As I sit here at my desk, reflecting on 2024 and having just finished 3 high end custom homes (with 70% less crew that site built) and in half the amount of build time…I ponder the possibilities and future of factory built housing.
Not only are these homes more efficient on the build side, they are also more efficient on the cost and performance side.
One measure of performance could be energy wise - The air leakage side - as evidenced by the ‘blower door test’. The blower door test results on all 3 of these homes were substantially better than commonly found in custom homes up in this extremely cold climate at 9,000 feet elevation. All of this translates into a more comfortable heated or cooled building.
On the speed and cost side, there are two things I’ve being reflecting on - one is the fact that the overall costs are indeed less than site built…+25% less.
I met with a developer recently who pointed out that, his last custom build took 2 years, and with our custom prefabs taking less than 1 year - his money could be used 2x instead of just one in that period of time. For a homeowner, in today’s market, that means being in your home a year earlier and enjoying appreciation a year ahead of site built. This is real equity, real wealth that is built into the custom prefab advantage.