Boxabl is flexible enough to be bolted without or with a foundation, depending on the usage situation. However, if your state mandates permanent foundations for additional dwelling units or ADUs, you’ll need to build a foundation for it.

The Boxabl Casita is a prefabricated one-bedroom apartment that comes complete with a full-size kitchen, living area, and bedroom area. 

The units' high R-value insulation makes them extremely energy efficient. 

Additionally, they have limited thermal bridging, which means your utility costs will be lower.

Boxabl houses are substantially more affordable than conventional construction because they are highly modular and adaptable. They are easily installed and ready for use within a few hours.

Are you eager to learn more about the customizable homes that come in boxes? 

Let's dive right in!

What’s the structure of a Boxabl home?

Many of us have been pushing ourselves to purchase homes that are larger than we need. And for many people, homeownership has become such a burden because of this. But this doesn't have to be the case anymore. 

The Casita is the first model home offered by Boxabl. Its layout is open and includes a bedroom, bathroom, living, dining, and kitchen space. The apartment features wide plank composite flooring, a built-in ironing center, and washers and dryers. All appliances are modern; their power outlets even have built-in USB ports.

The house comes fully equipped straight out of the box, including a full-size shaker-style kitchen, a sizable fridge, dishwasher, oven, and microwave, as well as a tall window directly over the sink and a contemporary breakfast bar for two. 

Your bed and couch are all you need.

A modern sliding glass barn door conceals a full-size bathroom with a shower, tub, backlit mirror, and numerous storage cabinets. 

Under the huge 8-foot windows and the 9.6-foot ceiling, there are dimmable LED lighting and heating and air conditioning. 

The included led lighting saves on energy.

The outside is made of steel, which is fairly architecturally neutral and simple to customize once delivered to give it a unique appearance. 

Although the roof is designed to be flat, it can be modified on-site if you require a pitched roof.

Does the Boxabl home need to be installed on a foundation?

You can bolt your Boxabl house with or without foundation. However, some states don’t recognize them as legitimate houses until they have a solid foundation. 

For instance, tiny homes are not subject to specific regulations in Canada. You can park and live in your Boxabl home as long as it complies with municipal regulations.

It is important to keep in mind, though, that foundations have more benefits than merely being a governmental necessity. One of these is that it reduces storm damage. It stabilizes your house and stops weather-related side-to-side movement.

A solid foundation will guarantee that your house will be able to tackle any challenges. It guarantees the structural stability of your home during storms and floods.

However, the foundation you select must suit your area's soil type and climate. Your home depends on your chosen foundation, especially if you plan to build it in a hurricane-prone area.

The connector plates on Boxabl Casita allow you to fasten them to any kind of foundation. The floor of the house is really sturdy, so you don't have to worry about this.

Any foundation is suitable for the Boxabl house. This entails:

• Concrete slab
• Concrete wall
• Beam on concrete piers
• CMU (concrete masonry unit) wall
• Garage wall concrete 
• Wood beam on helical piers
• Beam on concrete strip footing

But after choosing your foundation, you must connect your house to the local utilities. The factory has already installed electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems in a Boxabl home. Simply plug the onsite utility hookups into Boxabl's external corner to connect the regular utilities.

The advantage of Boxabl homes is that utilities may be built up whatever you choose. Solar panels and water tanks can both be connected to the Boxabl in the same way as standard utilities.

Keep in mind that site preparation fees differ from those for connecting to municipal utilities. We recommend you contact a Boxabl-certified and state-licensed installer to assist you with the site setup if you need clarification on how to set up your Boxabl house.

How are Boxable houses put together?

The nearly impenetrable Boxabls are built with great precision from steel and concrete. Steel, concrete, and EPS foam were chosen as their building elements because of their durability and inability to decompose.

A structural laminated panel system that is much stronger than those used in a traditional home is used to build the walls, floor, and roof. They are made with environmentally safe magnesium oxide wallboard, which is fire, mold, and mildew resistant.

Because the walls are entirely laminated in one piece, they won't flex or break during shipping and also offer great sound control. They were made to withstand the harshest hurricane-speed winds experienced in North America.

The building materials won't be harmed by water or develop mold because they don't use sheetrock or wood, assuring that the structure would be uninjured in the case of a flood. They are also capable of handling snow.

Casita was also constructed with fire resistance in mind (let's face it, nothing in life is completely fireproof), with non-combustible materials covering both the inside and outside to prevent your Boxable from igniting, for example, if you catch flying embers.

The units have been built to exceed all applicable building rules because of their ability to be shipped anywhere in the world, and the modular permission they have in the United States speeds local inspections by pre-approving the plans.

Is the Boxabl home suitable for travel?

Boxabl can be uninstalled, folded, and moved to any place you choose, unlike traditional homes. But with conventional homes, you might have to sell your beloved home in such a case. For those who frequently travel, the Boxabl house presents a great alternative. 

Owning a home is expensive, and you frequently need to apply for a mortgage that you must pay off over several years of employment.

But what if you still want to own a home and want to go on experiences before eventually settling down? Or you may want to own a property but aren't sure how long you'll stay in a given city.

Does this imply that you have to give up having a home to pursue your passion for travel? Or, must you sell your house if you have to move somewhere else?

Boxabl offers innovative solutions for your predicament if you are in such a circumstance.

Can the Boxabl home be fitted on a trailer?

Boxabl is entirely constructed and completed in a factory. Once constructed, the house folds down to 8.5 feet wide from 20 feet, making transportation possible. However, it cannot serve as a home on wheels because it's too wide to fit on a trailer.

8.5 feet? Why? This is the magic number to significantly lower delivery costs. To avoid enormous shipping charges and the difficulties of sending anything larger, they designed it to fold down so compactly.

It unfolds within two hours of delivery, so you can leave a vacant lot, go to lunch, and return to a completely built house! Unfold the house, plug it in (you must have the utilities ready), and voila! You have yourself a brand new home!

The unit folds down so small, but it still has a 5-foot uncompressed space where they store all the furniture, including your bathtub, fireplace, shower, etc.

What size is a Boxabl house?

The Casita tiny house, the company's signature item, was released in 2020. It is a 19.5x19.5 prefab studio apartment. 

Its 375 square feet make it about the size of a converted double-car garage. Up to 100,000 people have signed up for the queue of potential Boxabl homeowners since its release.

Your Boxabl house may be folded down to 8'6" wide and 13'6" tall once you place an order and it is prepared to be shipped. This will allow it to fit inside the shipping container. But when it unfolds, it is actually 20' broad with 9'6"-tall ceilings.

The Boxabl studio apartment is delivered fully equipped, including the kitchen, bathrooms, utilities, halls, closets, and even fireplaces.

Do they come in various shapes and sizes?

Although Boxabl is only available in one size at the moment, the company intends to offer it in various shapes and sizes. However, a home can be constructed using the Boxabl building system in nearly any design. 

Various modules can stack and connect to come up with different designs. Possible new box dimensions will range from 20x20 to 20x60.

You might have one with a full-sized kitchen and just a kitchen, or just bedrooms, or whatever you require. 

Boxbl intends to offer this selection of prefabricated room modules that users can stack, connect, and finish on-site to create semi-custom buildings that accommodate most needs. 

They saw what was happening in California with backyard auxiliary dwelling units and the rise in demand for those backyard cottages as they considered how to begin. And they believed that's a terrific place to start based on the changes in the law. 

They'll begin with a straightforward fixed product, grow incredibly excellent at it as they advance, and then make it simpler and physically smaller.

Does the Boxabl home abide by the building standards and regulations?

Boxabl dwellings meet many of the building codes needed to construct a home. They are of a higher code grade than manufactured boxable homes and are built to modular requirements.

As with traditional houses, Boxabl homes are made with steel, concrete, and EPS foam. As a result, they are just as secure as regular residences. 

Boxabl's walls and roof are made of structurally laminated panels, adding strength and stability.

According to the Boxabl team, they have teamed with Permits.com to make it simple to determine whether your zoning restrictions will prevent you from constructing a Boxabl home on your property.

Source: Permits.com link for Boxabl

As you can see, you may identify and obtain the necessary permissions or assistance to have your Boxabl home certified for a price ranging from $30 to $960.

Additionally, Boxabl includes state-approved modularity. Modular approval is beneficial because it reduces local inspections and pre-approval of the designs at the state level. 

Additionally, the Casita product is recognized in all 50 states as a "park model RV in conformity with ANSI 119.5."

Contact your city to find out the legal standing of your potential Boxabl unit. It is essential to obtain the correct information immediately from the relevant authorities as the laws and regulations governing ADUs might vary substantially between cities.

Start by asking the three crucial questions listed below:

• Can you build a second residence on your property?
• What are the restrictions on ADU size and liveable setbacks?
• Can you build a prefabricated guest house in your backyard?

Make sure you fully comprehend the liveable setback requirements. A setback is a distance from your existing property that forbids the construction of ADUs. 

The city guarantees adequate space between homes through setback restrictions to prevent congestion.

Your new ADU may also need to have specific external design elements, depending on your city.

Most cities forbid the installation of completely manufactured prefabricated dwellings in backyards. However, because Boxable is put together on-site, you may easily erect it on your land with little hassle in most cities.

Is the Boxabl home stackable?

Boxabl Casitas may be effectively and readily stacked on top of each other. They are, therefore, ideal for people who desire to live in crowded urban regions. 

If needed, stackable Boxabl units offer more space. Your Boxabl home's exterior corner is excellent for plumbing, HVAC, and electrical utilities. 

This environmentally friendly home design has the advantage of being simple to build.

Once constructed, Boxabl modules can fold down from 20 feet to 8.5 feet wide. Because of this, it is simple and free to ship these cutting-edge box homes anywhere in the world by ship, rail, truck, or air.

A standard Boxabl home may be put together in under one hour. It is best to have your house put together by an installer who is state-licensed and Boxabl-certified. 

After you reserve a unit, Boxabl will put you in touch with your qualified neighborhood installer.

The fact that Boxabl houses are entirely constructed of recycled materials makes them incredibly eco-friendly and contributes to lowering your carbon footprint. 

Boxabl houses are also relatively inexpensive because they are created from recycled materials.

What is the cost of the Boxabl home?

As for the Boxabl Casita's cost, it is now listed at $60,000. Note that the mentioned price is exclusive of foundation expenses, utilities, client-requested alterations, proper permits, and shipping costs.

On their FAQ page, Boxabl builders mention that the price could fluctuate due to waitlist delays and growing inflation.

Boxabl claims that over 30,000 pre-orders have been placed.

Due to the overwhelming demand for orders that the Boxabl company is currently experiencing (as of April 2020), they are expanding to a larger plant. They anticipate beginning to sell Casitas within a year. If you're interested, you can sign up for the waitlist here.

There are three ways to place a preorder and sign up for the waitlist:

• Reserve at the end of the queue for the free version.
• Get on the waitlist with a $200 deposit, and waitlist updates will be sent to you via email.
• Early access to the Casita model with a $5,000 deposit.

You are able to select the waitlist option that best suits your needs based on your choices!

Keep in mind that the buying price excludes the cost of the land, which you will be responsible for paying.

Additionally, the website indicates that Boxabl only sells room modules; therefore, setup and installation fees are separate expenses.

You also need to arrange for a local installation that is licensed by the state and certified by Boxabl.

The Boxabl website also states that sending a Boxable home from their Las Vegas office costs between $3 and $10 each mile.

No matter where you buy it from, you will need to consider the distance because their second larger factory location will also be in Las Vegas.

For instance, the shipping alone would cost (at worst) roughly $28,000 for the 2,814.1-mile delivery if you lived in Portland, Maine.

Depending on where you intend to build your Boxabl home and your specific needs and preferences, these extra costs can range from $5,000 to $50,000.

But even after accounting for all of that, a modern boxable home is still far less expensive than a typical house.

Disaster relief

Boxabl wants to help with disaster assistance as well as cheap housing, which is why they developed this product.

In the case of a calamity, they hope to build and prepare an off-grid supply, so they may be quickly deployed as emergency hospitals, shelters, schools, quarantines, etc., to give urgent shelter.

When the disaster is over, and people begin returning to their villages, they can use the room modules as temporary housing until they rebuild their homes. They could also be changed into long-term housing.

Takeaway

Boxabl houses provide a distinctive, practical, and cost-effective way to live

Due to the numerous options they provide over traditional residences; tiny homes are becoming more and more common. And Boxabl houses appear to be the popular child on the tiny home real estate block, and the explanation for this is not implausible.

First, their price is reasonable. Second, you don't need to apply for a 30-year mortgage because they are affordable housing at $60,000. 

Banks are more willing to fund these tiny homes since they need a permanent installation location.

Thirdly, because of its potential for mobility, it is an excellent choice for people who might want to relocate in the future. 

Boxable might be the right choice for you if you wish to own a home that provides substantial financial advantages, time and flexibility to enjoy life, and opportunity for relocation. 

What else are you waiting for? Check out all the amenities Boxabl houses offer by visiting our listing for tiny homes!