Well, why would they not change? Just because prefabricated housing was conceived a century ago as being a cheap solution to provide livable homes to large numbers of people without the means to afford decent housing on their own, doesn’t mean that some creativity can’t be added to the same construction methods. A quick search on the Internet shows that when this happens, it produces gorgeous homes that are relatively inexpensive to construct as well as achieving real savings for homeowners when it comes to utility bills.

Of course modular construction will always be an attractive option when it comes to putting cheap housing on land that is relatively inexpensive. There will always be a need for housing solutions of this kind. But it’s worth affirming the value of methods of construction and materials usage that are at once easier on the environment and more economical, especially when it has been clearly shown now that using methods of prefabricated construction need not compromise the aesthetic sensibilities of homebuyers.

If some of the creations produced by architects in the last 20 years or so are any indication, the future looks bright indeed for prefab structures. In fact, in some situations these houses make it possible to live in places where one couldn’t put house previously. Some people have the dream of “living off the grid”, or at least putting a second home or a retirement home in a remote location, but the logistics of power generation and adequate water supplies rendered this dream possible for people without a lot of money. Prefabricated building techniques will reduce the cost of transporting building materials to a remote building site, as well as construction time required. But the real advantage is that the sensible, spare designs normally characterizing prefabricated construction mean that elements like solar paneling and water catchment can be incorporated into the designs of these homes rather than being an inefficient afterthought purchased at Home Depot and installed by yet another contractor.

Considerations such as these make prefabricated possibilities more attractive than ever. Maybe that piece of land that has been in the family for generations, that no one imagined would work as a site for a livable home, should be reconsidered. Prefabricated structures today give everyone a chance to make use of property that might have had a little functional value previously. Take a look at the possibilities, you might be very surprised.

Imagine the difference in energy usage between building 100 prefabricated structures in a factory environment versus building 100 houses in the suburbs. All materials are brought to a central location, assembled and then taken as complete houses or major components of houses directly to the building site or sites. The point is that often one or two trucks is enough to transport the entire prefabricated house. The efficiency advantage of this method over many contractors bringing what they alone are concerned with building or installing to each of 100 sites can’t be overstated. There is some similar efficiency achieved if all the homes are being built in the same development or subdivision, but this is still quite a different thing from prefabricated home construction.


There isn’t any doubt that a home that is constructed at least partially in a remote location then shipped to the building site, makes for a much more efficient use of materials than a home that is constructed entirely on-site. If all the basic materials used in a prefabricated house are dropped at a factory or central location, then the processes used to create the major components of the prefab house like walls or ceiling, or even the entire house, are more systematized and precise.

Even for people for whom environmental concerns are not a major consideration in the way their homes are constructed, there are still very attractive cost savings that come along with choosing a prefabricated house. Depending on size and design one could be looking at a reduction in price of 30% to 50%, possibly even more. Aesthetics are probably the main reason why people reject the idea of modular homes, but if one could find a design that would suit them, it’s pretty clear that there is a lot of money to be saved.

A final attractive aspect of some environmentally friendly prefabricated houses, for some people, is that they enable one to live off the grid in a very rural area. Prefab houses that have provisions for things like water catchment and solar power now make it possible to place a house in locations where formerly would have been very difficult or impossible to live (even apart from the construction difficulties). You have more flexibility than ever today-do your homework.

Blending the cost benefits of prefabricated structures with attractive, practical designs for living and working should be a challenge that architects relish, not one to be resented as an infringement upon creativity. If use of prefab is a constraint, it certainly does not need to be a limitation. Just as challenging terrain can be used to the advantage of a gifted architect that show off talents that would not otherwise have been revealed, so can we be dazzled by efficiency and attention to economical use of prefabricated materials.