Recently, as I introduce colleagues to this project, I keep getting a similiar response. "Cool, have you seen the FlatPak house?" "Nice project, have you seen FabPrefab?" "Did you consider any of the prefabricated houses that are available?" My always polite, but somewhat strained response is, "Yeah, I am very interested in those projects. Unfortunately, when we got started none of them existed! Have you seen WeeHouse or LiveModern?" That was only a little over two years ago. At the time, I wanted to go with Resolution 4's prefab because at the time, they were the only one moving into manufacturing. But I was also equally intrigued by Rocio Romero's LV home which shipped as a kit, rather than a series of prefab units that would be assembled. The LV and its larger LVL sister remain one of the most cost effective options.
I'm convinced prefab has a great future, but currently these projects are just coming into their own. They are still the same cost as a custom home at about $200-$250 a square foot, but they will drop over time if the market finds modern, well-designed prefab homes to be desirable over traditional stick-built domiciles. If our project turns out to be interesting, I'd like to redesign it as a prefab, mass-available housing archetype. If you're interested in prefab, also check out Clever Homes, Marmol Radziner Steel Prefab (Gorgeous!), Michelle Kaufmann's BreezeHouse, the Wieler homes.
