This is the view of Nick Fulford, CEO at nHouse, who in an exclusive interview with Development Finance Today claimed that there was likely to be a run of major banks and lenders looking to become the primary finance partners of modular manufacturers.

“Those that have missed the train are going to find themselves maybe pushed out.

"The early adopters, the ones that come in now, are going to be the ones that create the good working relationships with the modular manufacturers and the brands.

“Those that come in five years’ time — because they've seen it be successful — might find that there's only crumbs left on the table.”

Nick added that until around six months ago, there weren’t many lenders it could recommend to SME developers who were using modern methods of construction.

•   DFT roundtable: Aggressive business plans, development delays and managing expectations
•   JCB Finance reaches £1bn lending balance landmark
•   Housing developments: managing risk can bring reward

“Since then, there [have been] some early adopters [and] I think those early adopters are going to absolutely reap the benefits.”

He claimed that the solution to lenders having difficulties with funding modular construction was that they would “have to take the risk”.

“The solution is they're going to have to get on board with this, because if they don't, there are not going to be enough deals going around.

“I have [had] so many conversations with people with large pots of money [who say]: 'I can't find the good deals.'

"I say to them: ‘The reason you can't find the good deals is because the cost of labour in the traditional sector and all the problems that now exist in the traditional sector are making it more and more difficult to make those schemes work.’

“They work if you go down the modular route, but you've got to change your mindset, you've got to get behind the whole payment process.

“The answer is they've got to basically take a dip in the market — they've got to get behind modular.”