Big Island prefab houses going up
The cheaper homes are trucked at night to a Kau subdivision
Associated Press
KAILUA-KONA » A Big Island company is using the cover of darkness to truck prefabricated homes from its factory near Honokohau Harbor to a Kau subdivision 50 miles to the south.
Aloha Aina Homes executives say it takes two nights to transport a home to the Discovery Harbour subdivision -- with half a home moved one night and the other half the second night.
"It was tough to figure out how to do the first one," said company President Alan Dickler. "It's not so hard now, but we made the commitment to move them at night, and the first one took four and a half hours."
The company plans to deliver 30 three-bedroom, two-bathroom, factory-assembled, steel-tract houses to the subdivision near South Point.
The 1,215-square-foot modular homes sell for $340,000 fee-simple, about half of what a house would sell for closer to Kona.
The houses come with a covered front lanai with white railings, ceramic tile floors, vaulted ceilings, decorative molding and two-car garages.
The company builds the homes in 30 days at its new $2.5 million factory.
"The purpose is to build affordable homes, and get them up quickly," Dickler said.
The first one recently closed.
"They've moved in some furnishings, but they'll hold off on moving in since we're using the house as a showpiece until we can get others up," Dickler said.
The homes are built on a reusable structural steel frame, which is used as the transportation mechanism that moves down the assembly line and is transported to the site.
The partially completed home is then separated into halves and wrapped in plastic. The moving begins at midnight, as a specially designed truck hooks up to the home-half and travels for about two and a half hours under escort to Ka'u.
Once the second half is delivered, a four-man crew installs the house on its permanent foundation. Once in place, the two halves -- a wet side containing the plumbing, and a dry side, are joined together.