September 6, 2013
Pre-fab house tour on Vashon
Blu Homes, a manufacturer of prefabricated houses, is offering tours this weekend of a new house on Vashon Island.
The 5-year-old, privately owned Boston-area company has a factory in Vallejo, Calif., where it says workers can churn out an eco-friendly house in six to eight weeks.
The steel-framed houses are folded onto standard trucks for shipping and completed on site in less than a month.
The house on Vashon Island is called the Glidehouse.
Tours are offered from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Register online for a Saturday tour at bit.ly/15CFEDg. See bit.ly/17I4ihS for a Sunday tour.
Homeowners Richard Mintz and Diane McGaha told the company they decided to have their house built after seeing an article in Sunset magazine.
The Glidehouse model on Vashon is based on a 1,800-square-foot floor plan, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Pricing starts at $395,000.
The houses can be customized to add garages, additional rooms, walk-in closets, mud rooms and basements.
The Vashon house has a 300-square-foot “pod” add-on that holds another bedroom and bathroom. Pods start at $110,000.
Home buyers can personalize their living spaces online by choosing appliances, cabinetry, flooring, countertops, textures, finishes, cladding and accessories.
The Vashon house has a 60-foot “wall of glass,” according to the company, as well as 14-foot ceilings and clerestory windows.
Blu Homes says the houses are built with high-performing insulation and high-efficiency, gas-filled windows. The company uses 3-D modeling to site the houses to take advantage of sun, wind and weather patterns. It says its houses are about 50 percent more energy-efficient than comparable standard houses.
The models range from 460 to 2,600 square feet, with starting prices from $130,000 to $625,000. Buyers are responsible for securing the site.
The company built its 100th project in 2012.