{"id":114921,"date":"2025-03-08T05:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T10:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/?post_type=ftm_article&p=114921"},"modified":"2025-03-10T11:58:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T15:58:20","slug":"prefab-cover","status":"publish","type":"ftm_article","link":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/the-material-world\/prefab-cover","title":{"rendered":"Fire-resilient prefabs are helping LA build back better"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article is an installment of\u00a0Future Explored<\/a>, a weekly guide to world-changing technology. You can get stories like this one straight to your inbox every Saturday morning by\u00a0subscribing above.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s 2026. You\u2019re moving into your first home, which was built mostly in a factory and then assembled onsite. Unlike the \u201cprefab\u201d homes of the past, this one was fully customizable, giving you the opportunity to design your dream home and then inhabit it just a few months later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prefab homes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In January, as several wildfires burned across Los Angeles County, more than 200,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes, not knowing if they\u2019d have one to return to by the time the fires were finally contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, most of those Angelenos were back in their houses before the start of February, but the fires did end up destroying more than 11,000<\/a> homes, with most of the destruction occurring in two cities: Altadena and Pacific Palisades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of those homeowners are now looking to rebuild, and instead of traditional \u201cstick-built\u201d constructions, they\u2019re opting for prefabricated homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find out why, this week\u2019s Future Explored is taking a look back at the history of prefab homes, what they can offer that standard constructions can\u2019t, and how one maker of these residences is working to ensure its clients won\u2019t have to go through the fire rebuild process again in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where we\u2019ve been<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Most homes are constructed entirely onsite, with workers building a wooden frame and then adding walls, floors, and other components onto it. Prefabricated houses are partially assembled offsite, usually in a factory, and the pieces are then transported to the construction site for assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depending on the kind of prefab, the home might arrive in dozens of flat panels that will form the home\u2019s walls, floors, and roof, or it could be delivered to the site in just a few pre-assembled \u201cmodules\u201d that simply need to be attached to the foundation and one another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This approach to homebuilding has been around for centuries\u2014an epic poem written in the 1100s describes a castle being transported in pieces from Normandy to Britain\u2014but the concept really started to gain traction in the 1800s when London carpenter H. John Manning designed an easy-to-assemble prefab home for his son to take with him when he moved to Australia. The components were small enough to fit in the hull of a ship, and Manning ended up selling dozens of his \u201cPortable Cottages\u201d to British emigrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Line
Walter Gropius \/ Konrad Wachsmann<\/figcaption>
A diagram of a Manning Portable Cottage. \n<\/div><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By the middle of the 19th century, companies around the world were mass-producing prefabs, and California proved to be a major market as people moved west to take part in the Gold Rush. This era saw the first iron prefabs, which were cheaper and easier to assemble than their wooden counterparts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of prefab homes in the U.S. surged<\/a> during World War II as the nation looked for a way to quickly house military personnel and civilians helping with the war effort. Even more were then built after WWII to address a housing shortage caused by vets returning from the war and looking to settle down and start families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many of these homes still stand, in the decades that followed the war, prefab homes would become stigmatized<\/a> as low quality and unattractive. As a result, they would never come close to challenging the popularity of traditionally constructed homes\u2014in 2016, just 2%<\/a> of the new homes built in the U.S. were prefabs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where we\u2019re going (maybe)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Altadena and Pacific Palisades aren\u2019t the only places in the U.S. that need more houses ASAP. As of 2022, the nation was 4.5 million homes<\/a> short of demand, which is driving up the cost of the houses that are available and putting homeownership out of reach for many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solution to this problem seems obvious\u2014build more affordable housing\u2014but a combination of factors, including permitting challenges<\/a>, restrictive zoning policies<\/a>, a shortage of skilled laborers<\/a>, and the rising cost of construction materials<\/a>, make that easier said than done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Almost everything else in our lives [is] made in the factory…I said, \u2018Why can’t homes be that way?\u2019\u201d<\/p>Alexis Rivas<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Just like they did in the 1940s, prefabricated homes could help the U.S. overcome this housing crisis, too. Not only can they be built 30% to 60%<\/a> more quickly than stick-built homes, but they also require fewer laborers and are generally 10% to 20% cheaper per square foot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

L.A.-based tech company Cover<\/a> hopes to be a leader of the new prefab era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’ve always loved homes and homebuilding and have a background in architecture,\u201d Alexis Rivas, Cover\u2019s CEO and co-founder, tells Freethink. \u201cThe more I learned about conventional construction, the more frustrated I became by the inefficiency in the whole process: how long it takes, how expensive it is, and how unpredictable the process is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you look at almost everything else in our lives\u2014our electronics, our clothing, our cars\u2014it’s made in the factory, and as a result of being made in a factory, it’s high quality, abundantly available, and lower cost,\u201d he continues. \u201cI said, \u2018Why can’t homes be that way?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

The world will reconfigure around homes built with Lego-like panels made on a production line. And once it happens, it'll be hard to imagine we lived any other way.

There will be an entire marketplace for used panels too. Older homes won't end up in landfills. https:\/\/t.co\/GsHVrweCgX<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ERvYXjKgAr<\/a><\/p>— Alexis Rivas (@alexisxrivas) February 2, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>