Prefabulous : The House of Your Dreams, Delivered Fresh from the Factory

This is the only book that gives homeowners who are dreaming about building or planning to build a new home the good and the bad on all types of prefabricated houses. Shows that prefabricated can be mainstream traditional design and does not have to look like a mobile home or a modular "Dwell" box. Prefabulous describes the many systems available for prefabricating all or parts of a new home, including timber frame and log, as well as modular, panelized, structural insulated panels, steel framing and concrete systems, which are relatively new. Prefabulous describes these systems, compares their advantages and disadvantages, and shows beautiful examples of houses built using these techniques. Although all of these "prefabricated" houses look very different, all of them were manufactured partially or almost completely in a controlled factory environment and transported to the home site to be erected. As a group these systems offer a faster, more energy-efficient, and sometimes more cost-efficient method of building. Includes a foreword by Not So Big House author Sarah Susanka, who writes: "For homeowners who want to know the options, the advantages and disadvantages of those options, and to see how those prefabricated parts come together into a good, attractive home, read this book."

Sheri Koones is a columnist and author who writes a regular column for Home Resource and Design Magazine. Sheri earned her B.S. degree from Boston University and her M.S. degree from Columbia University. She is a member of the National Association of Real Estate Editors, the Women's Business Development Center, the Entrepreneurial Woman's Network, and the Connecticut Press Club. Her previous books include From Sand Castles to Dream Homes, House About It, and Mainstreet Modular, out this fall. She lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, with her husband and two children.