Comments on: Have you bought a modern prefab home?

Question: Have you bought a modern prefab home?

medpt — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 08:24:45 -0800

Has anyone purchased a modern prefab home, like the kind listed on the fabprefab fablist? How did it go? How much extra (on top of the base cost of the home) did you end up paying (for a general contractor to lay the foundation and so on)?

By: buzzman

buzzman — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 09:02:37 -0800

Thanks for asking this. I did not know that the modern pre-fab home had reached this style point and with so many vendors.
Quite the modern Waldenesque solution to the normal cabin in the county or box in the woods.

By: angry modem

angry modem — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 10:04:42 -0800

No idea, but damn those are way better than the doublewide my parents bought in the 90s.

By: Wolfie

Wolfie — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 10:16:41 -0800

I'm really interested in this question as well. The space I tend to watch is called Live Modern. There are links to a number of people who are blogging about their experiences with just this. The over arching theme seems to be that these projects are often under-estimated in terms of ease, cost and time - but so is every construction project, really.

By: jalexei

jalexei — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 11:04:55 -0800

Dwell magazine has written pretty extensively on this topic, and many of the issues surrounding it (cost, environmental impact, design issues, etc.) are topics the editor seems particularly passionate about. They recently commissioned and built a prefab house in conjunction with a couple chosen by the magazine and did a series of pretty fascinating articles.

Previewing the link; it looks like they've partnered with a prefab builder.

By: kindall

kindall — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 16:29:43 -0800

damn those are way better than the doublewide my parents bought in the 90s

That's because there's a difference between "mobile home" and "pre-fab home." With a pre-fab (or modular) home, individual chunks are made at a factory (i.e. a wall with all the wiring already installed and the drywall applied) and then put together on-site. A mobile home is almost completely assembled at the factory (for a double-wide, of course, each half is assembled separately, and then the two halves are joined on-site).

Most modern homes are built using at least some pre-fabricated parts. For example, it is very common for roofing trusses to be made in a factory and delivered now, rather than being built on-site from lumber.

By: buzzman

buzzman — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 16:39:49 -0800

Lots of interest and no first or second hand experiences.
It took me several months of mefi before I began to read ask metafilter and metatalk. FPP anybody?

The Dwell link has some factory pics, which appear to show a factory full of craftsmen as compared to drones/3rd world labour/or illegals (go Texas construction industry, go!). CAD design, apparently analogue cutting, nice window frames; seems to be quality... Makes the home seem to be as if it were a large piece of fine furniture; maybe it is.

...craftspeople with an average of sixteen years experience.(http://www.thedwellhomesbyempyrean.com/Preview3/Empyrean/4_empyrean_details_05.html)

By: flyby22

flyby22 — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 21:06:13 -0800

There is supposed to be some show on this topic this Sunday (tomorrw/today) at 2 PM EST in the afternoon on the DYI channel. Got an email from one of the prefab design companies.

By: kimota

kimota — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 09:30:03 -0800

My guide shows that it's "Assembly Required: Architects Go Prefab." 30 minutes. More info here.