With aging baby boomers and young people who can’t afford housing, there’s going to be a huge market for these.

Before I came to TreeHugger I was in the prefab biz, and met Steve Glenn and a few other prefab pioneers at a conference in Texas. He had just come from the tech world and was starting Living Homes, applying the lessons from tech to the staid and conservative building world, something that many were trying at the time. Most everyone else at that conference is long gone from the business, but Steve survived and thrived.

Now the latest in building tech and smart home tech merge in the LivingHome 10 from Plant Prefab, a 496 square foot Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) that’s “designed to provide affordable, sustainable rental units or family housing on existing single-family lots.”

ADUs were not very common or even legal in most places until recently, but the combination of aging baby boomers needing to downsize and young people who can’t afford housing has created a need and an opportunity.

Benefits of Plant Prefab’s Accessory Dwelling Unit

© Plant Prefab

The Plant Building System differs from traditional modular construction in that it is a mix of 2D panels and 3D core elements including the kitchen, bathroom, and mechanical services. This gives designers a lot more flexibility (modular homes are limited by road restrictions) and reduces the cost of shipping, and eliminates the need for a big expensive crane. It probably makes it easier to slip an ADU into a backyard.

© Sarah Rosenhaus Interior Design Photography

The Plant system also involves a lot more than just banging out modules and panels in a factory;

© Typical plan of an ADU

This is why you will never see me getting excited about on-site 3D printed buildings. There are all kinds of components and materials that go into buildings, and they all have to fit together properly. It’s complex and sophisticated and it’s the real future of construction. (See our tour or Bensonwood/ Unity Homes which works in a similar fashion.)

LivingHome Accessory Dwelling Unit Cost

These LivingHome ADUs will not be cheap (although they start at $154,000, which actually is), but as has been seen in cities that permit back lane housing, they are cheaper than a house or a condo in expensive cities. They are a way for people to provide housing for their kids now and do a switch later. I suspect Steve Glenn is going to sell a lot of these.