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Quicker and cheaper

by Carol Blitzer

Sergio and Josefina Calderon's new neighbors on Wayne Court in the Fair Oaks neighborhood of Redwood City got quite a jolt last year when the Calderons' house came rolling down the street - in modules, on three trucks.

The house itself, manufactured in Woodland, Calif., by Silvercrest, was practically jolt-proof, said Jim Irizarry, a Redwood City contractor, real estate agent and dealer in prefabricated homes. He said transporting the modules from Woodland to the Bay Area is comparable to going through a major earthquake, with all the shaking and jiggling.

Silvercrest homes come pre-built and pre-assembled, including kitchen cabinets and appliances. Once on the site, they are connected to the foundation with steel girders. After the Sheetrock trim is completed and the home painted, no one would ever know that the house was once a large puzzle.

Irizarry contrasts constructing a prefab house in a neighborhood with building one in a mobile home park. In the park, the generic homes fit pretty well, but on streets, most must be customized. "There are a lot of site-specific issues," he said, such as window orientation and side-yard setbacks. "Nine times out of 10 generic doesn't work. We tend to design plans for an actual site," he added.

The Calderons' home, for example, began as a three-bedroom, two-bath floor plan, but was soon changed to four-bedrooms, to accommodate their four children. The house has 1,800 square feet of living space plus a 500-square-foot garage.

The whole house was completed on site in about three months, and cost $650,000, including the lot.

The biggest draw to building a new prefab house is the lower cost, said Irizarry. He estimated that he could erect a prefab house for about 30 percent less than one using conventional construction methods.

The factory can build a house for $45 to $65 per square foot, he said. By the time you add in transportation, pouring a foundation, getting permits and paying local fees ("soft costs that can easily add $60,000 to $100,000," he said), that knocks it up to closer to $125 per square foot. "If I were to bid this house (as a contractor), it would be about $200 per square foot," he said.

By building in the factory, one can take advantage of the production-line environment, as well as an economy of scale. "They build 1,000 houses per year so their cost of materials is lower," Irizarry said. Labor costs are also dramatically less in Woodland than in the Bay Area, he added.

The prefab houses must meet the federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) building code, which sets higher standards for insulation, he said. All lumber is kiln-dried, and "it's not going to shrink," he added.

Sitting on steel girders rather than wood, and connected to steel posts at the foundation, the home is also seismically superior, he said. "These houses are designed to move," he added.

Because there are so many site-specific and customer-specific issues, Irizarry said each home is really "custom." He reviews 300 line items with every customer, selecting details such as what kind of windows, flat vs. vaulted ceilings, gas logs or pellet stove in the fireplace, wood or steel-reinforced vinyl interior doors. There are even choices in roof materials and siding - stucco, cedar shingles or hardy plank, which looks like wood but is really concrete.

"There are choices, but the production line process has its limitations. You are limited to the products they carry," he said. If a customer must have a Sub-Zero refrigerator and a Wolf stove, the factory can frame out the space in the cabinets, leaving room according to the appliance specs.

And, if the appliance doesn't fit - and the specs were correctly supplied - Silvercrest is responsible for fixing it, Irizarry said. "(Even) if you made the mistake, they don't take you to the cleaners," he added, noting that "service is a very important component."

The Calderons chose a Corian counter top for their kitchen, not among the Silvercrest options. A year later, the counter has developed some cracks, which its manufacturer will either repair or replace, noted Irizarry.

Irizarry pointed to another couple who wanted to build a prefab home, but needed a handicap-accessible bathroom. The factory could provide the infrastructure, but the special toilet and pull bars were installed on site.

Irizarry constructed his first prefab home in 1995 and has completed a couple of dozen since, mainly in Redwood City and on the coast-side near Half Moon Bay. He owns five prefab duplexes. "I don't site-build because it's too expensive," he added.

"These work great in solid, middle-class neighborhoods where homes (being replaced) are 50 to 75 years old," he said.

As for resale, Irizarry said, "they hold up very well. I wish I had held onto all of my manufactured homes. Every home has significantly appreciated with the market. ...Once the building is affixed, it's real estate and it follows the trend of the neighborhood."

Carol Blitzer can be contacted at cblitzer@paweekly.com.