The pieces that will determine much of the future look of Mammoth's housing arrived on flatbed trucks.

The trucks were headed for Old Mammoth Road near the Snowcreek Athletic Club, where a concrete slab was ready to receive the first of four 8-unit buildings. On the trucks were pieces of the building, infrastructure already contained.

Soon, the building was up -- a so-called "modular" or "factory- built" structure that is indicative of the kind of housing Mammoth is likely to see in the immediate future.

"It's a very quick process," said Andrea Clark, director of Mammoth Lakes Housing, Inc., in an understatement.

The real trick was not in acquiring the buildings, but in getting buildings that meet Mammoth's snow-load requirements, as well as California's earthquake codes.

That nut was finally cracked by Guerdon Enterprises, of Boise, Idaho, which also built an entire subdivision of modular housing in San Jose as well as a subdivision outside Eagle, Colo., home of Vail.

With housing costs through the roof and the construction season short in Mammoth, Clark said she sees modular buildings as a trend.

"I expect this process to be replicated, although I don't think it will replace the high-end, single family
home market."