is a relative newcomer to the prefab design world. That being said, they are in the midst of two projects that should be completed by Spring 2009. One is in Blue River, Colorado and the other is in Salt Lake City, Utah. Blu Homes focuses on more than good contemporary and energy efficient design. With a Blu Home, you’ll get a fun and beautiful design, but you’ll also get walked through the whole process from site evaluation, permitting, financing, design, site work all the way through construction and finishing the home. And you’ll know the price right from the start because it’s a package deal. Not many other prefab builders offer that service, especially at the affordable price they’re guaranteeing on their website.
Blu Homes cares a great deal about the total life cycle costs of the home and believes in complete transparency so the buyer knows exactly what they are getting, how much they are going to spend, and how much energy their home will use. They’ll calculate it for you when they help you design your home and estimate how much you’ll be spending annually on energy. Their designs to date estimate that you can save over 60% in energy use compared to a typical existing home. They also offer to provide a home energy management system, and an analysis of possible energy saving incentives you could get in your state.
We interviewed Maura McCarthy, VP of Business Development, to find out more about their upcoming home in Salt Lake City and get the scoop on what we can expect. The home is the basic Retreat design, meant for a small family as a primary home, with a retreat feel. The home is expected to cost around $150,000, which includes all of their base offerings, site work, shipping and construction. The home includes:
- Spray foam insulation, helping the home have 50%+ better energy efficiency than the same design built to code
- 93%+ high efficiency furnace
- Clerestory windowsoptimized and modeled for passive solar
- Paperstone® Countertops
- Recessed can CFL lighting
- Kohler® fixtures
- Low-flow toilet and fixtures
- Home energy management system
Along with all of these great green design elements, the home will save the owners $790 dollars in energy costs per year. And Blu Homes has done its homework, showing that owners will also receive $8,500 back in incentives, rebates and tax credits from utilities, and the all due to its location, which happens to be in Salt Lake City. The home also comes with many other options including a solar system, bamboo flooring, Shaw or Interface carpets, Hardi Board, metal or cedar siding, radiant floor heating, basements, decks, and recycled rubber or metal roof tiles.
Blu Homes appears to provide more than just a fancy green prefab design. They also streamline the process for the owner, and design an affordable, energy efficient, high-quality home. The problem with many new prefab designs, is that they are not specifically built for the site and the designer doesn’t always follow the process all the way through every step. Blu Homes achieves affordability, Maura told us, because “we are focused on absolutely minimizing the finish work on site, saving customers thousands in potential cost overruns and home delays.” Check out their for more of their designs, pricing and lots more info.
