Want to build the energy efficient home of your dreams without the hassle, high cost, and long wait of the traditional material and building process? Then you’ll love getting your hands on one of these amazingly stylish eco-friendly modular homes.

Due to the endless choices of building materials and customizations, the propensity for going over budget, the oftentimes arduous building process, and other unforeseen delays such as inclement weather, permitting problems, and sometimes erratic contractor availability, building a new home from the ground up may feel like it’s taking a lifetime to complete.

However, modular prefab homes, which means mobile, or easily transportable, factory fabricated homes, are quite the opposite. With a narrowed down, yet attractive, list of design options, and a well-honed and efficient manufacturing and site assembly process, it’s not uncommon for an eco-friendly modular home to be completed in just six short months, or six to twelve months sooner than a site built home.

Additionally, these little (or large) gems are really designed to please the gamut of clients wishing for something within their budgets, relatively fast, eco-friendly, and aesthetically pleasing. Some modern fabrication systems can reduce the building waste in a prefab home by up to 50 percent and may even use 50 percent less energy than existing homes. Plus, the premium materials and casework, in tandem with some very well thought out design details, offer clients the ability to make the home their own without feeling lost in a sea of never ending options.

Ranging from around $37,000 to $775,000 and up, there’s sure to be an eco-friendly modular home within your budget from one of these five manufacturers.

1. Eco Cottages

Starting at $37,000, these miniature homes, ranging from 250 to 513 square feet, would work well as tiny abodes, or as studios, offices, guest homes, vacation bungalows, and even workshops. Each Eco-Cottage is built to local residential codes or to RV code for use in a park or resort. Owned by Nationwide Homes, each of the prefab homes offered has a minimum standard of sustainable features which meet the National Association of Home Builder’s (NAHB) Bronze certification and the Energy Star Certified program requirements.

2.GreenPod

GreenPod’s modular home collection begins at $60,000 for around 300 square feet, but can exceed $175,000 depending on the model and features. Beautifully designed, these small dwellings are as versatile as they are eco-friendly. Things like efficient design, minimal site disruption, durable materials, energy and water efficiency, passive solar design, and non-toxic and recycled materials all contribute to the company’s high standards for sustainable living.

3. maModular

Homes from this prefab builder will run you about $150 per square foot, making some of these houses even cheaper than the aforementioned. With seven plans to choose from, these contemporary abodes are perfect for the modern family or individual. Bamboo flooring options, low-voc paint, Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association (KMCA) cabinet certification, and energy star appliances are some of the eco-friendly features found within these homes. maModular also notes that the prefab homes can go from “zero-to-house in 180 days.”

4. Blu Homes

The economical Origin Pod’s California base price starts at $195,000, while the other available prefab home models continue to climb in price into the high $700,000 range. These homes are brimming with eco-friendly features such as motion sense faucets, FSC and Greenguard certified products, LED lights, zoned heating and cooling, and so much more. Blu Homes even offers a prefab garage for all of your stylish storage needs.

5. Method Homes

With eight different homes series, there is something to fit traditional, rustic, and contemporary tastes. $130,000 will buy you the smallest turnkey modular home from Method. Prices can climb well into the $600,000 bracket for larger and more luxurious options. According to the company, sustainable design is a core value for Method. The residential dwellings can be “built to obtain LEED, Energy Star, Living Building Challenge, Passive House, and other environmental certification standards.” Additionally, building these homes off-site allows the business to minimize construction waste to less than 10 percent.

Now that you’ve gotten the dirt on where to find your new digs, we want to hear from you. What’s your favorite feature of a prefab home – size, style, affordability, or something else? Are eco-friendly modular homes a good fit for you? Or would you rather go through the traditional site built home process? Why or why not? Let us know your thoughts on the EcoSalon Facebook page!

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Image of Modular Cabin Home via Method Homes

The post 5 Delightful Modular Homes to Beautify and Simplify Your Life appeared first on EcoSalon.

The tiny home movement has been well-documented over the last few years. From Ikea-cized shipping containers to groovy green treehouses, folks are pro-downsizing, as long as the digs are stylish. One company in Luling, Texas, is making tiny homes.

It’s not just the urban hipster crowd who’s into tiny homes. Brad Kittel, founder of Tiny Texas Houses, has done more than just create a demand for his salvaged material custom homes; he’s built an entire community and culture around them. (For starters, TTH accepts barter for specific goods including video production equipment and computer software for their online tutorials.)

Texas-based Kittel’s ethos of “pure salvage living” means using “materials that are 99-percent American-grown, -mined, -smelted, -formed, and created when we had such in our craftsmanship, and built to last for centuries.”

Kittel has more than 30 years of experience in salvage mining and building, so he knows his stuff. TTH uses reclaimed—and usually antique—doors, flooring, windows, hardware, windows, stained glass, claw-foot tubs, pedestal sinks, lumber, siding, roofing, cabinetry, railings, porch posts, and other decorative add-ons. The wood is usually yellow pine, old-growth fir, cypress, long leaf pine, oak, cypress, walnut, or mesquite. Low-voltage wiring for solar power options means your tiny house can even be wired off-the-grid. The goal is to create a sweet custom home, cabin, or retreat that offers a “sub-zero carbon footprint.”

While that may be overstating things a bit—siting a home, no matter how small, even if it’s on wheels, still leaves a footprint, however minimal, but there’s no doubt Kittel has created the anti-pre-fab pre-fab. As its name implies, TTH designs are generally rustic, with a distinctly Western vibe. Whether you fancy a miniscule Victorian “painted lady,” Craftsman bungalow, nano-barn, modern “homesteader,” or mining shack, TTH can design your dream.

TTH’s services range from plans and shipping of materials to building and relocating your new home. Kittel also offers workshops and the aforementioned tutorials. Expect to pay at least $50,000 for a 10’x12’ home, but with quality materials like this, you won’t be slapped with sticker-shock a few years down the road, replacing worn-out materials. When it comes to tiny homes, don’t mess with Texas.

View more Tiny Texas Houses.

All images: Tiny Texas Houses

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