Normally, I am turned off by real estate books with clever, cute titles such as “Prefabulous” by Sheri Koones. However, I am “turned on” by this great, new, beautiful book that completely changed my mind about so-called “prefab” homes, which are custom built in factories to the specifications of the buyers. A better name for the homes described and photographed in this beautiful book is “modular.” But even that term doesn’t fully reveal the many different types of homes that can be designed by your architect to fit a specific lot or adapted from plans found in catalogs. So called “manufactured homes” are not included in this book because they are covered by a separate building code.

Reasons for building a prefab home, rather than a “stick-built” traditional residence, are many. They include cost savings, fast construction time, greater energy efficiency, better structural integrity and improved warranties. Author Sheri Koones has compiled a photo gallery of dozens of prefab homes of all styles, located throughout the United States and Canada, which show the flexibility of prefab houses. Not only are the finished homes shown, but the factory construction processes reveal the exacting standards, including computerized, highly accurate machinery to save time and labor.

Unless you knew the homes pictured in this book were built in modules in a factory, trucked to the site and then assembled into unique, one-of-a-kind houses, you would never believe what can be done by setting the modules on foundations in one or two days. The largest home in the book was delivered in 15 modules, but most are much smaller. Lest you think modular prefab homes are only for low-income housing, the architect of the 40,000-square-foot Xanadu house for Bill and Melinda Gates in Seattle, James Cutler, now designs prefab custom homes for Lindal Cedar Homes.

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