Ask an Expert: Why Remodel When You Can Build New?

Original article posted at Dwell by Kathryn M.

Acclaimed architect Jared Levy shares his expertise with prefab design and dives into how his team at Connect Homes is streamlining the entire build process.

"Live in the home we want or in the place we want?"—that is the question many people find popping up in their minds when contemplating how to get more space. The choice is usually between a small, older home in their dream neighborhood or a larger new home that is farther away from where they want to live.

For Jared Levy, the answer is simple: have both. Years ago, after becoming frustrated with the traditional build process, the California–based architect dove headfirst into the world of prefab design, an endeavor that led him to co-founding Connect Homes as an effective way to make modern, sustainable living more broadly accessible.

First off, what inspired you to create Connect Homes?

Jared Levy: When I was working as an architect designing modern single-family homes, I started to notice how inefficient the traditional build process can be. Whether remodeling or building a new home, the owner assembles this fragmented group of architects, engineers, builders, subcontractors, and vendors that all come together for what can easily be an over two-year timeline. Then, when the project is over, everyone goes their separate ways only to reinvent the wheel all over again—for a new owner, with a new team, for a new home. It’s a huge waste of resources as every home is a one-off, never to be repeated with no economies of scale built into the process. It's also a very opaque process as many times the owner doesn’t really know how much the home will finally cost until they have already moved in.

My other frustration would occur after I’d have the opportunity to do a walk-through of a home I designed before the owner moved in. The home would be full of natural light with floor-to-ceiling windows, while encouraging indoor/outdoor living via expansive sliding doors. I’d feel more connected to nature and more connected to a healthier way to live. Then, I’d go home to my tiny old bungalow with small windows and dark rooms, and I’d think, 'wait, where’s my wall of glass!?' It was then I realized I couldn’t afford the homes I designed—and neither could any of my friends—which motivated me to find a way to change that.

Why is our aging housing stock a problem?

Over 70 percent of the homes in metro regions like L.A. and the Bay Area were built pre-1970, with most of them being built in the late '40s as part of post-war housing tracts. These homes are usually under 1,000 square feet and have two bedrooms and one bath, along with an outdated kitchen. Worse yet, they are completely energy inefficient with single-pane glazing, no insulation and outdated heating systems. It's usually colder inside the house than outside on a mild day, and way hotter inside the house on a warm day. With homes making up 24 percent of global energy demand, this is a big problem. Moreover, with ever-rising real estate costs and construction costs, most people are being priced out of being able to complete second-story additions and remodels to these homes, let alone building a new custom home.

What don’t a lot of people realize when they try to add onto an old home?

One of the reasons it costs so much to add onto these older homes is regulatory; most jurisdictions require you to bring all of the existing houses up to current codes if you add more than 50 percent to your home. This means replacing all of the single-pane windows and doors, running new electrical and new plumbing, new heating and cooling systems, adding insulation and reinforcing your foundation and walls to not only comply with current codes but also support a second story addition.

That’s why when you drive down the street and see a second-story addition and remodel happening, the first thing you notice is the existing home is stripped all the way down to the studs. At that point, you really have to ask yourself: was that really worth saving? We think the answer is no. At Connect Homes, we have focused on developing a solution to replace our old housing stock with new modern, energy efficient homes.

How does Connect Homes streamline the build process?

We take care of the design, engineering, manufacturing, transportation and installation of our homes. We think this is really important, both from our clients’ perspective as well as the company’s perspective.

On the customer side, our hope is to deliver a transparent and simple process. Since we offer a standard product line, we have made the design process a lot like buying a new car: you choose your model, and then you can personalize it with different finishes and fixtures. Given the standardization, we are able to provide an upfront price on our website. Within days of contacting us, we give our prospective customers a personalized estimate based on their site location and conditions.We also handle the installation because our team knows our process and our systems better than any local contractor could.

On the company side, being vertically integrated has allowed us to constantly make improvements and get better. Since we’ve designed our homes for manufacturing, we currently have a house coming off our assembly line every six days. As we make improvements both to our designs and the assembly line, we can go even faster. And because we do the installation ourselves, we are constantly evolving our methods and solutions to connect the modules and seam them together—always with the goal of improving the timeline for customers moving in.