It just makes total sense…can’t find enough construction labor and more efficient PREFAB!!!
If anyone is interested in prefab inlaws/guest houses for their yard and they like the designs like this by avava systems, well, they are doing an educational event this Saturday in Berkeley. Tickets are free but you need to register with them.
Saturday, April 29th
East Bay Media Center, 1pm-3pm
1939 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA 94704
AVAVA CEO Benjamin Kimmich will be joining a panel of local backyard home experts in a fun, friendly, educational atmostphere. Topics will include:
SB 1069, the new California accessory dwelling unit law, and what it means for homeowners
Process and cost to build a backyard home.
Expected Return on Investment (ROI)
Designing with multigenerational living or downsizing in mind.
Financing options, including home equity financing as well as alternative streams of funding
Thanks to our friends at East Bay Media Center for hosting, and Pinnacle Capital Mortgage for making possible what is sure to be an informative presentation. Tickets are free, register here to attend.
So, I attended this event in Berkeley earlier today. Man, standing room only folks. Everyone and their mother is thinking about ADUs as solver for aging parents, overstaying kids, office space, additional income, etc. You can say what you want but ADUs or inlaw units are not going away anytime soon…
The big issue with ADUs is parking…Parking is already a nightmare in Berkeley …
Well, that is not stopping these folks from doing/exploring it… and I believe (don’t quote me) those requirements about needing to add parking whenever one adds a unit (like in the old days of Fab 7x7) are no longer in play. The reality is, we need housing and as long as an owner is building to code and the project is reasonable I think the city in question would really have a hard time saying no.
Upcoming 1-hr course on Pre-fab design, including highlights:
- Instantly validating structural design across various CA seismic conditions and geographies
- Achieving better daylight autonomy in prefabricated buildings
Have no idea how useful it is, but you may have the chance to meet some architects involved with prefab. http://www.aiasf.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=948293&group=
From what I have been reading and talking to local developers, prefab makes more sense economically with larger structures vs SFHs. Economy of scale, I get it, but I still wouldn’t mind owning and living in something like this (my fav prefab SFH to date):
Engineers and Architects see prefab as a communist plot to put us out of work…Like in Russia…they would design one building and replicate it 1000 times…Putting thousands of potential designers out of work…Not everyone wants to live in an Ikea cubicle…
I think you’d love Seattle. I’m not sure if they are prefab, but the tear down and rebuild homes in the city look prefab.
Many designs are different for difference sake. So long is functional, don’t care about aesthetic. Whoever design one that is functional, relatively cheap to construct and don’t look too bad, can use it million times 
I can appreciate prefab 
No, I love Seattle actually. It reminds me a lot of the Fab 7x7. The rain is a dealbreaker though. This past rainy season was great for our water supply but I wouldn’t want that every year, on the year…
I like that 3rd home you posted. It is not too boxy. Geez, something like that down here would be what twice as much easily???
Cool…
200sf sounds like a prison cell…
Come on, that is a relative compound vs this:
I have a one bedroom for rent…350sf…had a woman wanting to rent it say her current kitchen was that big…couldn’t believe anyone would live in 350sf…Actually 2 people and a cat live there now…moving to have a dog too…It is amazing people up here would rather be homeless as long as they can have a dog…presumably the only one that will listen to them…
We down sized when we moved up to Tahoe. .Sold the big house with the furniture in Emerald hills…Our little beach house kept getting smaller and smaller…The master bath was tiny with one sink…was about to cause divorce or murder…Just closed on my wifes dream house…his and hers sinks…Onyx vanities with lighting shining through…Double shower heads with water jets going horizontal too…Can even roll into it with a wheel chair. .great after a ski accident…lol
The tiny house movement is a passing fad…wives and kids will want something bigger in the burbs