Aux Box is a Canadian company that builds prefab accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and standalone studios.
"It really wasn't clear to us that we were going to get into homes — proper homes or ADUs," Sheck told Business Insider. "That language wasn't even really being used at that time, or we weren't exposed to it." Workshop Building
Now Aux Box offers six units: an office, three studios, one model with a bedroom, and a sauna.
The models that can be used as a spare bedroom or a micro-studio are priced from $41,000.
There are installation and delivery fees on top of the purchase price, as well as an extra fee for hooking up services, Sheck said.
"The 620 square feet is currently the largest offering, but it's not going to ship right far," Sheck said. "It's going to stay on Vancouver Island for the most part."
Sheck said that a plus of building prefab structures is the ability to work in a controlled environment without worrying if it's going to rain or snow.
"All the materials are in premium condition and then fully protected by the time it goes out," he said. "You've got efficiencies by having different products at different stages of construction in the same building, and you can have all the tradespeople there working on them at the same time."
According to its website, the entire process, including delivery and installation, takes up to 18 weeks. Once the units are delivered, it takes Aux Box just one day to install them.
"The cons are you're limited to what you can transport down the road, in many ways, especially if you're trying to do 100% prefab," Sheck said. "Just because we can ship it across North America doesn't mean we should."
"People that own these sorts of properties recognize, 'Oh, I can just, in the off-season, really rapidly drop off prefab products and immediately turn my RV site that was generating $70 a night into a $400 a night product,'" he said.
"It's because we have a really clean, nice product that you can attract those types of people that can justify doing things like that," Sheck said.
"California actually has developed a path where we can have the product inspected before it arrives," Sheck said. "California would be a monster for us and we would probably put a facility near California before we do anything else."
Metal Stadium Some jurisdictions don't allow ADUs on the property by law, and some locations simply can't squeeze in a crane to drop in a unit. It's always best to check in on local ordinances before ordering an ADU.