AMT Principal · Product Development & DfMA
Turning a building concept into a repeatable, factory-built product.
Michael Bell, PE, brings 19 years of experience in modular construction and design for manufacturing and assembly (DfMA) to AMT, built on a structural engineering career that began in 2002. He has worked on the design side, the factory side, and the owner side of off-site construction. For AMT, he connects building design with the realities of the plant floor, helping clients see what it takes to turn a concept into a repeatable, precision-built product.
As Vice President of Engineering, R&D at Z Modular, Michael opened the company’s U.S. design office and built a team of about 30 engineers and designers. He helped develop the design standards for its steel HSS framing and patented modular frame system, led the fire, sound, and structural diaphragm testing that proved them out, and worked with the plants on standard details, CNC production files, and the automated weld cell that builds each module frame. His team then created repeatable product lines that now total more than 6 million square feet, primarily in Texas and Arizona.
At Champion Home Builders, Michael advanced from structural engineer to Manager of Modular Engineering, then became technical lead for the commercial modular group, Champion Commercial Structures. He developed many of its design standards and led the design of hotels for national brands, apartments and townhomes, student housing, senior living, offices, and military housing across more than a dozen states, regularly visiting job sites during installation to solve problems in the field.
Michael has seen modular projects from three sides: the engineer setting the standards, the factory building the modules, and the owner developing the community. That perspective lets him spot early the design decisions that drive cost, schedule, and quality in the plant and in the field, and explain them in terms owners and design teams can act on.
At AMT, he applies that experience in an advisory role, focused on DfMA, product development, and execution support. AMT does not provide engineering services; the project’s engineer of record remains responsible for the design.
Role in AMT: apply proven DfMA and platform-development experience to create repeatable, buildable, production-ready modular solutions.
Selected prior experience
Completed in prior roles, before forming AMT.
All of Michael’s projects
Chapel Hill, NC · Branded hotel
Guest-room modules set by tower crane onto a site-built podium on a tight downtown site, with a stepped roof line and a green roof carried by the top-floor modules.
Williston, ND · Full-service hotel
Built during the Bakken boom; now a Four Points by Sheraton. Fully finished modular guest rooms with site-built common areas, from production start to occupancy in eight months.
Williston, ND · Extended-stay hotel
Now the Bakken Airport XWA Hotel. Amenities were grouped apart from the modular guest wings so the two could be built on their own schedules.
Denver, CO · Urban micro-units
Three modular stories of micro-units over a parking podium on a one-third-acre lot, with a rooftop solar array and shared deck.
Glendale, AZ · Wrap multifamily
A five-story modular wrap around a post-tension parking deck, with a 25,000 SF site-built steel amenity tower and rooftop pool.
Marble Falls, TX · Garden-style multifamily
A repeatable modular product line delivered as a full residential community with clubhouse, pool, and site amenities.
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