[curun1r]

> You need land, and you cannot make them in a factory

The land part is true, but there are people working on the second part. One of the more exciting ones I’ve seen recently is Cover [0]. They do the majority of building in their factory and only the foundation work and assembly is done onsite. But they’ve got enough flexibility to adapt their designs to the lot and they help buyers with the permitting hassles, so it’s a lot more appealing than some of the other kit home options. And, more importantly, their product has a luxury feel, so it doesn’t feel like you’re compromising. They’re focused on the LA area and the ADU market right now, but if that works out, it’s easy to see them getting a lot of funding to scale out their efforts to other markets. I’m hopeful that an approach like this can drive down the cost of new construction, especially when combined with streamlined permitting in places with housing crises where the political motivation will be there to adopt more a more builder-friendly environment.

If anyone is interested in seeing an actual finished project, a luxury real estate YouTuber did a tour [1] of one of their houses recently.

[0] https://buildcover.com/

[1] https://youtu.be/h2_CcNuNgXw

[jlarocco]

But the expensive part in most places is the land.

Even if the material and labor were free, an empty lot here in Boulder would cost over $500k, and you won't find any. I imagine it's the same problem in most cities (though maybe not so expensive).