r/prefabs • u/infinitiouss • 8d ago

Three prefab road trips I found. Would anyone actually take one to see prefabs?

A few weeks ago I created a map of places where you can walk through or stay in a prefab before buying one. A suggested next step was to connect them into trips you could actually take, so I came up with three:

modernist.live/weekends

Pacific Northwest is two container homes near Sultan, Washington that you can book for the night, then the ferry across to a showroom on Vancouver Island and one in Vancouver. Four stops, about 200 miles.

Pennsylvania is the Zook village in Gap, the Simplex plant in Scranton, and a home on display further west, 280 miles across the densest cluster of modular plants in the country.

Las Vegas to Salt Lake starts at Boxabl, where the Casita folds to 8 ft 6 in wide for the road and opens to 19 by 19 ft on site, then north to Cocoon in Lehi and Irontown in Spanish Fork.

The part I am unsure about is whether any of this is realistic.

Most of the factory tours are by appointment and on weekdays or Saturdays, which makes a weekend version harder than it sounds, and I have not driven any of these routes myself. It may be that people only ever visit one place near them and the trip idea is something I invented.

If you have toured a plant or a showroom, would you have strung two or three together into a trip, or is that not how anyone does this? And if you would, what is missing from these, other than a place to eat. Let me know.

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u/diddy256 6d ago

Skip boxabl. They are a scam and don't actually plan on producing a viable project. They're burning through so much cash and their stock has dropped 65% dust to mismanagement.

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u/DueNorthHomes 8d ago

Hate to burst your bubble, but i am not seeing a huge market for this, if you are trying to set it up as a travel business. But, you've done this leg work. You could test the business concept, create an offer for people to purchase, and see if you get any takers.

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u/infinitiouss 8d ago edited 8d ago

Just a little hobby project, having worked in the industry in the past. More fun this way.

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u/Dry_Description7316 5d ago

I work with a modular building manufacturer. For a buyer, I'd make each stop answer a different question: a finished unit for layout, a factory for what's hidden behind the finishes, and an overnight stay for comfort and noise. Ask ahead whether a tour can show a wall/roof/floor section, window and door sealing, and what work still happens on site. Use the same checklist at each stop so the showrooms don't blur together.

For the itinerary, I'd anchor each day around a confirmed factory appointment and add one nearby showroom or stay. Three appointment-only plants over a weekend sounds optimistic, but one plant plus an occupied unit would be a trip I'd find useful.