This is an independent review. I am not affiliated with Boxabl and am unable to answer product inquiries.
We buy a lot of things out of the box these days. But what about your home?!
We’ve all been so conditioned to believe that home ownership means a 30 year mortgage, and 2,600 square feet to call our own, but this way of thinking has seen home ownership become largely unattainable, and for those who do jump in, you waste years of your life figuring out how to afford your home.
The internal struggle is real – do I save money for a house deposit, or do I invest my money in life experiences, and travel before I settle down? … But if I travel, it’s going to put me behind on being able to afford a home.
The solution is the tiny home movement; a lifestyle choice to downsize and simplify, with the huge financial advantage of more time and freedom to enjoy life.
A new name on the scene is Boxabl – a company selling ultra modern folding houses built in a precision factory environment, from cutting edge materials, packed with the latest technology.
These box homes are delivered right to your backyard, and unfold in under 2 hours. But better yet? It’s less than $50,000 for a fully furnished home!
Pro tip: If you need a vacation home in the interim while waiting for Boxabl to be delivered, check out Plumguide.com, as they have a massive collection of amazing vacation homes.
This Boxabl Folding House is the Perfect Home Ownership Option For Travelers Who Want a Tiny Home!
See it in Action
The Boxabl Casita
Ultimately, until now we’ve been working hard to afford bigger houses than we need. So if you’ve been struggling whether to prioritize home ownership or a life of adventure, you could have both with the Boxabl Casita.
Casita is Boxabl’s first model. Though as far as the tiny house movement goes, it’s really not that small! At 375 square feet, it’s similar in size to a converted double car garage, designed as a studio apartment with a full-size bathroom and kitchen appliances.
The Casita arrives complete, right out of the box, with a full size shaker style kitchen, huge fridge, dishwasher, oven, microwave, a tall window right over the sink, and a modern breakfast bar for two. The only thing you need is your bed and couch.
Behind a contemporary sliding glass barn door is a full sized bathroom with a shower, tub, a backlit mirror, and a ton of drawers for storage. There’s included heating and air-conditioning, and dimmable LED lights under the tall 8 foot windows, under the even taller 9.6 foot ceiling.
It’s an open floor plan with a bedroom, bathroom, living, dining, and kitchen area, wide plank composite flooring, a built-in ironing center, washer and dryer, and all appliances utilize modern technology – their power outlets even have integrated USB plugs.
The exterior is a steel skin – very architecturally neutral, so easy to personalize once it arrives so that you can make the outside feel like it’s your own. The roof is a flat roof system, though if you need a pitched roof they can customize this on site once it arrives.
Cost of the Casita
How much does an 8x8 shed cost?
8×8 shed prices range from $2,367 to $20,199 and above, depending on building design, style, siding, add-ons, and more.
The Casita Boxabl home is sold for $49,500 USD, fully furnished. All you need is a foundation to park it on, and you’ll need to then connect it to local utilities (they don’t include the cost of your land or site setup).
The units have been built to be extremely energy efficient, and they use a much smaller airconditioning system than in a traditional home. They use a high R value insulation, tight building envelope, and limited thermal bridging, which means an ongoing electricity cost of around $28 a month.
Heads up: Plumbing, electric and HVAC all come pre installed in your Boxabl from the factory. Utilities simply plug in on site to the exterior corner of the Boxabl. You can setup utilities however you want to at your site. Whether its a water tank or solar panels it will connect the same way to the Boxabl as regular utilities.
If it’s always been your life goal to have a 30 year mortgage, the estimated finance cost for the Boxabl room module is $250 USD a month, and they have finance partners they can connect you with for loan options if you want.
The above cost is for the studio apartment model, but when you’re ready for more room you can add on more bedrooms, more living space, or even a second storey – the great thing about Boxabl is that they’re modular!
While right now (April 2020) they only have one model, their goals in the future are for customers to be able to create customizable module homes, which they can create in the factory and ship out to you.
Shipping is free if you live in the US States of AZ, CA, NV, or UT. After that you would get a price quote from a shipper. They can ship the Casita anywhere in the world, and estimate a rough budget is $2 per mile from Las Vegas. Their hope is in the future to have shipping included to all of the USA.
The Build
Boxabl’s are built tough with precision, from steel and concrete, and are pretty much everything proof. They chose steel, concrete and EPS foam because these building materials don’t degrade, and last a lifetime.
The walls, floor, and roof are structurally laminated panels that are much stronger than the traditional site built home. They’re made from magnesium oxide wallboard, which is an environmentally friendly material, used for fire resistance, mold and mildew control.
They’ve been built to withstand the worst wind conditions in North America (ie, hurricane proof), and being that the walls are all laminated in one single piece, it means that it doesn’t bend or crack during shipping, and naturally have good sound control.
Because they don’t use lumber or sheetrock the building materials won’t be damaged by water, and they don’t grow mold, which means if you experience a flood, the structure is undamaged. And they can also handle snow.
Casita has also been engineered with fire resistance in mind (let’s be honest, nothing in life is completely fire proof) – the interior and exterior is clad with non combustible materials so that if, for instance, you catch flying embers, your boxabl won’t ignite.
Because they ship to anywhere in the world, the units have been built to exceed the requirements of any building code, and the modular approval they have within the US reduces local inspections since the plans are already pre-approved.
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Everything about Boxabl is built and finished in the factory. Once built, the home folds down from 20 ft to 8.5 ft wide and can be transported by trucks, trains, sea and air, anywhere in the world.
Why 8.5 feet? This is the magic number to dramatically reduce the cost of shipping. They’ve created it to fold down so compactly so to avoid oversized shipping fees and problems that come with shipping anything larger (ie with a traditional modular or tiny home).
Once delivered, it unfolds in less than 2 hours, so you could essentially leave an empty lot and go out for lunch, and come back to a fully constructed home! It unfolds, plugs in (you need to have utilities ready to go), and you’ve got yourself a new home!
Even though the unit folds down so compactly, it still has 5 feet of space that is uncompressed, and within that space they house all the furniture, like your bathtub, fireplace, shower, etc.
As of right now (in April 2020), the company has seen a huge demand for orders, so they are upgrading to a larger factory and should be shipping Casitas within a year. If interested, you can reserve your place on the waitlist here.
Disaster Relief
Boxabl aren’t just aiming to provide affordable housing, they’ve also created this product out of a wish to assist with disaster relief.
In the event of a disaster, they’re aiming to have a supply of off-grid versions built and ready, so they can be deployed to provide immediate shelter – ie they can be rapidly deployed as emergency hospitals, shelters, schools, quarentine etc.
Once the disaster passes and people start moving back in to re-build their communities, they can take the room modules with them and use it as temporary accommodation to rebuild their house. Or they can be converted into permanent housing.
Final Verdict
A stylish and innovative home, affordable, quick to build, and with high quality structures, large rooms, and high ceilings; fully furnished?!
Whether you’re hoping to cash in on a new vacation home or completely downsize, Boxabl is a fantastic option for buying a home. Once these start shipping, there’s no reason you can’t live the lifestyle you want, and own a home!
For more information on the Boxabl Casita, or to reserve your spot on their wait-list, visit www.boxabl.com.
For temporary accommodation in a vacation home while you’re waiting for the Boxabl to be delivered, visit www.plumguide.com
This is going to revolutionize the way we think about building a home!
Published in collaboration with Boxabl. All opinions are our own.
DIY Builds
Photo: Element5 Digital
