The BOXABL Journal
Guides on ADUs, prefab and modular construction, home value, and accessible design — from the team building the Casita.
ADU, Prefab, Modular: What Do These Words Actually Mean?
Most people find themselves bewildered by the language used in the construction industry when they plan for any kind of addition to their property. People start throwing words like ADUs, prefab homes, and modular homes into their research process. However, these words mean completely different things.
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Will Adding a Backyard Casita Actually Raise Your Home's Value?
A backyard casita isn't just extra square footage tacked onto a lot. Ask around and you'll hear it framed as a rental unit, a spot for an aging parent, a home office, sometimes all three depending on the year. What almost nobody asks upfront is whether any of that actually shows up as home value once an appraiser walks through, or whether the return is mostly theoretical until the day you sell.
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Building a Granny Flat for an Aging Parent: Design & Accessibility
As parents age, choosing the appropriate house that offers a sense of independence and proximity simultaneously remains one of the most important concerns of the majority of families. Traditional care homes might seem impersonal and too costly, and the decision to move parents to an extra room might lack privacy for both generations.
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How Factory-Built Homes Are Changing the Way People Add Living Space
Ask a contractor how long a simple guest house addition takes and the honest answer is: it depends, and probably longer than you hoped. Permits stall. Subcontractors double-book. Rain pushes the framing crew back two weeks that somehow turn into four. None of that happens on a factory floor.
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How Long It Actually Takes to Build and Set Up a Backyard Guest House
Building a backyard guest house is one of the best options available for expanding your living space, accommodating your visitors, and creating consistent passive income. But among the many questions that come to mind is the time that the whole process will take.
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How Modern Modular Homes Can Lower Monthly Energy Bills
Utility fees are an ongoing expense for any property owner. The cost of heating and cooling will add up month after month, and thus, efficiency becomes important when you are adding to your living space.
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How Prefab Homes Are Actually Built Inside a Factory
Prefab homes are gaining popularity as more people look for faster, cheaper, and greener ways to build homes. Also known as 'prefabricated homes' they are built in sections inside a factory and later assembled on site without sacrificing quality.
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Manufactured and Modular Homes Aren't What They Used to Be
Mention "manufactured home" to most people, and they picture the same thing without much hesitation: a single-wide, built cheap, hard to unload down the road. That image has hung around for decades, and for a long stretch of that time, it was a pretty fair read.
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Manufactured Home or Modular Home? How to Tell Them Apart
The terms "manufactured home" and "modular home" have become so popularly used that many think they are interchangeable. However, they are not, and the distinction between them is crucial because it can help determine the building codes that govern the home, the type of foundation it will have, and how lenders may perceive it in the future.
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Modular Homes vs. Traditional Site-Built: What's the Real Difference?
Housing in the U.S. is under more strain than it has ever been in decades. Traditional construction can't always keep pace with what buyers need: faster timelines, affordability, and efficient use of space.
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