Prefabricated flatpack homes offer some benefits over their brick-and-mortar counterparts: they're efficient to build and transport, quick to erect, and they are often more affordable too. Florida-based firm Cubicco's line of flatpack homes offer all these pluses, and are also rated to withstand hurricane wind speeds of up to 180 mph (290 km/h). They can be outfitted with sustainable technology too, including rainwater harvesting and solar power.
Cubicco's line comprises a series of homes of varying size and shape, including an attractive little micro-shelter that can be used as a studio, additional bedroom, or hurricane shelter. The cheapest full-size completed house the firm offers is the one-story 96-2b Home, which measures 63 sq m (685 sq ft). The interior features two bedrooms, one bathroom, an office, kitchen, dining area, and lounge, and there's also an optional deck, ramp, and covered porch outside.
The homes can be expanded in size if required, and can also be placed on stilts if flooding is a concern. Each one of the homes is available in self-build or built packages, and the 96-2b model starts at US$115,300, built, or $58,500 for the most basic self-build unit.
Cubicco's homes are constructed from sustainably-sourced wood, and optional green technology includes a vertical garden and green roof. Depending on the package chosen, a roof-based solar power array can be installed to reduce grid-based requirements, or with the addition of batteries at extra cost, allow the homes to run totally off-grid. A rainwater harvesting system can also be installed, that channels rainwater collected from the gutter into an underground tank. Air-conditioning is optional, as is a geothermal heating system, depending on where the home is to be located.
The roofs of Cubicco's homes are rated to withstand snow loads of over 3 m (10 ft), and each of the models feature hurricane-impact doors and windows. The homes are rated at being able to withstand 180 mph (290 km/h) winds and so should theoretically be able to withstand even a particularly nasty Category 5 hurricane with relative ease (the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale rates a Category 5 hurricane as 157 mph – or 252 km/h – or more).
Cubicco's furnished model home is available to view at the firm's facility in Miami.
Update (May 11, 2020): Cubicco's website is down and they appear to have gone out of business.
Source: Cubicco
