The cost of building a one-bedroom home in Bermuda might one day come in under $80,000, if a local businessman is successful in his effort to introduce modular construction methods.

Paul James, of local company Design Source, is poised to build one and two-bedroom dwellings with the look of a traditional Bermuda home ? but not the price tag.

Mr. James? plans have already been given the nod by the Island?s building control authorities and it is hoped that approval from the new materials committee will soon be in hand, he said.

Modular construction might offer an ideal solution to the many people being priced out of the housing market by the skyrocketing price tag of a home, presently hitting $1.3 million on average, according to 2004 Q1 sales figures from Rego Realtors.

?I have witnessed the rise of both construction and land costs over the last two decades to the point very few median income families can entertain the idea of owning their own homes any longer,? Mr.James said. ?Everyone agrees something has to be done. But this seems to be where agreements end.?

He said that not enough consideration has been given to alternative building materials.

The studio units that Mr. James is proposing, for example, would offer 320 square feet of living space and an additional 128 feet of deck area.

The homes would be comprised of modules ? called the Quadrate 2000 system ? that are built in the US.

Although the final cost would depend on what duty is charged by Government ? Mr. James is hopeful that Customs fees could be reduced or waived to make this a truly affordable option ? pricing (before duty) comes in under $150 per square foot.

At that price, the studio units could be built for about $65,000 each. Even if duty was charged at 22.25 percent, they could still be built for under $80,000.

The units could be put in place within a period of ten to 12 weeks, he added. These costs do not include the cost of the land the home would be built on.

See Business, Page 19