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Stylized project map of modular building regions

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Compare Portable Buildings by Project Use | Boxx Modular

The same office box is not a Gulf Coast hurricane file, a Canadian snow file and a desert camp file. Pick a region, then read the limit that usually changes the frame.

Region notes, not a permit map

Yards, schools and swing clinics

On a US Gulf yard the conversation starts with wind. A recorded design wind speed around 45 m/s, the exposure and the enclosure class belong in the basis before a two-storey stack is drawn. ASCE 7 is a reference the local engineer may require. Have the project engineer confirm the edition and local amendments.

School swing space adds a different limit. A 0.35 W/m²·K U-value target on PIR panels still fails the review if the corridor joint is an uncalculated thermal bridge, or if the accessible route stops at the module door. For a campus with a covered link, ask the bidders to price the link as a separate structural item so the review covers its foundations and accessibility.

Clinics need the MEP boundary in writing. Factory preinstallation can include conduits, a sanitary package and an air handler interface. Confirm who supplies incoming service, medical gas and the foundation interface before the supplier prices a sanitary package. Sleeping units, including a 2 bedroom portable building, pull in a fire and egress review that a weekday site office may not.

Snow, execution class and panel standards

European files often arrive with a ground snow load, sometimes near 1.5 kN/m², and a request to talk about EN 1090 execution and Eurocode 3 for the steel. Those documents apply when the contract and the notified route say so. They are not automatic because a module crossed a border.

Sandwich panels may be discussed against EN 14509 for self-supporting double-skin panels. That standard describes the panel product. It does not, by itself, rate the door, the window and the corner joint of an occupied building. We ask which of those three the reviewer wants evidence for.

Heat, dust and camp density

Desert and coastal camps push corrosion and cooling, not snow. Galvanized coating mass such as Z275 on light-gauge members still needs cut-edge repair. A painted system on heavier members needs a maintenance cycle written into the handover, or the colour choice becomes a repaint project.

Workforce dining and office modules share a crane day and then diverge. Grease, floor drains and a higher fire load in a kitchen are not solved by the office wall note. Quantity is often high, so the container loading plan and the pad sequence matter as much as the elevation.

Road limits and seismic notes

If the route to a mining camp rules out a volumetric box, compare knock-down frames using the bidder’s packing drawing and verify the bolt torque record the site crew must keep. A seismic basis, for example a PGA noted at 0.30 g where the engineer requires it, changes anchorage and is not copied from a US seismic design category label.

Cyclone and typhoon regions need the local wind standard named. Check the anchorage reactions against the footing design for the actual site. The Building Selector is the place to compare volumetric, panelized and portal-frame options before this regional note is treated as a purchase.

What to check first in each quote

The bars show an illustrative review order. Missing loads and unclear interfaces typically need to be resolved before a buyer can compare fit-out options.

Wind or snow value missing on the opening call
Design basis
Factory versus site MEP boundary unclear
Scope split
Fire strategy cited from a core datasheet alone
Assembly evidence
Temporary label used as if it waived the local code
Permit route

Two choices that are actually arguments

Volumetric modules and panelized systems

Volumetric construction finishes more of the room in the factory and asks for a crane plus a road that accepts the box. Panelized light-gauge or flat-pack steel packs denser and leaves more joint quality on the site crew. A clear span beyond a module, often discussed from 18 m upward on a portal frame, is a reason to leave both options and price a pre-engineered building (PEB) instead. The argument is transport and site days versus plan freedom. It is not a moral ranking.

Foam cores and rock wool

EPS and PIR sandwich panels are lighter and can post a lower U-value at a given thickness, inside the 0.25–0.60 W/m²·K band often discussed for these walls. They need a fire strategy that includes the joint and the opening, because a core class is not a 60 minute wall. Rock wool is heavier, more sensitive to water at the joint, and is chosen when the acoustic or fire file asks for mineral wool. Cost follows weight and the test the reviewer named. We show both and let the file pick.

A third limit sits under both arguments. Welded frames hold their geometry in the factory and consume shipping volume. Bolted frames pack tighter and depend on site torque. Painted steel accepts a project colour and depends on the coating specification. Galvanized light-gauge steel resists a wet climate better at the sheet and still needs weld or cut-edge repair. None of these pairs is settled by the word modular.

Send the region with the use

A classroom in a snow state and a kitchen module in a coastal camp should not share a one-line specification. Put the country in the form so the reply starts from the right column.

  • Region notes stay tied to a code family, not a global sticker
  • Gap tally is an internal sample, not a certified statistic
  • Core choice and frame choice are written as trade-offs
  • Large spans are redirected toward a portal frame discussion