I agree that this may not be the best looking thing to put in your yard but the pricing (topping off at $135K) and with a relatively short payback period of 2.7 years is hard to ignore. Prefab is no joke folks. In fact, prefab has actually been in existence for 100 years.
Just pray there isn’t an earthquake, tornado, hurricane while you’re in it!
Well, since we are mostly Bay Area centric, I will give you earthquake only but I think the technology of these things are really coming along. If you get one with steel framing, that may be as good as it gets…
Properly anchored down, why would it fair any worse that a stick built in any of those natural disasters?
The fact is, prefab building has been around for a long time since the early 1900s, yet the stigma may be from the perception that it is of dubious quality akin to IKEA quality furniture which is arguably ok at best (but lower priced). Now, prefab is not currently cheap by any means but as it scales up no reason why it can’t be another viable way of building. It sounds like they are perfecting it to have some advantages over the old way of building. Some folks may find prefab homes to be too modern or boxy looking, but I happen to really like this version below of an actual home in Burlingame:
It is all about location. I will take a double wide trailer(affordable prefab) on the beach in Hawaii over a mansion in Dallas…btw that burlingame house may not be all prefab…most aren’t. .hard to prefab a garage. …
Prefab is an illusive concept…here’s one…http://www.snopes.com/photos/architecture/redneck.asp
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Ok, so every prefab house with a garage is not 100% prefab. Got it. @Elt1, be honest, you are a builder. Don’t you see this kind of building the way of the future?
I see highrise construction as the way of the future. …perfab or not…not too many sfhs being built in the BA…But my training as a structural engineer makes me very leary of prefab…continunity is required from the roof to the foundation …as everywhere tge devil is in the details…
Good luck with that in our fair city…
Signed,
SF Bored Of Stupidvisors
Now, wait a minute. My niece just married a crane operator. He has been working exclusively in the City for the last few years even though he lives in Sacramento! He has been telling us for all of those years that there are a record number of self-erecting cranes operating in the City at one time right now. And, it keeps growing.
When I head to SOMA, I see those cranes. Yes, some are working on “the big dig”. But, I also see plenty of high rise residential both under construction and recently constructed. I dare not ask the price. 
No doubt a lot of building on the NE corner of SF. I work in the area. But there is nothing else going on in the rest of the fab 7x7…
When you see a highrise building in the Sunset district, wake me…
Do you really
want 100 stories next to your home in the Sunset? …could happen in Houston…not here though…Could be higher density on transportation corridors…Redwood City is leading the way
Of course not, but I think you would agree that the rest of SF can afford to increase density without really impacting folks. Obviously, it is easier said than done to make it happen anyway. You are a builder. Why would you buy out say my Sunset home at 1.5M to only build a couple of storied building that might be 2-3 units (and that is assuming you get the ok from my neighbors, planning dept, etc)? Doesn’t pencil out right? And with how specific our pathetic Board is on what gets built under what conditions nothing will get done.
Take the legislation that just passed this week on inlaws. I believe it was a compromise between the progressives and moderates on the Board. I believe it says in part that if you have a 4 unit building you can only build one inlaw. Bigger buildings get to build more. Wow. How many buildings in the rest of SF have more than 4 units in the first place??? Instead of legislating down and essentially capping the production wouldn’t it make more sense to set minimum standards of an inlaw unit and then allow homeowners/builders/developers have at it? For example, require that an inlaw be of a certain min sq ft, have an external window and access to 2 exits, say min 7 ft ht rooms and fully coded wiring/plumbing and as long as you can do that for each unit you can build as many as you want in your property (as long as you stay within the structure of the building). Wouldn’t that be a more productive legislation?
And Houston is all the worse for this lack of government driven, central planning. Just a complete, unlivable mess.
Right? 
http://thefederalist.com/2016/05/13/how-no-zoning-laws-works-for-houston/
http://urbanland.uli.org/industry-sectors/city-almost-no-limits/
http://houstonstrategies.blogspot.com/2012/01/is-our-lack-of-zoning-myth.html
More reporting on inlaws!!!
Among other provisions, it would prevent water and sewer agencies from charging hookup fees for ADUs built within an existing house or in an existing detached unit on the same lot.
Exactly what stopped a coworker from turning his pool house into an inlaw unit for his aging mother. Antioch insisted that a separate sewer line would need to be run the street and that he couldn’t connect to existing line in existing residence. Not due to capacity or system issues, but fees. The new hook up would be around $10,000 in just fees. To say nothing of the cost of trenching a piping from the back yard to the street.
– and depriving towns and cities of revenue that would accrue from legal units.
So the truth is, it’s all about money!
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Inlaws are popular in Austin…
http://archpaper.com/2016/09/austin-granny-flats-affordability/#gallery-0-slide-0
I think it’s a good option for aging parents. They can still maintain being mostly independent while making it easier to help them. In theory the parents could also sell or rent their own home to help with retirement income too.
Yes, an excellent selling point if you really think about it especially for Asian families who tend to follow the tradition of caring for their elders. Separate but onsite!!! Where do I sign???
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