Nebraska modular home company helps Marshall fire survivors rebuild

GERING, Nebraska – A Nebraska company that builds modular homes is helping Marshall Fire Victims rebuild.

“I would say 60-70% of our customers are from Colorado,” said Nip Fillingham of Family Built Homes.

The Fillingham family builds modular homes in a massive factory in Gering, Nebraska, and then ships those homes across the area.

“So the floor that we’re building here is flipped, rotated, and eventually it’s going to go through the entire production assembly and then exit the door at the other end,” Fillingham said.

While it may resemble a Detroit auto plant, the family-run factory in western Nebraska is expanding 16 new homes at a time.

“We’re a modular factory,” Fillingham said. “We build things according to international housing regulations. Basically, my grandfather started in the industry as a young man.”

Fillingham’s grandfather and founder of Family Built Homes, John Fillingham, is still at the Nebraska factory.

“I’ve been in this business for 53 years,” said John Fillingham.

Nip Fillingham’s brother, Tuck, also works at the factory, along with their father, Doug.

“I couldn’t be happier,” said Doug Fillingham.

Nebraska modular home company helps Marshall fire survivors rebuild

What makes her story relevant now is the fact that of the 16 modular homes currently on the assembly line, at least three are on their way to the Marshall fire victims in Superior and Louisville, and two are on their way to the East Troublesome fire victims in Grand counties are.

“It feels good to be able to do something like this for the people who have lost so much,” said John Fillingham.

“Nobody asked about it,” Nip Fillingham said. “It messed everything up. So the quicker you can get things back to normal, the better off for everyone.”

The homes are built in five to eight weeks, rather than the nine to 12 months required to complete a traditional stick build, a more traditional way of designing a home.

“The biggest saving we can offer is time,” said Nip Fillingham.

Each of their homes is Colorado State Housing Authority approved and delivered by semi-truck.

It takes about five hours to get half of the house from western Nebraska to the Denver metro area.

They start at around $300,000 and up and can be less than half the cost of a traditional stick build.