Press

RIALTO, California – March 2, 2021: Plant Prefab, the nation’s first Certified B Corporation™ custom prefabricated design and construction company, has reached a critical point in the development of The Palisades at Squaw Valley in Olympic Valley, CA, with more of than half of the nineteen homes that Plant was contracted for now installed. Each of the custom residences was designed by The Brown Studio and prefabricated in Plant’s Rialto, CA factory over a period of just twelve to fourteen weeks using the Plant Building System™. Plant has now built and installed twelve residences for the new development, with seven more currently in production. 

“We’re pleased to reach this milestone with our clients at The Palisades,” says Plant Prefab Founder and CEO Steve Glenn. “This has been an important case study for us, because the clients actually started by building on site, using traditional means, but were unhappy with the schedule delays and cost overruns, so they decided to work with us to build more efficiently. This was also the first project for a client where we employed our patented Plant Building System™. This has proven to be a major advantage for the project in terms of time, cost, design flexibility, and quality.”

The most recent home is 2,810 square feet, encompassing four bedrooms with en-suite baths and an open-plan kitchen, dining, and living area. The “Mountain Modern” style residence also includes large decks for outdoor entertaining and an oversized, two-car garage. Large windows provide ample natural daylight and tranquil views, while exterior finishes of Western Red Cedar and earth-toned metal blend with the forested surroundings.

“We continue to be impressed that Plant can build to our exact design specifications so efficiently,” says Rory Brown, Principal Interior Designer at The Brown Studio. “As with all of the homes we have designed for The Palisades, we worked directly with Plant’s factory to ensure that the fit and finish met our standards and our client’s expectations.”

This level of customization and quality control was made possible by Plant’s new, patented Plant Building System™, which utilizes advanced engineering to translate architectural plans into specialized building components called Plant Panels™ and Plant Modules™. Plant engineers then determine the most efficient and durable way to build each component to meet local zoning, structural, and seismic requirements, ensuring optimal thermal performance and durability for the life of the home. 

The Olympic Valley projects were the first for a client to be fully constructed utilizing the new system, which greatly reduces the transportation and installation barriers of conventional modular building methods while offering far greater design flexibility. Advanced factory processes provide windfall time and cost efficiencies, as well as a level of precision and quality control that’s difficult, if not impossible, to provide on a traditional job site.

To minimize freight costs, each of the homes’ garages, decks, roofs, and hallways were prefabricated as Plant Panels. The main living spaces were built as fully-volumetric Plant Modules, allowing Plant to complete 95% of the finish work. By building in tandem with site work, and installing all plumbing, electric, HVAC, flooring, tile, cabinets, and appliances in their factory, Plant was able to reduce the overall construction timeline by 50% over site-based methods. Plant’s work was not affected by weather, and high-demand local labor was limited to construction of the foundation and completion of paint and siding.

“Plant gives us a faster, more predictable schedule,” says project manager Lindsay Brown, Principal and Owner of The Brown Studio. “And by shifting more work to the factory, we’re able to ensure a consistent, high level of quality and lower overall project costs.”

Every Plant Prefab home is built in the company’s 62,000-square-foot facility to exacting quality standards, following a rigorous sustainability program that minimizes the negative impact on energy, water, indoor air quality, and material resources.

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ABOUT PLANT PREFAB
With a mission to build a better world by design, Plant Prefab makes it faster and more efficient to build custom, high-quality, healthy, single-family and multi-family homes. Plant Prefab is the first Certified B Corporation™ custom prefabricated design and construction company dedicated to sustainable building, materials, processes, and operations.

All Plant Prefab’s projects are prefabricated in the company's 62,000-square-foot homebuilding factory in Rialto, CA utilizing the Plant Building System™. Combining advanced engineering with Plant Panels™ and Plant Modules™, specialized components designed and patented by Plant, the Plant Building System provides greater design flexibility, quality control, and time and cost efficiencies than both site-based construction and conventional prefabricated approaches while minimizing the negative impact on energy, water, and resources. Clients can work with any architect they choose, including Plant Prefab's award-winning, in-house design studio.

Plant Prefab is defining a new standard in residential home design and construction, helping individuals, architects, and developers efficiently design and build high-quality, cost-efficient, healthy homes. Plant Prefab was funded by Amazon, Obvious Ventures, and others.

In 2019, Plant Prefab committed to full carbon neutrality in their operations by 2028, the first prefabricated home builder to announce a net zero goal.

Plant Prefab homes have garnered significant industry recognition including the AIA’s top sustainable award, Architizer’s Jury and People Choice Awards, Green Builder Magazine’s Home of Year, Business 2.0’s ‘World’s 11 Coolest Products,’ and Businessweek’s “Architectural Wonders of the World.” Nearly thirty Plant Prefab homes have been certified LEED for Homes Platinum, including the first home ever to achieve the certification.