How many modules does a dwelling take?

The question sounds like it should have a number attached. It does not, because the answer comes out of the design rather than preceding it.

Transport sets the outer limit

A module travels the public road network. That places a practical limit on its width, height and length, and the limit is not a single figure because it depends on the route, the permits and the escort requirements.

A wider module is possible and it costs more to move and constrains which sites it can reach. So the width chosen is a balance between fewer joins and easier transport, decided per project.

Any dwelling wider than a single module is made from more than one, joined on site.

Where the join goes is the real design question

This is the part that shapes the plan.

**Not through a wet area.** A join running through a bathroom or a laundry puts a construction joint in the middle of a waterproofed floor. It is solvable and it is a risk nobody needs to take when the join can go elsewhere.

**Not through a primary structural line** where it complicates the load path unnecessarily.

**Not across the accessibility circulation** where a level threshold and a clear turning space have to be continuous and dimensionally exact.

**Preferably along a wall line**, where the join is concealed and the connection detail is simple.

Which means the module split influences the floor plan, and the floor plan influences the split. They are resolved together during the design stages rather than sequentially.

Fewer larger modules versus more smaller ones

**Fewer, larger** means less site work joining them, fewer connections, faster installation, and harder transport with more constrained site access.

**More, smaller** means easier transport and access, and more joins to make and seal on site.

On a tight urban site with difficult access, smaller modules may be the only viable option. On an open regional site, larger modules reduce the site work.

This is one of the decisions the site assessment settles before design begins, because the answer changes the plan.

What is not a module

Not everything is built in the factory.

Circulation, decks, verandahs, external stairs, landscaping and often the roof over a joined area are site work. The split between factory and site is set per project, which is what makes the method hybrid rather than purely volumetric.

That flexibility is the point. A method that requires everything to be volumetric cannot respond to real sites.

Multi-dwelling projects

Where a project has several dwellings, repetition is the advantage.

The same module type built repeatedly is faster, more consistent and better inspected than the same number of one-off units, because the production process improves across the run.

That is where the programme benefit is largest, and it is why multi-dwelling accommodation projects suit the method particularly well.

The practical answer

Bring the site and the accommodation brief. The module count comes out of the design, alongside the plan, and both are settled together in the early stages.

Send us the project and we will work through it.

MADEmodular / MADEbetter.