Selecting a prefab manufacturer

What is modern prefab?

Prefabricated or manufactured houses have a history and connotation of being devoid of character, low-quality construction, and only one step up from a double-wide mobile home.

Traditional prefab home

Architects began to appreciate the benefits of prefab and a number of higher-end modern designs began to surface.  When Lena and I got married and discussed buying a home we were quite curious about prefab building and whether it would be possible in a dense urban environment like San Francisco.  A local architect named Michelle Kaufmann had just started to promote her "Glidehouse" as an ecologically-responsible alternative to site-built houses.  Lena and I loved the idea and even talked briefly with Michelle, but buying vacant land in San Francisco is, in reality, not easy.

And it was just as well because Michelle Kaufmann found it difficult to work with the manufacturers and ended up selling the rights to her prefab designs to Blu Homes in 2008.

We returned to the idea in 2012 after broaching the idea of a vacation home and contacted Blu along with a number of other manufacturers of prefabricated houses.  Here are some of the ones we considered:

1. LivingHomes
2. Weehouse
3. Stillwater Dwellings
4. Method Homes
5. Resolution: 4 Architecture

LivingHomes

Stillwater Dwellings

Weehomes

Resolution: 4 Architecture

Method Homes

Why Prefab?

Most companies will focus on four reasons to consider prefabricating a house instead of building it onsite:

1. Cost (companies claim that prefabs are 25-50% less expensive)
2. Environmental impact (less wasted material)
3. Quality (precision of construction is higher)
4. Speed (crews can build the house simultaneous to the foundation and other site work)

We haven't been able to verify any of these, but they sure make for good marketing.  In San Francisco construction roughly ranges from $500-$1,000 per square foot.  That could put our project around $2.6M if it were built conventionally on-site.

Once we do our financial plan I'll calculate how our project budget will compare to this figure.


Why we chose Bluhomes

Weehomes was really interesting and seemed the most affordable, but was located in Minnesota and did not manufacture their own modules.  Their designs were also a bit uninspired.

Overall I think I liked the Resolution: 4 Architecture designs the best because they were dynamic and breathtaking.  Unfortunately, they are on the East Coast and I don't think shipping the modules to California was cost-effective (or even possible at the time).

I don't even remember talking with Method Homes. They do have factories both on the East  and West Coasts (Pennsylvania and Washington), but I don't think their designs inspired me much.

Stillwater was the least interesting.  There was something about both the website and interaction I had with the sales person that turned me off.  I can't hardly remember the specifics, but it wasn't a hard choice to eliminate them.

Bluhomes is the only manufacturer at the time that was located in the San Francisco Bay Area.  They were also more established because they owned the design, engineering, and building of the homes they sell.  They pioneered a method of folding each module so that it will fit on a standard-sized semi truck trailer as opposed to an oversized "wide-load" truck that requires two-lane roads and an escort.

Blu Homes - Breezehouse

You can see a video below of one of their homes "unfolding" on site.  It's pretty spectacular!

They seemed the most capable to make it happen at the time and so we kept them at the top of the list.  From time to time we would attend one of their local events and talk with customers and employees about the process.  We toured a couple of completed homes, met one of their senior architects, even toured the factory in the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard, near Vallejo, CA.  It's impressive – if you ever have the opportunity you should visit.