Prefabs Cost Too Much, Part 2

I wrote previously that as hard as I looked, I couldn’t find a prefab home that was in the reach of ordinary Americans (like me). I’ve still been on the lookout, and when I heard about the 100k House, I got excited.

The name “100k House” refers to the cost of the house, but it’s a bit misleading. “100k” means that the cost of materials is $100,000, not that the whole house from lot to labor. All told, the house rings up at around $200,000. At $174/sq ft, that’s not too bad at all. One of my criteria is a modest, but comfortable home at a reasonable price.

In my last post I mentioned that simply buying an existing house was better for the environment. Now, I don’t think any new house will ever be that environmentally sound, but the 100k House comes about as close as you can get. It’s certified LEED Platinum, complete with solar hot water and rainwater collection. Cool!

So this house is affordable and environmentally sound—checks all the boxes, right? Not quite. This comes down to personal preference, but I find the 100k House to be ugly, inside and out. I understand that this is a townhouse, but why do all modernist buildings have flat roofs? It’s not always practical in places with a lot of snowfall, and they don’t seem very “home-y”. I also don’t like the shape of the windows—give me a bay or picture window over those skinny things. On the inside, I like the open floor plan of the first level (kitchen, dining, living), but the second floor doesn’t make sense to me. There are no real bedrooms, just a couple of open spaces with a bathroom in between. Not exactly practical if you want a bedroom separate from your kids. They mention on their site that they kept everything inside the envelope simple so you can customize it, but adding walls adds more to the cost of the house. Who would want a no wall, loft bedroom space?

Anyway, I give the 100k House a strong 7.5 out of 10. It gets high marks for affordability and sustainability, but low marks for looks. Your own score may be higher, depending on your tolerance for all things modern.