Prefab Homes

Few home buyers who have gotten a good idea of the market would associate the concepts of “affordable,” “stylish,” and “new” with a single available home. Buyers looking for those ideals are used to trading off one for another in a heart-breaking series of compromises. That may not be true for much longer. Up and coming architects, inspired by magazine contests are beginning to design and market prefab homes that are affordable because of manufacturing technology, stylish because of a new trend in architecture and the direct descendants of – mobile homes?

The idea behind this new movement in prefab homes is to produce manufactured homes using the latest architectural design fashions. These new kinds of prefab homes are modern in every sense of the word. “On a smaller scale, dozens of youngish architects are beginning to market prefab dwellings to a consumer audience starved for good, affordable, environmentally sensitive design -- one that can be characterized as people who tend to have more taste than money.1”

Like mobile homes of the past, these new prefab homes are delivered to the new owner’s land and set up. When considering the fabulous new prices, prospective buyers must take into consideration the additional costs of property, land preparation and some assembly. “Buyers must already own land for the installation of a home, and should note that the cost of property isn’t included in the price.2” Still, in most cases, the prefab homes turn out to be less pricey than comparably-sized homes on the market and much less expensive compared to other homes with the same level of cutting-edge design. The only problem is in the business plan development for the companies who are designing these prefab homes.

Most are start-ups driven by young, creative architects instead of established businesses backed by experts in marketing. Some of these companies are more in the promise stage than in the delivery stage. Success is likely, though, since it’s a great idea whose time has come.