Happening next weekend in Vallejo. Love that Breeze model. If I can find some time, I may try to make it out there to check them out for myself.
I don’t know, @Elt1, the credentials of these cats and the research backing (MIT) is impressive. I realize you are a conventional wood frame builder but me thinks this is the future…
I toured one in Portola Valley couple years ago. If that’s your first experience with modern homes it all looks new and shiny. But after you toured a couple more the novelty wears off. For me prefabs must offer significant cost saving otherwise it’s no go. You sacrifice the full customization to your exact taste and needs to fit into one of their handful of models and there gotta be something in return.
The current high cost is obviously the only thing holding this back, but there are so many forces indirectly working to move this industry forward, from affordable housing advocates to environmentally conscious folks. I fully expect economies of scale to hit this industry even faster because of the HUGE (God, I sound like The Donald) lucrative marketplace that is there for the first company to really get there.
Again, what is there to not like about this?
Can you even get custom today? New neighborhoods are all the same couple of floor plans and might as well be factory built on site. The only way you’re doing custom is if you own your own land.
Well, no one is suggesting buying a tract home here in some new development. Of course, those homes are cookie cutter and yes you may be able to choose different inside furnishings/appliances but the exteriors are all similar. I am of course referring to situations where you do own the land and if God willing (the local gov’t, planning dept, etc) let’s you build or tear down/remodel extensively an existing home you then go for it. That is certainly my future plan for my Fremont SFH. Many of my neighbors on the block have rebuilt 2 story mansions or added extensively to their existing homes and I would like to do that too, whether it will be prefab or not, depends on cost at that time. The nice oversized lots in Fremont is what I loved about the property as I saw the future potential for expansion.
That home in my “Everything Prefab” string is another pretty awesome design of what custom can be in the future. Net zero energy usage that can withstand most earthquakes. What is there to not like about that (except the high price currently)? My friend in Castro Valley owns hundreds of acres of land and I recommended that she go to the planning dept and determine what exactly she can do with that kind of land TODAY, not yesterday when the appetite for housing was not as great. She can literally see the development coming towards here from all sides.