Design: Unity Homes "Nano"
This is the first in a series of discussions of pre-fabricated and modular home builders I've considered. I'll cover the general experience researching and talking with builders, and the highlights of their offering in the "minimum cabin" space.
First up is New Hampshire-based Unity Homes, a spinoff of Bensonwood homes which was briefly mentioned in theThe Design
First Impressions & Website
Based on my interactions with them so far, these folks are professional and hard-working people who believe in what they do. Their website is informative, easy to navigate, and conveys the look of a premium product. (Premium, given my starting point was my grandfather's cabin that rolled down a hill in a mudslide, could work against them a bit here.)
Meeting and Q&A
Like many other builders, you can fill out a form on their website to get in touch. I received a quick response with some additional information and ended up on a Zoom meeting with the sales manager, Dick. Meanwhile, I spent hours reviewing the wealth of information on the Unity website. They include detailed floor plans, interviews, case studies, and video tours of their warehouse and homes.Maintaining the impression of professionalism the website gave me, Dick was friendly, informative and patient. He actually spent almost two hours with me, answering a spate of questions. As a product manager, I respect a salesperson who knows their product, and this guy does. Here are some of the topics we covered.
I'm including my list of questions in case you find yourself undertaking a similar conversation and need a starting point. The answers are all paraphrased from part of the larger conversation, but I thought Q&A would be a helpful format.Disclaimer: any inaccuracies here are likely to be my own mistakes and not those of Unity. This summary is not endorsed by them in any way, and they had no say in it. If they run across this post and contact me to correct any facts, I will update the post.
Q: How long is the backlog on getting a Unity home built?
A: A few months out - this is a popular time to build a home. Building a home takes a while anyway - 10-11 months usually. Prefabrication saves time because the parts can be produced indoors regardless of weather, while other work is being done, but there is still design, site work, permitting, build time...
Q: Does Unity handle the construction, or do I need a general contractor (GC)?
(Unity has a "Whole Home" range where they handle the entire build, but it's a small range.)
Q: How hard is it to increase the size later with an addition?
A: It can definitely be done, but it's more cost effective to build it all at once. An additional room is not something Unity would come back out to build unless it was very substantial - like the size of another cabin.
Q: What's included in the square footage? I noticed some of the Width x Length measurements didn't equal the square footage of a design - what's the deal with that?
A: This is consistent with industry standard. Square footage is calculated from external measurements, while the length of a room is an internal measurement. The walls of a Unity home are almost a foot thick so there's a bigger difference than with most stick-built construction.
"Thicc walls for all that sexy energy-saving insulation," is something I definitely did not say out loud.
Q: How much can I customize this design?
A: You can do pretty much whatever you want with the internal walls, but it's harder to change the envelope. Consider, for example, if you tried to make it wider - this would mean the beams, roof, panels - the design for everything - would need to be changed. Making it longer would be easier.
Q: What kind of foundation can I have?
A few different options: basement - even a walk-out, crawl space, slab. This is something that would be planned during the design phase, but these can all work. A walk-out basement would add the most cost.
Q: What's included in the "whole house" or "turnkey" design?
A: A whole house, dummy. It includes the walls and floors, finishes like cabinets and sinks, interior doors and toilets, shipping everything to the site, the crew travelling and setting up the shell, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC, putting on a roof.
What's not included is the site work, like digging a well, septic, driveway, electricity to site, and excavation & backfill.
Q: Wait, so if you don't handle the whole build, you're not giving me a roof?
A: That gets installed on-site by your GC. As does the foundation, electrical, plumbing... The crew would still travel to set up the shell, but everything else gets done by the local subcontractors under your GC.
If you buy the "Shell" package from Unity, you select all the interior finishes with the GC. But if you buy the "Tempo" package, you work with a Unity designer and they provide all the interior finishes to your GC.
Q: Do I have to have a GC? I'm inspired by this lady in your case studies who bought the shell package only and then handled the rest of the build herself. It appeals to my innate cheapness.
A: You can be your own GC, but you're going to get better rates and treatment from subcontractors if you go through a local contractor. You'll also be working with someone who knows the best tradespeople - electricians and plumbers etc in the area - and how to get all the permitting done efficiently.
(Here, Dick briefly indulges my cheapness) You could technically get us to set up the shell, get a roof on it, and then it would be weather-tight and you could finish the build over time. But you'd have a hard time getting traditional financing for that.
Final Thoughts
I'm not in the business of writing fan mail (except to Kate McKinnon, whose presence on earth is a blessing), but this was an outstanding experience. If cost were no object, I'd currently be filling my cut-crystal decanter with 1926 Macallan whiskey in my custom mansion from Bensonwood while I read a first edition of the Canterbury Tales / there'd be less to think about after this call, but we've got to wait and crunch the numbers (in a later post), and this was the first builder I spoke with - perhaps they're all this lovely.
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