Cavco Industries has started construction on a massive 616,000-square-foot factory in El Mirage, betting that a new wave of factory-built homes can help chip away at the Southwest’s housing crunch. The plant, planned on roughly 39 acres in the West Valley, will turn out manufactured and modular single-family homes in a fully temperature-controlled environment. Cavco says it is aiming to have the facility up and running by mid‑2027, with that target still tied to how smoothly permitting and construction go.
The project footprint in El Mirage covers about 39 acres, according to Phoenix Business Journal. Cavco has described the building as a 616,000-square-foot plant that is fully temperature-controlled, outfitted with a single production line at launch and an option to add a second. The company said the El Mirage facility will build both HUD-code manufactured homes and modular homes, and that ground has already been broken with mid‑2027 as the tentative start of operations, per its announcement on GlobeNewswire.
Behind the new plant is a company on a growth streak. Cavco recently reported a record number of home shipments in fiscal 2026 and rolled out a new $150 million share buyback program alongside the El Mirage news, according to financial coverage. Market watchers have framed the moves as management trying to expand production capacity while still handing cash back to investors, a dynamic Simply Wall St highlighted in its analysis.
What HUD‑code Manufactured Homes Are
Manufactured homes built to the federal HUD Code are produced under a single national building standard and inspected during the factory process. They carry a certification label and must meet construction, safety and energy-efficiency benchmarks, according to HUD. That federal code separates HUD‑code manufactured homes from some modular and site‑built units and helps streamline and standardize factory production.
Local Impact And Next Steps
On the ground in El Mirage, local officials and development watchers will be watching the steady march of permits, site work and utility hookups that will ultimately determine when homes start rolling out of the new plant. Cavco’s announcement notes that the construction schedule and opening date remain “dependent upon final permitting and other factors,” according to the company press release on GlobeNewswire, and the company has not yet disclosed how many employees it expects to hire at the site. City staff and economic-development groups typically review industrial projects like this for infrastructure demands and tax implications before full-scale construction moves ahead…