Modular house in MD/NOVA - where to start?

[Leonid Sapronov]

There is a modular house design that I really like - small, efficient, stylish. Having never done new construction, I want to figure out what it would take to build it. Problem is, it's designed by a company in Russia, which entails a long list of logistics challenges. Assuming I can get the house stateside, I have no idea what approval processes I have to go through in order to be able to build it. I know every county has a planning department, which I probably need to go through. But what about if my plot of land in an established subdivision? I assume subdivision-level approval would also be needed. Also, how much of this can I go through before actually buying land?

And then there's building code compliance - how hard is it to do, especially for a foreign-based design?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as well as contact info of any MD/VA modular builders who might know something about this.