Configure your home on the “Our Homes” section of the website. Decide how many bedrooms you want and what size home you need. Play around with options and notice how the picture and price update in real-time. Maybe even break out a napkin to sketch on. Based on your input, we will help you realize your vision.

Generally speaking, we can install our factory-built homes on any site where you can site build a home. The site can be sloped, but flat lots are better. The steeper the lot, the more expensive it will be to build a house on (this is true with either prefab or conventionally built houses). Our system lets you build wherever you want: right in downtown, off the grid, or even in a different country.

Things to consider when searching for land. Most of our models require a lot that is at least 50 feet wide (though we do offer models that work for narrower lots). The depth requirements of the lot vary depending on your local jurisdiction’s requirements for a garage/carport and yard setbacks. Also, our homes get delivered to your site on trucks about the size of a large moving truck, so the site will need road access. If you could schedule a Mayflower moving truck to come by and pack up all the stuff in your home, the site probably works. If there are hairpin turns on the way to your house or really steep roads, we will need to take a closer look.

Now is a good time to contact us. We’d like to know which homes you like (and we want to see your napkin sketch!) If you are getting close to purchasing a property or already own a property and want feedback, feel free to send us photos and any other information you have (surveys, lot lines). We can answer questions about which model works best for your site and which model is most suited for your needs.

If you’re in LA or plan on visiting, stop by our office and we will walk you through the process. We can also arrange to give you a tour of one of our prototypes. If you have land in the LA area, we are happy to swing by and meet at your site to give general feedback. But before we sign a contract with you to build a house, we will take a more of a comprehensive look at your land to insure access and learn about any site-specific requirements. For that, we need to move to the next step.

First, we’ll meet at your site to discuss the possibilities of how best to site your home. We’ll review with you our different models and get a feel for the views, privacy, wind and sun exposures. We will have a look at the topography and utility locations to better determine the extent of the site work. If there might be some difficulty with access to your site, we will also arrange for our delivery crew to go out to the site. If your site is within 200 miles of us, we will not charge you for this site visit. If your site is farther away, we only ask that you cover any travel costs incurred for us to get there.

Our goal is to eliminate the headaches of building a home. You won’t have to juggle hiring an architect, engineer, general contractor and consultants, and signing separate contracts with each.

We will do city research with your local building department and review the requirements for building a new home in your jurisdiction and look at any requirements for yard setbacks, parking, cladding, height, etc.. We'll also have a look at the overall approval process and see which agencies need to provide approvals and whether or not the site has any unique requirements.

Here, at the beginning of the design phase, we know a lot about your home, including a preliminary project budget. But we need to go through your fit out options and levels of customization before we can lock in the final price and schedule. We do that next.

Choosing one of the models in our line of homes only scratches the surface of different possible options for your home. We’ll sit down with you and discuss your specific needs and desires for your home. We’ll review all the different configurations for that model – maybe you need another bedroom, or a home office area, or more covered deck space – no problem. Each time we change configuration, we’ll update the price for you. We’ll also go over accessory buildings options; we offer carports and garages, covered decks and guest houses designed to integrate with your home.

We’ll go through different ways you can customize your home. We will review options and select finishes, fixtures, appliances, sliding sun screens, trellises and additional green upgrades. The vast array of choices confronting green homebuyers can be confusing at best and discouraging at worst. We strive for the right balance between being both economical and ecological in the materials and system choices we offer. All of our homes can achieve LEED Silver Certification out of the factory and often Gold and Platinum Certification depending on site variables and system options, including an option to achieve “Net Zero Energy” status.

If you will need to secure a construction loan, now is the time to kick this off. Construction loans are short term loans, many times are interest-only, and typically can roll into a conventional mortgage upon completion of the home. Our homes qualify for all types of conventional financing. Since they are built quickly in a factory, they require different payment disbursements than site built homes, which take much longer to build. It is important the lender is aware of this. Since modular home financing is a very large industry, many lenders have specific factory-built loan programs. You can take the drawings and preliminary budget estimate we provided to you in the site feasibility report to a lender to get the ball rolling. This process takes time, so it is good to get it going early. The loan will not fund until all the permits and approvals are in place.

If you will need to secure a construction loan, now is the time to kick this off. Construction loans are short term loans, many times are interest-only, and typically can roll into a conventional mortgage upon completion of the home. Our homes qualify for all types of conventional financing. Since they are built quickly in a factory, they require different payment disbursements than site built homes, which take much longer to build. It is important the lender is aware of this. Since modular home financing is a very large industry, many lenders have specific factory-built loan programs. You can take the drawings and preliminary budget estimate we provided to you in the site feasibility report to a lender to get the ball rolling. This process takes time, so it is good to get it going early. The loan will not fund until all the permits and approvals are in place.

We can discuss with you if you would like us to design any additional site features. You might want a pool, fencing, hardscapes or landscapes to accompany your house. Maybe an exterior fire pit? There are lots of options for this as well and we are happy to assist you in creating a site design that works with your specific needs. For example, if your site is sloped, you might need to build some retaining walls to hold back the slope.

Once we have included any additional site features and you approve the design, we will move onto readying your drawings for local permits and approvals. This includes minor engineering to adapt our standard foundation plan to your specific site and soils conditions. Also, if you are in an area with high snow or wind loads, we might have to do some additional structural calculations just to make sure we meet all the requirements. In most cases, we won’t have to even make any modifications to our system – that’s one of the big advantages to building with steel.

We will submit drawings to your state agency for approval of the factory built house. If we have already done this for the same model home for another customer in your state, then that home will already be state approved. Either way, this is a simple and straightforward process. And you don’t have to do anything!

With the site design and engineering drawings complete, now is a good time to get bids in for the site portion of the work from local contractors in your area. The site work is relatively small and only includes the few things that cannot be done in the factory – foundations, utility infrastructure and any additional site features you have included. We can assist you in getting bids for this work and in choosing a local contractor. There are many regions where we have great local contractors that we have already worked with.

Once we have the state approval for the home, we can assist you in getting local permits. We will give you a drawing package that you or your local contractor can submit, along with a permit application, to your local jurisdiction for approval. The local agency will review and permit only the portion of the work that is completed on site: the location of the house on the site, the foundation design and plan, and drainage plans. This limited review can really expedite the process and is one of the benefits of building a state approved factory built house.

Every jurisdiction has a different approval process. While some are very easy, others can be quite complicated and require multiple agencies to review the project and provide approvals. Our pricing covers our fees for a more basic process. Any special hearings, design review boards or additional jurisdictional requirements that you would like us to attend will be done with an hourly fee.

Once we have the approvals in place, we are ready to start building!

Your home will begin being built in the factory. There are many advantages to building your home this way. Building in a factory eliminates rain delays and generates less waste. (Did you know that over 8,000 lbs of waste is typically generated at a traditional home building site?) Most importantly, factory production moves construction off-site, to a controlled building environment. Neighbors won’t complain about construction noise, or the lack of parking due to all the pick-up trucks lining your street. You can visit the factory and check out your new house moving down the assembly line. Or you can log on to your own personal page on our website to see photos of your home in production.

At the same time we begin factory production of your home, the local contractor will also begin the site work on your land. By starting both the site work and the factory production concurrently, we are able to cut overall construction schedule by almost half. Site work includes foundations, bringing in utility connections and any additional site features included in the design. We will come out to check the placement of the weld plates and foundation wall before we deliver the modules to the site.

We’ll arrange for the most economical means of shipping to deliver your house to your site. Depending on where you are, this could be by truck, by train, by boat or any combination of the three. In preparation for the delivery day, if needed at your site, you will arrange for no parking signs on your street and locate an area where we can stage the delivery so all the trucks don’t show up and clog the street at once.

Once the house modules arrive, the house will be set and secured to the foundation in one day. Your neighbors will get a kick out of coming home from work and seeing your brand new house.

Even though the house has arrived, we still need to do a few things to it before you can move in. We need to button-up where the modules come together, finish the roof and your local contractor will hook up utility connections to the house. We will plug in your photovoltaic system, if you purchased one.

We test all the systems and fixtures and make sure everything is running smoothly. We do a final walk through the house with you, checking details, level of finish, and noting any deficiencies on a punch list that is completed before move-in.

We’ll give you an instruction manual for your home and show you how everything works. You can always call us if you have any questions. We provide a one year warranty on construction and a seven year warranty on all major systems in the home. This is in addition to the manufacturers’ warranties on all the materials, fixtures and systems.

It’s yours, so time to move in.