WHAT’S KEEPING YOU FROM LIVING IN A HOUSTON PREFAB 
A reader is hoping to get a handle on the current state of City of Houston regulations regarding prefab homes: “As far as I can tell, the current law [PDF] makes mod ‘designer’ prefabs clearly illegal, except in a designated ‘modular home subdivision’ (with a few other minor exceptions). Those that have been built so far are flouting the law, given that the intent of it was to keep out trailer parks, not Dwellians. But I’ve heard that maybe these rules have been amended? Inquiring minds want to know!'” [Swamplot inbox] Photo: FlatPak
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When I was managing the construction of the new dorms at Rice we used pre-fabricated bathroom pods. We had to send a City of Houston building inspector to New Jersey to inspect/approve the plumbing before shipping the pods (over 200) here and plugging them into the building.
If the prefabircated homes look like boxes stacked together like the photo, then I hope they remain illegal.
Dwellians = word of the year!
whatevs, those flatpak homes are the bomb. probably not best for houston environs, but i would gladly take this over most sloppily constructed junk you see around here.
Actually, there a number of excellent pre-fab home designers out there. The problem is, nice designs are in the $150+/sqft range, which is not competitive in Houston.
The house in the picture is beautiful. It’s a breath of fresh air compared to the standard traditional houses that are all over Houston. Houston is changing. Hopefully it will move away from the 1980-1990’s “traditional/contemporary” to modern.