Modular, Prefab or Panelized homes can include any combination of pre-engineered home sections that can be shipped to a building site and assembled quickly.  Modular homes are green because they reduce material waste, have a low environmental effect at the job site and may also utilize recycled and renewable building materials. The home's sections are built in a climate-controlled factory that reduces costly delays and weather-related damage. Some custom-built modular homes encourage the notion the home should be nothing more and nothing less than what the inhabitants need. This use of less space and materials preserves natural resources and leaves the smallest of environmental footprints.

Modular homes are not mobile homes!  Modular structures are just like any traditional building except that the modules are pre-built in factories and then assembled together using cranes. Local contractors are utilized in this phase of the construction to complete the dry shell. Many modular homes look just like traditional custom-built homes and can be customized with basements, additional bedrooms and increased energy efficiency. 

Some modular homes can be built in the factory in as little as 1-2 weeks. And since modulars are built indoors, there's never a weather delay. It usually takes another 2-4 months for your local builder to complete the home once it's delivered to the building site. Other modular homes types are constructed as modules that can be used individually, linked together and/or stacked to create a larger living area.  They are built as kits and shipped to your location to assemble onsite. This  type of modular home is designed to use as small an environmental footprint as possible by using only the space a family really needs.

The codes that govern the construction of modular homes are the exact same codes that govern the construction of any site constructed home. In the United States, all modular homes are constructed according the International Building Code (IBC), IRC, BOCA or the code that has been adopted by the local jurisdiction.

 

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 Explore the many options in modular, panellized
and prefab homes by clicking on the links below.

[Note on 8/22/2010 - We are working on this list to give you full information and links to the list below.
Please continue to check back as we add more information in the next few weeks]

 

American Home Sales -  full service design-build firm that specializes in sustainable, innovative, high-quality prefab homes. They have a catalog of floor plans ranging from 600 square feet to over 3,000 square feet or they can custom design a plan for your home. Located in Washington state, the company boasts a state-of-the-art, indoor manufacturing facility. Their Sonoma home was featured on HGTV in April 2009.

 
Anderson Anderson Architects - has designed and built a number of prototypes and prefabrication systems creatively exploring new construction technologies and affordable building methods by working directly with manufacturers and government agencies in the United States and Japan. They have built extensively in the Pacific Northwest as well as other parts of the United States and Japan.


BachKit [New Zealand] - offers innovation in low impact premium modular living. A unique design of glass and aluminum sliding panels and generous decks, the structures can be assembled in 16 weeks. Prices range from $120,000 for a guest pavilion to $340,000 for a home with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, laundry facilities, open-plan living/dining room and kitchen. Wind and solar energy packages can be incorporated with water harvesting and recycling to create a completely self-supporting house. Only available in New Zealand and Australia.
 

 

Bamboo Living - Their unique Bamboo Living home packages provide you with the biggest part of your new home construction - the interior and exterior walls and roof structure in easy to assemble panels that can be shipped worldwide. They can also recommend an independent bamboo builder.  In Japan, bamboo structures have a history of lasting 200 years. Maintenance is comparable to a conventional structure  and all bamboo poles, trim, and materials in our eco houses are backed by their company warranty.

They have the capability to design, build and deliver your green home in as quickly as three months. Typically, however, your eco house will arrive about six months after you place your order. Mortgage companies are available to finance our homes and all of our Bamboo Living house owners have homeowners and fire insurance coverage.

Cabin Fever - creating well-designed, affordable pre-fabricated cabins of natural beauty, quality and style. Their building packages contain everything that is needed to build your cabin: pre-assembled wall panels, doors and windows, the roof system, the trim, siding and the interior parts are precision pre-cut. They build to order -- every project is a little different. They fully assemble the cabin in their shop and when it’s complete, they disassemble, label and package every part -- then ship it to you.  The prefab cabins and cottages can be assembled by an owner with building experience. However, many of clients choose to hire a builder.

As much as possible, Cabin Fever uses certified green building materials and are constantly seeking out new, smarter, and greener materials to incorporate into the designs. Floor joists are made of Timber-Strand Wood, a product that uses 100% of the wood log and, because it come from a more juvenile tree, the harvesting practice produces more wood per acre per year compared to traditional mature tree harvesting. They use Southern Yellow Pine as the main wood product in their buildings and is harvested regionally from responsibly managed sustainable forests.  Additionally, they use computer-aided design which allows the company to make the cabin wider or slimmer, add or subtract windows or doors easily.

Clever Homes -  is both a full-service architectural firm and a  design & materials supply company for residential building. The company uses digital design technology and robotics-driven manufacturing to create prefab homes that out perform traditionally built houses. Clever Homes uses special building materials, finishes and fixtures to make the most of existing technology. Clever Homes' technology allows each home to be partially built in advance, and then constructed on a custom foundation. The major components of Clever Homes, like walls, roof systems, floors, doors and windows are delivered to your site ready for construction. This modular, prefab manufactured housing earned an EPA Energy Star rating, and their construction technologies allow energy savings of up to 50% over traditional residential home building constructions. The company uses low maintenance and eco-friendly interior/exterior finishes. The cost of buildin a Clever Home is between $200 and $300 a square foot in California and often less in other parts of the United States. The cost includes design, materials and on-site construction with the total cost depending on the choices of design elements, finishes and overall footprint of your home.

Colani Rotorhouse - a rather unique design by Luigi Colani. The central idea behind his house is a turning rotor which incorporates the functional areas ‘sleeping, ’cooking’ and ‘taking a bath’. The home is is a  rectangular-shaped self-contained modular home with a revolving circular inner unit that contains most of the expected functionality of a real home.

 

Container City -  is an innovative and highly versatile system that provides stylish and affordable accommodation for a range of uses. The system uses shipping containers linked together to provide high strength, prefabricated steel modules that can be combined to create a wide variety of building shapes and adapted to suit most planning or end user needs. This modular technology enables construction times and cost to be reduced by up to half that of traditional building techniques while remaining significantly more environmentally friendly. Container structures - once the plan is designed - are prepared and fitted out in the workshop with time onsite as little as seven days to provide a fully weatherproof and watertight environment. The containers also offer a 100 per cent recycled solution - making zero construction waste.

Country Heritage Homes - offers pre-engineered designs, full construction blueprint  and all the quality materials required to build your home. The company is a member of the Dream Homes of America group of companies which has delivered many thousands of homes to satisfied customers in the US, Canada and overseas. Country Heritage Homes home package system offers three Build Options , depending on your level of involvement and desire to save money: Self Build, Assisted Build, or Full Build. The company offers many environmentally-friendly products in your home package such as engineered sheathing, Hardiplank siding, precut materials, roof trusses and energy efficient windows. They offer a wide variety of home designs including tradtional, cottage and log homes.

They boast of an Opti-Bid System that allows them to take a design concept and refine it.  They are able to then optimize the use of all the required structural components, including exposed Douglas Fir glu-lam beams, high performance low maintenance windows, heat treated framing lumber, wall and flooring systems as well as a wide variety of quality exterior finishing materials.  This even helps the environment by reducing costly on-site waste disposal. Conventional framing methods result in standard length materials being cut inefficiently with no use for the excess material. This material is not only wasted but then incurs unnecessary collection and disposal costs. In addition to these major benefits, you are also able to see what your home will look like from all sides before you make a commitment to purchase

Cusato Cottages -- The cottages were originally designed as a dignified alternative to the FEMA trailer, the Katrina Cottage has evolved into a nationwide sensation that is finding popularity as affordable housing, guesthouses, resorts and camps. They are intended to be used as temporary housing that is good enough to remain in place as a granny cottage or a home office or workshop after the main house is rebuilt. Cusato Cottages, LLC was founded by Marianne Cusato to provide designs for dignified affordable housing, both on the Gulf Coast and throughout the United States.  Affordable and adorable - the cottage draws on the design of a Mississippi coastal cottage, and is 14 x 22 feet plus an 8-foot-deep porch. There are now 19 designs available through Lowes [see listing below for Lowes Katrina Cottage].

DuraVermeer [Netherlands] - a Dutch innovative, developing company in the construction field that employs over 4,000 people. They have designed floating homes that can rise and fall in flooding situatuions. DuraVermeer has designed 36 amphibious houses and 14 floating houses in Maasbommel, in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands.

Eco-Cottages - are built by Nationwide Homes, a leading builder of modular homes for single family or multi-family residences, commercial structures and remodeling additions; with a reputation for high quality, design flexibility, and innovative marketing. Founded in 1959, Nationwide Homes has locations across the southeast. Locations include a 47-acre site in Martinsville, Virginia, a 21-acre site in Arabi, Georgia and a production facility located in Siler City, North Carolina with over 13-acres of land. In total Nationwide operates five state-of-the-art production facilities that provide modular homes for today's homeowner. Eco-Cottages are built to local residential codes using pre-fabricated systems-built engineering. These high-performance modular structures utilize the latest technology and can provide self-sustaining Green living. The company offer 6 designs ranging in price from $37,000 to $70,000.


 EcoSteel -  start out  with an all-steel insulated design, utilizing pre-engineered, pre-cut, pre-drilled & pre-marked pieces by the EcoCottage factory. This allows users to quickly and efficiently assemble the prefab system onsite. Solar power, wind generator, rainwater harvesting, and biolet off-grid toilets are all available to be incoprorated into your home. Their steel frame can handle any shape, and our factory finished panels come in many different colors and styles. The EcoSteel system pricing varies depending on project scope and design but custom home square footage pricing is generally in the range of $45-$60. The system provides instant "off-grid" housing & shelter solutions that are designed to easily ship and assemble just about anywhere. 

Fabrik-International - is a manufacturer of panelized house kits. They have developed a panelized home concept of building panels that apply to all construction projects both large and small that is ideal for the self-builder and contractor. Located in Canada, they state that they can ship all over the world.



Flatpak -  offer modern luxury homes comprised of a system of prefabricated components in the US and Canada. The company states that your prefab home can be constructed in three weeks to three months time. Flatpack is able to built to 3 or 4 stories, on slopes, on stilts and is built for harsh northern winters. The Flatpaks are fabricated in Wisconsin and then shipped to your home site. Cost of the homes range in price fronm $200-$300 square foot depending on choices made and site requirements.

 

 
 
Floating Homes -- rather unique modular homes based on their fascination with the water. They were initially designed for a European competition - they won first place. German made, there are several styles available for a space age contemporary look. You can arrange any number of these components homes on floating decks to design creative living spaces wonderful water views.

Form and Forest - builds contemporary prefabricated panelized walls and components based on architectural plans in their indoor manufacturing facility and deliver them to your job site.  These components are shipped flat along with siding, doors, windows, and roofing materials. They have chosen this method of construction because it makes the most sense for delivering a cabin to properties that are often remote and have under developed access roads and driveways. A Form & Forest flat pack cabin kit is quick and easy to assemble on site getting you to the lock up stage faster than traditional stick building methods.  They supply you with a site binder that helps to guide you through the building process and are always available to assist you with any questions you may have. The company offers a range of cabins that have been designed for how you live at the cabin, both inside and out. Generous indoor and outdoor living spaces group the eating, entertaining and relaxing together while offering seclusion for sleeping and quiet reading. The generous decks and large windows are designed into the plans with the full expectation that you will be building your cabin in a pretty fantastic landscape. Prices range from $64,00 - $100,000.

Geodesic Dome Homes - American Ingenuity (Ai) has been "Going Green" since 1976 by designing floor plans and manufacturing eco-conscious, "Green" Dome Building Kits that result in super-strong and super-energy efficient, low-energy consuming homes. The domes are hurricane, tornado and earthquake proof. The Ai 40' Dome Kit with entryways and dormers (places where your locally purchased doors and windows are installed) is about $34,000. 

Glassic [Breckenridge Finer Living] - This is actually in the "manufactured home", i.e. mobile home category, but like no other mobile home you have ever encountered. The Glassic costs much more - approximately $10,000 more -  than a normal mobile home.  The 400 square-foot home features floor-to-ceiling Anderson glass doors and windows opening up the interior of the home to your outdoor vistas.

 

GlideHouse -  designed around a system that includes a organized storage system that runs along one side or thru the center of all or part of the home. Gliding wood doors in front of the storage allow for easy access and the look of a streamlined wood wall. Combining warm materials, clean and spacious lines, high ceilings and thoughtful storage systems to create a delightful indoor environment, the Glidehouse's stunning glass walls, clerestory windows and optional cedar shading and decking designs create a connection with the outdoors. These modular homes can include either solar panels or wind generators, geothermal or hybrid systems. The exterior walls are made of cor-ten steel to be maintenance free. There are many plan options available depending on where you want to build a modular home and how you live. Pricing begins at $360,000 and includes delivery to your site, setting on your foundation and finishing by their own skilled crew.
 

HIVE Modular Housing - sells several models of contemporary modular homes with an emphasis on excellent architectural design. A HIVE home is an eminently practical, somewhat whimsical, always functional, affordable expression of how you want to live. For those who value a modestly sized, well-designed residence, be it modern or more traditional, there is a Hive home to meet your needs.
 
Hive homes use a modular construction system, which provides a high level of quality control, minimizes exposure of building materials to the elements, and shortens construction time. They have currently developed two product lines that include a small, medium and large version of the basic model, any of which can be ordered with a flat or pitched roof, with clean modern or traditional siding and windows and with or without an attached garage.

 
 HyBrid Seattle - formed in 2003 as a multi-disciplinary team of creative thinkers in the fields of architecture, art, landscape architecture, history and urban ecology. The team's emphasis is on generating thought-provoking and ecologically sensitive solutions to the present and future urban cultural conditions. The term cargotecture was coined by HyBrid in 2003 to describe any building system built entirely or partially from ISO shipping containers. Located in Seattle, Washington, the company also designs wood modular, pre-engineered steel, panelized and site built homes. 

IKEA  BoKlok - first pioneered in Scandinavia by furniture giant Ikea and construction firm Skanska - provides space-saving, functional homes offering good quality at a price which enables as many people as possible to afford a comfortable home. The homes are built in a quality-controlled factory, delivered and assembled in a day. The BoKlok flats have a flexible open-plan layout, high ceilings and large windows, giving the apartments a light, airy and contemporary feel. Ikea and Skanska started BoKlok, pronounced ‘Boo Clook’, in the mid-1990s to address the need for affordable properties in Sweden and to provide people with high quality properties at a low price.  BoKlok is now active on five markets: Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Great Britain.

illy Company -  collaborated with artist/architect Adam Kalkin to create a dramatic work of living art - the illy Push Button House, a five-room home with a kitchen, dining room, bedroom, living room and library constructed within a standard industrial shipping container.  The home, which transforms at the push of a button, is created from recycled and recyclable materials and is the physical representation of illy’s dedication to sustainability, art and innovation.

Katrina Cottage - this second concept for the Katrina Cottage is a 610-square-foot home  designed by architects Bruce Tolar and Michael LeBatard for Home Front Panalized Construction System. It takes the idea of storm survivability to the next level. Even if it's completely submerged in a flood, you simply remove any furnishings that have absorbed water, hose down the interior, and replace the electrical switches. The panelized cottage  is built with panels sandwiching cement boards and polystyrene foam that withstand 140 MPH wind and can be built in seven days.

In May 2006, Home Front Homes Inc. evolved into Home Front Homes LLC, as local investors provided additional financial resources to help the company achieve its potential as a mainstream building system for the 21st century.  Their system is simple, strong, green and cost effective. Structural Insulated Panels [SIPs] allow residential, commercial, and agricultural buildings to be constructed in a timely, efficient, and cost effective manner. The combination of the rigid foam insulated core, bonded to an outer sheathing, forms a monolithic structural I-beam. The strength of the panel comes from displacing the load across the building structure. Home Front also offers in-house design capabilities to help you design your own custom built home and will work with you  design in creating plans for your dream house. They have 18 models including the Katrina Cottage available.
 

Landmark Home and Land Company

 

Linwood Custom Cedar Homes

 

LiveModern

 

Living Homes

 

LoftCube

 

LogicalHomes

 

Lowes Katrina Cottage -  As the demand for smaller homes increases nationwide, the Lowe’s Katrina Cottages—hailed as the new Sears & Roebuck House—continue to gain popularity. The Lowe’s Cottage Series includes 19 designs ranging from the original 308 sq. ft. cottage up to 1807 sq. ft. Several of the cottages have grow options that allow smaller cottages to be expanded over time.

Each cottage is named for the size of the plan in square feet. For example, the KC 544 is 544 square feet. Click on each plan name for overall dimensions and to read about individual features. The Lowe’s Cottage Series represents the work of several designers. Included in this group are Marianne Cusato, Andres Duany, Eric Moser, Geoffrey Mouen and WA Lawrence.

 

LV Home

 

Marmol Radziner Prefab

 

m-House [United Kingdom]

 

Minimalist Muji House

 

MODABODE

 

Modern Cabana

 

Modern Modular

 

Modtech

 

N55 Spaceframe

 

Nexthouse

 

Pinc House [Scandanavia]

 

Portable House

 

Qube

 

Quik House Kit

 

PA Homes Direct

 

PoleHouses

 

Resolution 4 Architecture

 

Royal Homes

 

Shelter-Kit -  has been designing and producing kit buildings for assembly by owners with no prior building experience since 1970.  Their cabin, home, barn and garage kits include all the materials one will need to build a complete, weather tight shell, including the frame, siding, sheathing, hardware, roofing and sub floors. The kits are precut and predrilled, making them easy to assemble, in 3 to 15 days for most models. All materials are selected for quality and ease of assembly and fit, with the weight of each piece limited to what two individuals can handle. Their Green Home kit uses features, designs and materials that will gain points towards certification of your whole building project to the National Green Building Standards. They use green approved, biobased materials from renewable and indigenous sources when possible. The kits are designed with exterior materials that do not require on-site finishing, and use NFRC certified windows. The Green Home kit is designed with energy efficiency and minimal environmental impact in mind. 
 

Single Hauz

 

SmartShax [Australia]

 

Spacebox

 

Summerwood Products

 

Sustainable Design

 

The Home Store Modular Construction

 

The Micro Compact Home

 

The TK iT House

 

The Small House

 

Tiger Sheds

 

Toma House

 

Top Housing

 

Topsider Homes

 

Tumbleweed Tiny House Company

 

Versadome

 

weeHouse

 

Yankee Barn Homes