EX Construction System, an innovative new construction technology from Deluxe Building Systems, creates an important competitive advantage for international sales and construction of multi-family system-built projects. Structures from the Berwick, Pa. company offer such significant cost containment and time savings that the EX Construction System can overcome the cost of transportation in many international and domestic applications. EX Construction technology can be used to configure offices, classrooms, hotels, and other multi-occupancy dwellings.

"Because of the way the EX Construction System is designed," said Deluxe Sales Manager Jeff Myers, "it saves shipping costs in the cargo hold and to a lesser extent when it has to move overland." This new construction system also accounts for a  reduction in the amount of materials needed to assemble a building over traditional modular methods.

The key to the EX Construction System's competitive edge is a simple structural design insight. Conventional modular buildings are assembled from components called  "modules," each with a floor, a ceiling, and four sides.

An issue arises where a component module abuts the one beside it. Those junctures produce two facing walls - one in each unit - where only one shared wall is needed.

The EX Construction System eliminates the extra wall. Where a row of modules is assembled to form a building, alternating units are based on floor panels. These units are made with walls to the front and back, but without the extra side walls.

During shipping, the front and back walls of the panel units are dropped inward to lie flat on the floor. As such, the volume filled by these intermediate components is dramatically reduced. Decreased shipping volume for each module multiplies the number of units that a ship (or other transport mode) can accommodate, and the cost of transportation is reduced accordingly.

This basic advance in modular design accounts for a 25 percent reduction in the structural components needed to produce a building, and a 30 percent reduction in the cost of shipping. Particularly in times when the U.S. dollar is weak, these substantial cost differentials amount to a considerable competitive strength.

EX Construction System structures do not require loading in shipping containers. They can be sent in virtually any cargo ship. Deluxe officials say that a full shipload - corresponding to 100,000 square feet of floor space - generally maximizes shipping savings with the EX Construction technology. In some circumstances, though, transportation savings can also be realized when smaller buildings are shipped.

The EX Construction System produces sturdy, long-lasting buildings that employ post-and-beam structural steel exclusively.

Of course, EX Construction technology also delivers the advantages associated with all system-built structures from Deluxe. It can be used to build up to 12 stories high, in full International Building Code compliance. Steel construction in the EX Construction System is non-combustible, with excellent seismic and wind resistance.

EX System structures can be erected in a fraction of the time required for stick-built construction. These system-built structures demand far less skilled labor than is needed to build multi-unit dwellings from scratch, with minimal requirements for welding or specialized equipment.

"Whenever you go with system-built construction, in the U.S. or abroad, you do most of the work in the factory," Myers said. "The time and cost savings associated with that approach speak for themselves. With EX Construction technology, our designs are now even easier and more economical to ship, and the savings are compounded."