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House Feature

A Perfect Prefab: A Credit to the Neighborhood

By Camille LeFevre, Home Feature Editor
Last Updated: Feb 13, 2025

After living in a 100-year-old, two-story house in Portland for several years, Renee and her husband (and their cat) wanted a change; but they took their time. They had a lot, on top of a hill in rural Sonoma, rich with trees. They searched for a small, environmentally friendly housing option for almost a decade and were leaning toward prefab or modular.

The question uppermost in their minds, says Renee, was, "Why build a new house? How to move to a new house and be environmentally conscious?" The new home, she adds, "needed to have as many sustainable features as possible to trade off the costs of building new."

Table of Contents

  1. LivingHome, Sustainable Home  
  2. Plant Prefab: An Arranged Marriage That Works 
Plant Prefab Z6 Program Goals

While looking at prefab and modular options online, she found LivingHome, by Plant Prefab in Rialto, California. The homes range in size from accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to single-family homes and multi-family homes. They're designed, fabricated, and arrive on-site as modules. The company adheres to strict sustainable guidelines it developed, called Z6. The company also uses the United States Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED Certification Program and the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Energy Star® program to clarify its performance.

Moreover, Plant Prefab has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2028 operationally. The factory recycles or reuses 80 to 90% of its construction waste and uses energy-efficient lighting, cooling, and machinery. The homes incorporate high-performance heating and cooling systems, Energy Star appliances, smart energy monitoring, LED lighting, recycled high-performance insulation, drywall with a high recycled content that's also mold-resistant, and non-combustible, low-flow water fixtures, and solar-ready or net-zero design.

The couple was on board with all of those features, especially the following of the LEED guidelines. "The LEED certification option gave me a sense of what criteria the construction met with design elements and sustainable strategies," she says. LivingHomes are also cost-effective, she adds. "I could understand what we wanted to add to the house and how it would affect the cost." 

However, what really sold, Renee, was the design—and the fact that she could tweak the design online before even contacting Plant Prefab. "The mockup online really appealed to us," she explains, "and included details I'd never considered. The pricing was clear, and we could add on features if we desired. Plus, I could play with the design, engage my imagination in creating my home, before I had to commit to anything."

The couple chose LivingHome 6 with a flat roof. The home's U-shaped floor plan features a central courtyard entry. The entryway separates the master suite (on one side) from the guest rooms (on the other side) and the open-plan living, dining, kitchen area. "The design blends mid-century and modern design," says Renee. "We love the wings, the proportions, the repetition of shape, the clerestory windows, and the way the light moves through the house."

Sonoma LivingHome Prefab Exterior
Sonoma LivingHome Prefab Exterior. Photo Credit: Plant Prefab

LivingHome, Sustainable Home  

The couple's rural site is 600 feet up on a hill in the woods and seven miles from the coast. "Being we're in a rural county with lots of regulations," Renee says, "the home's location on the site was partially determined by the soil test the engineers did for the septic system. There was some preexisting access to the lot that also influenced where to put the house. LivingHome works with a contractor, and he had to say, 'Yes, you can put a LivingHome here," before we could start."

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After a year, we generated more than 10 megawatts and used slightly over five," Renee says. "We're totally net-zero. We got a nice credit from PG&E.

The cabinets are plywood with maple veneer. The floor is cork. The counters are Cesar stone. The house has high-performance Anderson windows and doors. While the model comes with appliances, Renee upgraded to an induction stove, "which is extremely fabulous," she says. The bathroom tile features tiles with high recycled content.

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Article By

Camille LeFevre

Camille LeFevre is an architecture and design writer based in the Twin Cities.

Camille LeFevre