What do you think?
Rate this book
Prefabulous: The House of Your Dreams, Delivered Fresh from the Factory
This is the only book that gives homeowners who are dreaming about building or planning to build a new home the good and the bad on all types of prefabricated houses. Shows that prefabricated can be mainstream traditional design and does not have to look like a mobile home or a modular "Dwell" box.
Prefabulous describes the many systems available for prefabricating all or parts of a new home, including timber frame and log, as well as modular, panelized, structural insulated panels, steel framing and concrete systems, which are relatively new. Prefabulous describes these systems, compares their advantages and disadvantages, and shows beautiful examples of houses built using these techniques. Although all of these "prefabricated" houses look very different, all of them were manufactured partially or almost completely in a controlled factory environment and transported to the home site to be erected. As a group these systems offer a faster, more energy-efficient, and sometimes more cost-efficient method of building.
Includes a foreword by Not So Big House author Sarah Susanka, who "For homeowners who want to know the options, the advantages and disadvantages of those options, and to see how those prefabricated parts come together into a good, attractive home, read this book."
Prefabulous describes the many systems available for prefabricating all or parts of a new home, including timber frame and log, as well as modular, panelized, structural insulated panels, steel framing and concrete systems, which are relatively new. Prefabulous describes these systems, compares their advantages and disadvantages, and shows beautiful examples of houses built using these techniques. Although all of these "prefabricated" houses look very different, all of them were manufactured partially or almost completely in a controlled factory environment and transported to the home site to be erected. As a group these systems offer a faster, more energy-efficient, and sometimes more cost-efficient method of building.
Includes a foreword by Not So Big House author Sarah Susanka, who "For homeowners who want to know the options, the advantages and disadvantages of those options, and to see how those prefabricated parts come together into a good, attractive home, read this book."
- GenresArchitecture
224 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2007
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 25, 2019
Great book - a lot of useful ideas, well illustrated, about an overdue trend in architecture and building engineering.
As the author and others have noted, most of us would not go for the idea of buying cars via a process of having piles of parts shipped to our driveways, then bringing in crews from assembly lines to build the cars on-site, out in the weather, leaving scrap everywhere that needs to be cleaned up, or buying major appliances in a similar way. So why do we still have our houses built this way, when we could also get them built in major sections in climate-controlled factories, then quickly assembled in their final locations?
This book - first in a series - explains the process in more detail, and makes clear the difference between prefabricated houses and mobile homes, a.k.a. trailer homes. The rest of the book is made up of sections covering prefab houses in a variety of styles suited to different environments and needs. If you're looking at options for home construction, I recommend including this book in your research.
As the author and others have noted, most of us would not go for the idea of buying cars via a process of having piles of parts shipped to our driveways, then bringing in crews from assembly lines to build the cars on-site, out in the weather, leaving scrap everywhere that needs to be cleaned up, or buying major appliances in a similar way. So why do we still have our houses built this way, when we could also get them built in major sections in climate-controlled factories, then quickly assembled in their final locations?
This book - first in a series - explains the process in more detail, and makes clear the difference between prefabricated houses and mobile homes, a.k.a. trailer homes. The rest of the book is made up of sections covering prefab houses in a variety of styles suited to different environments and needs. If you're looking at options for home construction, I recommend including this book in your research.
June 19, 2014
This book was informative and interesting, but I wish it would have given some idea of pricing. Yes, I know it varies greatly depending on where in the country you are, but it seems to me that all of the homes featured were way out of the price range of the average person. Does that mean middle class Americans who want to try this type of home building would be stuck with the stereotypical pre-fab homes that look like trailers? Also, I find it helpful when the dimensions of the rooms are listed on the floor plans. The overall square footage for each home was available, but it is sometimes difficult to envision the project when there are limited photos and no measurements given.
June 30, 2016
Great reference for prefab homes.
October 28, 2012
It probably deserves 3 and a half stars.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews