Our passive house kit is the most affordable way to go passive. We offer the option of prefab wall panels to give you the fully modular or prefab option that you’re looking for.
Convenience and savings of a kit combined with the energy efficiency of Passive House
At EkoBuilt, we have taken our passion for home building and applied it to the PassiveHouse concept, creating quality Passive House kits that are supremely affordable.
We scan the market regularly and truly believe we offer the most affordable system for building a passive home in Canada and the US. We also offer the option to provide our kit in prefabricated wall panels.
We know that this modular or prefab house kit option is important to some folks, particularly if you’re building in an urban setting or need to reduce build time on-site.
Many folks like that we source many lumber components locally — it’s the most cost effective and is gentler for the environment. For anyone wanting a prefab wall assembly, we can accommodate this request, and there are legitimate reasons why this may be better for your project.
Our proprietary passive house kit and system is certifiable by the International Passivehouse Association (IPHA) anywhere in North America.
Passive house kit benefits
The superior indoor air quality, improved comfort, and reduced energy bills of a passive house are affordably achieved with an EkoBuilt passive house kit. Some of the benefits of our kit system include:
- Flexible, local – our kits allow you to be as involved in the build as you like, and to involve local builders and tradespeople at every step along the way. Our roof systems are always sourced locally as it’s important to have local expertise and knowledge for snow loads, etc.
- Transport – we are partnered with national carriers and distributors, allowing us to minimize delivery / travel distances regardless of property location.
- Site access, build versatility – the materials kit is typically provided unassembled, allowing for appropriate delivery vehicles and providing flexibility for adapting to building site conditions, but read on for our approach to prefab.
- Quality assurance – the integrity of installed materials is best accomplished when they are installed together in steps: 1st vapor barrier, 2nd air barrier, 3rd water barrier.
- Insulation – the main component designed to keep the building easy to heat and cool and remain problem-free. Any super-insulated building needs to have a vapor permeable system in place for the wall to maintain dryness. EkoBuilt Wall insulation R75, Roof insulation R120. Our choice of insulation is widely available across North America.
- Wind tight: an EkoBuilt PassiveHouse is guaranteed to be under 0.6ACH (air exchange per hour). Any modern building should be able to perform to this degree of air-tightness.
- Timing – pre-assembled kit elements achieve an accelerated build timeframe, but we can reduce this even further if you choose prefabricated panels for your home.
When a prefab home is what you need
There are scenarios where a modular house kit or prefab wall assembly is going to be preferable, and the EkoBuilt passive house kit can be provided in this way.
When we prefabricate your home’s wall assemblies, we also send a supervisor to your job site who will oversee the installation of your home’s weathertight shell.
Key Benefits
- Minimizing build disruption – for homeowners building in urban areas and established neighbourhoods, the option to reduce the noise and disruption of construction is significant. We can reduce your on-site build by 1 to 2 months, depending on the size and complexity of the home you’re building.
- Accelerated build timeframe – getting more quickly to the weathertight stage of your build is possible when we ship prefabricated wall assemblies right to your site. Again, you’re looking at saving one to two months overall.
- Peace of mind – if you’re moving to a new state or province, and don’t feel as comfortable with finding a builder who can assemble our passive house shell, going the prefab route removes this concern. Our site supervisor will oversee the assembly of your weathertight shell and can guide your builder through adding the roof assembly.
With the main shell in place, it’s a simple path for your local builder to complete the most typical elements of any new home build (plumbing, electrical, drywall, etc.).
Interested in going prefab for your home? Just give us a shout and we’ll provide a custom quote for your project.
What does it cost?
Overall, going the prefab route will only increase your total project cost very modestly.
Each of our house plans has a turnkey cost analysis document, which includes a breakdown of key costs.
One of these components is the cost of purchasing our weathertight material kit (the heart and soul of your new passive house), as well as installation cost of that kit onsite.
For the Fiddlehead (shown here), we quote our materials package cost ($132,987) and suggest an installation cost of $59,850, for a total combined cost of $192,837 (all in Canadian dollars). For anyone lining up a local builder to assemble our kit, that is the guidance.
For anyone building prefab, the weathertight material kit and installation costs will increase by 25% overall. Adding 25 per cent to $192,837 will come out to $241,046.
To get a quick sense of the cost to use our prefab wall assembly in place of receiving the unassembled kit, just remember to add 25 per cent to the cost of the kit materials with the installation fees noted always in the first section of our cost analysis documents.
Better yet, if you’re ready to discuss your prefab passive house, just give us a shout and we’ll supply a quote for your specific project.
Material, labour, and shipping costs are all prone to fluctuations that we can’t control. Always speak with us directly for an accurate quote for your project.
Why go prefab?
Read about why you might choose to go the prefab route in this blog post: Prefab House Kits.