At one level, building or actually having a pre-fab, code compliant cabin brought on to my land makes a lot of sense. I like how they have both wood exterior and wood interiors, as I hate the look of dry wall and vinyl siding. I also like how their is less waste in the construction as excess product is used in other buildings and you can quickly move in once the building is delivered. Plus it’s safer and more cost effective to have workers working on the factory line out of the elements close to their home and not in remote country, driving a long ways from home.

The problem is that any kind of pre-fab looks like every other one, especially if you have an eye for such things. Smaller pre-fab cabins look a lot like low value shed to cabins, even if they are built to a significantly higher standard with 2×6 for greater strength and to accommodate R21 or R26 insulation and other requirements of the residential building codes. They do offer quite a bit of customization but still any type of modular home comes out looking modular based on the limitations of the construction method and requirements to built on the assembly line. It’s hard to make a lot of adjustments to make a truly green building compared to an ordinary modern building as your stuck in the limits of what the factory builds. There is also questions in my mind about durability, life span and resale value.

Stick build offers maximum flexibility and there are many plans that builders can work off. But even when you work off an established plan, it still adds complexity to the build and permitting process. The wide variety of options for stick build means it’s possible to get lost in the weeds. But there are many ways that a stick built house can be a much more greener structure even if it costs more. Yet the energy savings and longer lifespan of the materials – and higher resale value, could more then help offset the advantages of pre-fab.