Top 5 Eco-Friendly Modular Homes Under $350,000
Since this is a green blog, it’s expected for me to share some eco-friendly prefabricated homes I’ve come across. I love these because of the simplistic design, the “green” value, and the price. Prefabricated, or prefab, homes encourage an Earth friendly value because they use less space and materials than traditional on-site constructed houses. Thus, leaving a smaller ecological footprint.
All of these houses are completed utilizing off-site modular technology. Some offer additional floorplans. All prices listed are the estimates given by the company for the home itself. Remember there are other costs including delivery (some might not be available in your area yet), installation, and construction work on site. Be sure to calculate these all in before making your choice.
Michelle Kaufman’s mkLotus House
Cost: starting at $175,000, for the 1-bedroom model; starting at $350,000, for the 2-bedroom model
Designed to be an “oasis.” This house is all about a connection to the natural and to the landscape. It’s the latest design by Michelle Kaufman Designs. Features to note are the green “living” roof, use of 100% Solar Generated Power, and rain collection system.
Living Homes: Kieran Timberlake KT1.2
Cost: starting at $252,625
Featuring 19 foot ceilings in the family room and a third story deck, this home has an open feel. Perfect for modest lots in the city, it can be configured into a 1 bed/1 bath or a 2 bed/2bath. Constructedwith environmentally preferred and recyclable materials, you can help the planet in style.
Cost: starts at $250,000, for a 3-bedroom/2-bathroom pod
Offering a high-tech solar system to power the home as well as heating water, this is one heavy home at 114 tons. Extremely contemporary in design, it’s also extremely stable and is said to withstand everything from earthquakes to cyclones. Did I mention it can be built in 3 days?
Bamboo Technologies Plantation House
Cost: starting at $133,600, for a 2-bedroom,/2-bathroom
Bamboo Technologies has concocted over 40 models to choose from! The Plantation House was chosen for this Top 5 because of it’s warm and comfortable feel. These are offered with optional packages such as the “Hurricane Strong” package to include extra engineered braces in panels for safety margins and to meet building codes in Florida and the Caribbean.
Cost: starting at $179,000, for a 1-bedroom unit (more sizes to come)
Marmol Radzinger launches their Rincon series with the Rincon 5. Standardfeatures include recycled denim insulation, low VOC paint, and LED lighting. Fully functional to be solar powered if you want to run off-grid. Designed for a guesthouse, office or vacation retreat, it still offers all the amentities of home.
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September 4th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
I love the idea of an eco-friendly house, but why are they always so modern. The first one that really catches my eye in design is the mkLotus. It’s beautiful.
September 4th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
[...] Prefab: Bamboo Technology house Jump to Comments I cannot picture these Bamboo Houses by Bamboo Technologies other than in a tropical setting but they sure look cool, esp. the cottages and Colonial style houses… Via NatureFriendly [...]
September 5th, 2008 at 8:31 am
[...] actually just dedicated a post to the top 5 builders the other day, if you wanted to check it out. Click here. Good luck, I look forward to watching the pictures as you go through the process. [...]
May 20th, 2009 at 8:03 am
I’m thinking there should be MUCH more inexpensive ones somewhere…
May 24th, 2009 at 9:36 am
MaryJo,
There are less expensive modular homes on the market, even those with eco-friendly options available. I’ve seen them, but as you go cheaper you lose square footage. For example, the Sustain 12X36 CE sells for $129,990 USD. It’s still not “cheap.”
Naturally Earth Friendly
June 14th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
I was just wondering why eco-friendly are so MUCH more expensive? I love the ideas and concepts, it just seems a bit high in price. There are only 3 in my family and the land is more important than the home. I would want something that will protect us in severe weather as well as being economical. We don’t want more space than what we actually need and we would love to go eco-friendly, but it is so hard to swallow the price when we can still find homes being built by contractors for less than $30 a sq. ft. Does anyone know of any companies that may be cheaper on the East Coast?
June 16th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Shirley,
You make some excellent points. And I agree that the price of being “Earth friendly” stops many people. One of the better aspects with so many companies jumping on the “green” band wagon is that with more companies involved the prices will go down eventually. I’m hoping sooner than later, as I’m sure you are too. A good idea that is less expensive, but still has an eco-friendly appeal to it are modular homes or manufactured homes. Not all use the “greenest” of methods or materials, but when comparing these to stick built homes they are much friendlier for the Earth. They are built in a factory or warehouse so you get the product faster and there tends to be less building materials waste. And with so many companies offering this product you’ll be sure to find something less expensive that a traditional home but with some added appeal of being kinder to the environment.
I hope this helps.
Brianne
July 1st, 2009 at 9:06 am
I am trying to convince my boyfriend to buy beach front land that is selling for about $50,000 and I am more environmental friendly so we are deciding if to go with a modular home we live in Florida so we don’t know how it will hold up in the weather. I love them. We do not want to spend more than 200-250k to build a home so we don’t know if to buy modular for 200k or build it with recyclable material and I am trying to find a website or somewhere that can give me an average cost or where it shows how much it would cost for average labor cost since we won’t be needing it if we build it ourselves it would be cheaper since my boyfriend and his family can get material cheaper since they work in construction,plumbing, electricians, and we would be doing most of the labor. On top of that most homes on the beach cost about 500k-1million but they are too over the top and the lots are smaller so a modular home would fit. If anyone knows any websites or info please post. Thanks.
July 1st, 2009 at 9:09 am
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/Panama-City-Beach_FL_32408_1059931531
The land is something like that and about .17 to .25 acres…so again small lots…Thanks.
July 1st, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Hi Michelle,
Thanks for letting us know about your concern for our planet. It’s always nice to see what others are doing to protect our natural resources and limit our carbon footprint. Most of the “eco-friendly” modular homes are not inexpensive and are usually 1 to 2 bedrooms. Have you decided how much square footage and how many bedrooms you’d like?
One idea is to purchase a small house architecture plan from one of the many websites and you can build it yourself. I understand with the cost doing it yourself will be memorable and cheaper. So if you buy a floorplan many of the smaller footprint designs will be a rectangular design. This should in itself save on materials and time compared to a house with several angles. I don’t know about the housing regulations to keep it safe for hurricanes – that might add to the price. With your family already in the business you might be able to go to homes that are going to be torndown and purchase or take away the items they don’t want anymore. Maybe you’ll find some sinks, toilets, bath tubs, showers, kitchen cabinets, etc. that will save you money.
I hope this helped a little and Good luck. During the process feel free to let us know how things are going and what you’re deciding. If you want to write something for the website, let me know and we can get you started.
Best wishes,
Brianne
July 1st, 2009 at 10:12 pm
I was researching some new articles and found something that you might be interested in. “Build Your Own Affordable, Eco-Friendly House” is an article that talks about some more unique ways we can help the Earth when building our own house. It specifically mentions Florida as being a good place to have tamped earth floors because of the hot climate.