FAQ’s

General

The term “ prefabricated home” or “prefab” refers to a home in which sections have been built in a factory and then shipped and assembled on site.

These days, prefab is a broad term that many companies use. In reality, we are closer to what we call a Systems-Built method. We have a set of design, construction, and fabrication standards that we use in every one of our homes, and by utilizing those systems we are able to come up with a variety of different floor plans as well as customization options.

The Stillwater prefab panelized system includes precision pre-assembled wall sections, pre-cut, framing components, and proprietary architectural hardware fabricated in our facilities and is shipped to the site for final assembly.

There are three types of prefabricated homes. Manufactured (mobile homes), modular (pre-built, box-like structures), and panelized (pre-built panels). Stillwater Dwellings utilizes a panelized construction system.

With a panelized building system, the home can be designed with the flexibility of a traditional, stick-built home, yet remain more economical like a modular home. Sections of the home are pre-built in 6’, 8’ or custom-sized panels in a climate-controlled factory according to your home’s design specifications.

They are then shipped flat on a truck to the site. Flat shipment allows us to ship nationwide and access difficult sites such as slopes, narrow driveways, or rough terrain.

Our panelized system offers the best of all worlds. You get a design you love, the way you want it, while achieving both precision and speed over more traditional building techniques.

Stillwater was founded with a simple mission: to make contemporary design, premium materials, and sustainable building practices available to more discerning home buyers.

Stillwater homes are designed with dramatic natural lighting, intelligent floor plans, and premium contemporary finishes, for exceptional quality and value. Flexible, systems-based prefab construction supports a high level of design and craftsmanship, controls costs and minimizes surprises. Building a new home should be exciting and rewarding, not stressful and open ended. Stillwater streamlines the design and building process, shortening project time, reducing waste—and saving money.

The time to complete a home depends on a number of variables, though it can be up to a year faster than a traditional site-built home. Once a building permit is issued, on average the new home will typically be move-in ready in six to ten months depending on size and terrain.

We can build nearly anywhere in North America.

We’re often asked if we can build on a slope. Our panelized system makes almost any site accessible to build a Stillwater home. Stillwater architects can make customizations to our standard prefab designs to take advantage of the slope and view. Or, you can build a completely custom home with our architects based on our Stillwater system.

While we appreciate the efficiency and aesthetics of tiny homes, we do not design or build them.

Pricing

To understand the total costs to build a Stillwater Dwellings home, many variables must be considered.

To learn about how we estimate your total project cost, click the link below.

Floor Plans and Customization

Stillwater homes offer the ultimate in contemporary open design. Available in one and two stories, all homes feature our signature soaring butterfly roofline. This encourages indoor/outdoor living and entertaining while preserving the environment and lowering operating costs through the use of sustainable materials and building processes.

With over 22 floor plans, our design library offers a large selection of professionally designed floor plans, each customizable to fit your building site and personal preferences. Plans range in size from 1,000 sq. ft. to 5,000 sq. ft. or larger. Many Stillwater clients start with one of our plans and customize it to fit their needs. Others ask us to help select a base plan. Either way, we can help.

Absolutely. Our team of experienced architects is dedicated to crafting solutions for your unique needs.

Many Stillwater clients start with one of our detailed plans and modify it to fit their needs. Others envision an entirely new Stillwater—either way we can help. Please note that while we can tailor any of our floor plans or design a completely custom home for you, we are unable to work from plans developed by another architect. For information on custom design services please contact a Stillwater representative.

Absolutely! While our architects utilize their keen design sensibilities to create a Standard Outline Recommendation for every project, clients are welcome to choose their own finishes, materials, and appliances. We also have an in-house Stillwater Interior Designer available who can help you with anything from selecting some of your finishes to providing a full-scale interior design plan.

For more information about this contact [email protected].

Sustainability, Fire Rebuilds, and Building Codes

Stillwater architects evaluate the unique characteristics of each building site to maximize energy efficiency and reduce operating costs. Stillwater homes are highly insulated and tightly sealed. Modern fabricated systems reduce framing waste by more than 50%, compared to traditional stick built homes.

Standard Stillwater Insulation levels exceed code requirements.

This is all done to keep your project moving at a faster pace.

  • Roof – R 50
  • Walls – R 28
  • Floor – R 30

Stillwater Dwellings is dedicated to home design, fabrication techniques, and construction materials that are sustainable, environmentally sounds, and energy smart – now and for years to come.

Additional sustainability options are available including photovoltaic energy generation, solar hot water, and water catchment systems.

Standard Included Features

  • Low VOC paint used throughout
  • Above-code insulation
  • FSC certified hardwood floors
  • Dual flush toilets
  • Integrated Solar Solutions
  • Car charger ready
  • Countertops made from recycled materials
  • Passive heating and cooling

“Just a quick note about the energy efficiency of our home. Yesterday was a bright sunny day, but relatively cold – about 24F. Our furnace came on (briefly) twice in the morning (thermostat was set at 70F), and did not come on the rest of the day! Although the outside temperature never rose above 45F, the inside temp in the hallway/living area climbed to 75F by noon! And with nothing but the sun’s rays warming the interior!”

– Homeowner , Cedaredge, Colorado

At Stillwater Dwellings, our experience building on at-risk terrain and in wildfire- prone areas throughout the western U.S. has given us a well- rounded perspective that balances our clients’ design preferences with local fire and building codes as well as the safety and prevention requirements in these regions.

We can’t stress enough the importance of selecting a firm with a background in building in these areas; knowledge of local jurisdictions and zoning, along with established relationships with vendors and development agencies, can positively affect budgets and home delivery dates.

Our experience in at-risk regions and complete selection of popular pre- engineered prefab home designs can fast track the construction timeline so you can recover and move into your home faster.

Yes. Every Stillwater Home is engineered to meet or exceed national and local building codes. We offer precision panelized prefabrication as opposed to modular construction. The nature of this type of prefabrication allows the building departments to read your plans more closely and our projects are approved more easily.

Contracting

Stillwater is not the general contractor. We tell our clients as their partner that it is our job and responsibility to assist them in finding a contractor. This is unique in the industry where alternative companies would prefer to avoid selecting a contractor for reasons of liability or other complications. We are heavily involved in contractor interviews, overseeing pricing, and making recommendations with our customers.

To make this process even more pleasant for our clients, we work very hard to retain the contractors that have completed our homes in the past, some for over 10 years. We train new contractors on a consistent basis should a homeowner have a preferred contractor.

The combination of what Stillwater provides and what the contractor provides is what makes our projects successful. A seamless integration of the two is what we strive for.

Stillwater provides the material components such as all fabricated and other framing components, doors and window systems, hardware, roof system, canopy, visors, sheet metal, and more.

The general contractor is responsible for the site work foundation, assembly of the home, and finishes inside of the home. We provide the contractor with a complete set of specification for the finishes. This is done so that the client knows what their final home will look like from the beginning of our design phase and the contractor will ultimately not have to chase down finishing details.

This is all done to keep your project moving at a faster pace.

Misc.

We conduct private tours of Stillwater homes by appointment. Since the homes we show are occupied by their owners we need to schedule in advance. If you’re serious about visiting a Stillwater home please contact us and we’ll arrange a tour.

Alternatively, a few of our homeowners offer their Stillwater homes as temporary stays through AirBnb. You can view these in the link below.

Absolutely! Many of our clients are more than delighted to discuss their experiences with Stillwater and the details behind their building process.

Feel free to contact us at [email protected], and we’ll be happy to put you in touch.