homes designed by Cutler are strictly modular. This building system can be combined with other construction techniques to create a custom home. We do additions to stick house and we also work with builders at a site to have a partial modular and partial stick house built,” he said. “It can add to the uniqueness of the home.”

            If a customer is looking to add a modular addition to their home, Cutler said that they should be larger than 800 square feet.

            Cutler’s company sells licensing to factories around the country and in Canada to sell his designs at a 3-percent profit to his company.  They are currently working on a deal with a factory in Colorado.

            Modular homes make up 8-percent of all homes made in the United States on a yearly basis, according to Cutler.

            Cutler has designs ranging from colonial to Mediterranean houses.

            “Colonial homes are most popular in the Northeast,” he said. In Florida where we do some business Mediterranean homes are more popular.”

            Cutler’s company has also begun to create web-sites for interested builders that feature his house designs with their prices to install the home.  His company will create a web-site for $750.     Douglas cutler Architects, P.C. in association with The Modular Home Center of America can be reached by calling 203-761-9561.