Episode 31 - Chris Jaussi, Zip Kit Homes
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Prefab Review
Hi, my name is Michael Frank and this is the Prefab Pod presented by Prefab Review, where we interview leading people and companies in the prefab housing industry. Today, we're speaking with Chris Jaussi, the owner of Zip Kit Homes. Welcome, Chris. We're glad to have you here.
Zip Kit Homes
Thanks. Glad to be here.
Prefab Review
To start, can you tell me a bit about the history of Zip Kit Homes?
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah, sure. So, Zip Kit Homes. I've been a contractor most of my life. My dad is a contractor. So I grew up in the industry and went to college. I decided I never wanted to be in construction and somehow I ended up back in construction. So I've been a contractor for the name of our parent company - Timber Hawk Homes. I own that company, my wife and I. After the 2008 financial crisis, as a general contractor, we went from building close to 100 homes in 2008, and in 2009 we built like 2 or 3. So we had some factory space that we owned. And we weren't building anything, so it was basically out of desperation. I was like, "man, we've got to do something different because nobody's building any houses and you know we're going to end up bankrupt if we don't do something." At that time we said, "okay, let's try to figure out how to build more of the house in our factory space rather than onsite." And so that was 2009 and kind of started slowly. And we tried a number of different things. We tried modular. We tried panelized. We tried big panels, small panels, little houses, big houses So you know, for three or four years, it was a lot like throwing spaghetti at a wall and just kind of seeing what sticks. So it was a business that almost developed out of desperation caused by the 2008 financial crisis. So really 2009 to 2012 is when we really started going with Zip Kit homes.
Prefab Review
Got it. And are you still doing the contracting, like site work? Or are you now 100% in modular homes.
Zip Kit Homes
We're doing a hundred percent kit and modular. So no more site work. We've done it in the past and even somewhat recently. But now, not at all. We're just doing the modular and the kit homes.
Prefab Review
Cool. What's the scale of your business? Can share how many homes you are building a year?
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah, so I mean it depends. Last year, I think we built like 65 homes or something like that. This year, we'll probably do quite a few more because we're going to focus a little bit more on our small little zip pods. Which is a small 400 - 500 sqft. If we go with the smaller pods, I bet this year we'll do 100 to 125, or something like that.
Prefab Review
Cool, and I guess one of the things that I mentioned to you before which is interesting about you all. So our site's been around, I don't know, four or five years at this point. A few years at least, anyway. There are some companies where they had a couple of beautiful plans on their site. You know in 2019 or 2020 and now they still have the same you know, 5 beautiful plans on their site and it doesn't seem like a lot of their product offering has changed whereas, you all seem like you've done a lot of iterations both in terms of your actual products. But also kind of who you're selling to. Can you talk a little bit about that evolution?
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah. I mean, maybe those other companies are a lot smarter than we are because sometimes those evolutions aren't the best thing, you know? We've probably made too many switches and changes and evolutions. But so we started you know, 2009, '10, '11, and we've tried big really fancy modular homes and we found that we didn't really like doing that. Right now, and we didn't really plan on this but we've kind of ended up selling our kit homes more in really expensive areas and you know again, we didn't plan on doing that when we started the business but it just kind of turned out so that is really expensive, hard to build areas, we have a much bigger cost advantage. Or there's the bigger benefit of building it off-site in Southern Utah where we're located and so you know, probably one of our biggest areas been up in like Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Prefab Review
I was and would say we've actually heard from some people who have said that they built usually it's I don't know if it's Jackson Hole, but right, isn't one of the towns right outside Jackson Hole at least, we've heard of a couple of years going up.
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah, so right outside Jackson, you know, Victor and Drugs, Idaho is just over there. So in those areas, any kind of resort, ski resort, kind of remote areas, construction costs are like.
Prefab Review
Yeah, I think Driggs was the town that we've heard of a few. Yeah,
Zip Kit Homes
Crazy expensive. And because it's so expensive, there's a bigger cost advantage than if we're just sending it. You know in the same area where we're building, there really isn't that big of a cost advantage. So you know, just kind of by nature, that's the way our business has gone to selling our kit homes in kind of the high-end areas.
Prefab Review
Great.
Zip Kit Homes
And we have some really nice modern homes. You know, probably our style, I would say, is kind of the mountain modern style. So it's kind of yeah, it's modern, but it's you know, contemporary.
Prefab Review
That's how I describe you.
Zip Kit Homes
But sometimes it's got a lot of natural wood or metal or things like that. So it could fit in a ski resort, a mountain-type environment. But it's modern and that's kind of our style. So anyway, our panelized kit homes are one of our areas but you know we're kind of focused on the more expensive areas because that's where we can have a little bit higher profit margins and everybody wins. And then on the opposite end of that, we're selling, our little Zip Pods. But we'll sell them. Just about anywhere but those are, well with all of our products where we try to be in the modular space. There's kind of the affordable side, which is you know your Clayton Homes and Fleetwood Homes and things like that. And we can never compete head-to-head with those guys cost-wise because they have great big factories. And then on the upper end, you've got the method homes and blue homes and some of those guys with really cool architecture and some really cool stuff. But those were expensive. You know they could be $400 or $500 a square foot. So we try to be in the middle. So we try to say, "look, you know we're going to be more expensive than your Clayton Homes or Fleetwood Homes. But we're going to be definitely less than the Method Homes and we're going to offer some really cool architecture.
Prefab Review
Yeah.
Zip Kit Homes
And you know, some good quality products. We're trying to fill that kind of middle space I guess.
Prefab Review
Yeah. I think you do that effectively. Are you selling your kit homes direct to consumers these days? Or on your website, it looked like you were actually selling them more to like developers etc.
Zip Kit Homes
That's something we've gone back and forth with a lot. So yes, we will sell directly to consumers. But we're not doing any customized to consumers. So what we try to stay away from is that, with consumers, you have to be careful because they say, "hey, can we just move one window two feet?" And sometimes little changes have big implications on engineering and things like that. So, we'll sell direct to consumers. But it's our basic product. We're not making any changes. Yeah that'll take care of all the structural engineering and the design.
Prefab Review
And those will come engineered etc?
Zip Kit Homes
You know, everything like that. And we've had a number of people act as owner-builders and build our kit homes and for some, it's gone really well. Some I can say, it hasn't done that well. So a lot of it depends on who the owner, builder or the consumer is. And I think the people that go in understanding that even though it's a kit home, it's going to be a lot of work and there's going to be a lot to it and they go in understanding that, they actually do really well. The ones that think, "oh, it's just going to go together and everything will be quick and easy. I'll have this new house." Those people really struggle. I try to tell people - it's a little bit like, I'm sure you've gone to Ikea Furniture and you buy a desk you're like, "oh yeah, this will be easy to put together I'll just do it tonight after dinner." And at like 3 in the morning, you're like, "I hate Ikea. I can't put it together. It's like that. There's a lot more to it than most people realize.
Prefab Review
Right? On handling the structural stuff. So, we've done a number of projects in areas like Driggs, Jackson, name your ski area we've had people through our site do it. And one of the things that often happens right, you have all these sorts of special sort of challenges, right? Whether it can this handle two hundred and fifty pound snow loads. Like, "oh, this is being built into sort of a hill" etc. Are you doing those on a one-off basis? Or would then someone hire a separate sort of structure beyond your house?
Zip Kit Homes
So we take care of all the structural engineering. So that's not a problem. We can handle whatever snow load, seismic zones you know the building requirements. That's easy. Yeah, if it's really site-specific, like where you have to get a geotechnical engineer involved and you know use bad soil or it's off the side of a cliff requires a lot of like on-site expertise that's where we say, "no, we don't do that. So you need to find a local guy that's going to do that on site stuff." And we could send them to Colorado, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah not a problem. The one area that we kind of stay away from right now is California.
Prefab Review
Yeah. Great!
Zip Kit Homes
And you know, the reason we're not, we've done stuff in California in the past, but the challenge with California, is there is so much bureaucracy that it can be a year to get the plans approved. And the requirements to get the plans approved are just insane. And so you know, we would work in California again. But right now. There's so much business that we kind of looked at it and said, "you know, is it worth the pain in the ass factor of working in California?" So that's kind of why we stay away from that end. I would also say, we're only in the Western United States, so people that want you know houses in Florida and the East Coast, we're just not there yet? We may be in the future and we've talked to different people about some possible franchise opportunities where they'd actually set up a factory on the East Coast. That's something we're definitely interested in, and in the future we may be there but right now it doesn't make any sense for us to build a panelized kit home or a modular unit in Utah and ship it all the way to the East Coast. It just doesn't make sense.
Prefab Review
That makes sense. It almost feels like if you did California, the way to do it would just only offer your smaller homes as like ADU-style things. Just because those are a little bit lighter from a regulator standpoint. It just can't be like more than 1,000 square feet. Where you can't be approved like municipally we don't want any pardon that yeah right.
Zip Kit Homes
Now the one place I would say that we would look at California is, you’re right - our little modular units. We would do that but probably only for a big project because if somebody comes to us and says, “hey, we want to build 50 of these units in California.” Then it's worth it.
Prefab Review
Sure, right. And the title 24 stuff and everything else. Yeah exactly.
Zip Kit Homes
You know, working through 50 homes but it's the individual consumers. Yeah, but it's not worth the brain damage to go through all that for one home, but for big projects. So I think, you know, the small modular units in California, for big projects we would do that and we are interested in that. And I also know that some interesting things are going on in the state of California right now with ADU regulations and laws; where they're going to issue permits a lot faster and so as that changes, I think it would make sense for us to be on top of that and look at that opportunity.
Prefab Review
Yeah. They're not perfect right now. I mean our biggest markets in terms of places we serve, are outside the Bay Area and outside New New York. So we get a lot of exposure to those laws. And the ADU side in California is, usually you're required to get comments back within sixty days and it's a little more straightforward. So I guess it all sort of dependent relative to building a signal family home, it's easier. Okay, so this is one of the questions we get a lot and probably a little more complicated for you all because you're pretty explicit about what you are and what you're not. At least on the kit side. This is around cost. So maybe we can kind of work through that in a way that's pretty logical. So you're in Utah, right? So if we take an area that you probably do a good amount of work in that's probably not particularly cheap. Let's say Salt Lake City, or Park City and assume you can pick the unit. Assume that we have some mythical, pretty flat, urban-infill style piece of land. So you know, we have connections and stuff to the property. No crazy hills or anything like that. Do you think you could maybe walk me through one of the homes you know what your package would cost, and then at least like some ranges and expectations around what some of the other parts, in terms of finishing the rest of the house and the house might cost?
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah, I mean first of all, on our little zip pods, that's really simple because our pricing's online. And so yeah, you can just go to our website and our smallest Zip Pod and I think that’s $69,000. If you want it on a chassis, it's a little bit more. If you go to our largest, that is at pod is 470 square feet. I think that we're selling it for $119,000. And I mean, that's done, out the door. There's a little place you can plug in how many miles away you are and shipping, so you know those are pretty straightforward.
Prefab Review
Right. Yeah, that's great. Do those come with drywalling, appliances, already finished up?
Zip Kit Homes
So those are done.
Prefab Review
So in terms of connecting to utilities, are those using actual normal connections or those RV style connections? How does that work?
Zip Kit Homes
Basically, we have it set up now. So you need to run 100 amp service to the pod. And so we have a junction box and so an onsite electrician just has to get 100 amp electrical service to that location. And he opens the junction box, makes one connection, and it's live. They're super insulated. Right now they're 100% electric. So our heating and cooling is a mini-split system. So like a Mitsubishi efficient mini-split system. And then it's an electrical demand hot water heater. So you don't need any gas or any propane. You just hook it up to 100 amp electrical service and you're going.
Prefab Review
But okay, and all those appliances and everything comes in the unit?
Zip Kit Homes
All the appliances, all the cabinets, counters, I mean everything ready to go. The only thing it does not have is the actual furniture itself. It comes 100% move-in ready.
Prefab Review
Ah, right. But that's cool, so you're actually shipping it with all the siding and everything on the truck, cool.
Zip Kit Homes
It is done. Yeah, I mean seriously. We drop it either on a foundation or if it stays on a chassis, and your Electrician plugs it in and then water and sewer lines are just stubbed out the bottom. So you have to have a plumber make a connection to a water and sewer line and you're good. You're live. You're going.
Prefab Review
Nice and it looks like it's a placed on, was it a stem foundation?
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah, we're looking at it right now. We can do, yes a stem Foundation. It’s not really slab but we're looking at some stuff down in St. George where you don't need to have a deep foundation because there are no frost depth issues and so with that, I think we can pour like a ten-inch by twenty inch footing and then set it right on top of that footing. And make the connections through an axis palm.
Prefab Review
Yeah. I mean, I've seen manufacturers just going on walks, it just kind of depends. And then are these built to modular code or manufactured code?
Zip Kit Homes
Modular code. So they're built to the IRC code. We've never done the manufactured or HUD code. It's just straight-up IRC code.
Prefab Review
Cool. That's awesome. And then, how are you seeing people finance these?
Zip Kit Homes
So I mean, I would say the biggest market for these that we've been selling is second homes. So it's maybe the affordable second home market and so people seem to just have cash. So you know, whether they're doing refinances of their primary residences or what they're doing, I don't really know.
Prefab Review
Yeah, home equity or just cash.
Zip Kit Homes
They're just paying with cash or they can finance some. We are offering it on a chassis but this is kind of new to us, where we get a VIN number, and then you could finance it as an RV, yeah.
Prefab Review
Then you can finance, it is our view, which is honestly more expensive from… I think those are usually 20-year loans and are slightly higher risk.
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah, but you could finance it with a conventional 30-year mortgage if you're going to put it on spot footings or a stem foundation. I mean, it's a standard house built to the IRC code. It’s no different than a site-built house. So I imagine you could get a regular 30-year mortgage, I think. You know, the only challenge might be when you go to get that mortgage. They're going to appraise it and they're going to look for comparables and I don't know that there's a lot of 500 square foot homes to compare it to. So that might be a little bit of a hurdle, I would say. Your right, it depends on location.
Prefab Review
Yeah, honestly, if you're a billionaire in Jackson, I'm sure you could figure something out. So going back to the cost thing sorry, just because this is what we get as our biggest question. So let's take your Columbia or your Bozeman. There's one of these to look at on the site.
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah, let me take the Bozeman. So explaining the Zip Kits, that's pretty straightforward. So it’s a complete panelized kit on our website. Now it is $129,000. So what you would get with that is the complete kit - all of the exterior and interior walls, stairs, you know everything. Our installed windows and sliding doors is an additional 1$6k, so now you're up to like $145,000.
And then, the way we're set up now is depending on where it is, that would include one of our guys to go out and help set everything up, but you'd have to have a couple of framers there. You know, we're not going to send our whole crew for that price. And then, usually, that represents maybe half the cost of the home.
Prefab Review
Oh, really. Wow, that’s less than I would have guessed, but that's great.
Zip Kit Homes
And yeah, so that really is like maybe half because, you know, we used to do interior finish kits. But we're not doing that anymore and so there's still a lot. You've got to have the whole foundation that you’ve got to pay for and then you’ve got all your cabinets, flooring, fixtures, drywall, all that kind of stuff. So imagine a Bozeman unit. You know, let's say it's you're going to pay us $150,000. Let's say you're going to pay.
Prefab Review
Yeah, I would have guessed it would be more like 30% of the cost. But if it's 50%, that's amazing too.
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah, so you know, you're gonna probably get it built for $300,000 - $400,000 but I’ve got to be careful saying that because you know if it's in Alaska.
Prefab Review
But if we assume that this is in like east Salt Lake City or Park City and that is that in line with those markets. I assume you…
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah, and so I would say somebody could probably get the Bozeman built for the $300,000 - $350,000 range but again, you’ve got to be really careful because that's in Colorado or Jackson, Wyoming, you know the electrician that charges $15,000 in Salt Lake City might charge $40,000. So instead of $350,000 you might be at $600,000 you know, who knows.
Prefab Review
Yeah, but okay, but that's still all relative. but like. I mean, we're doing projects in Tahoe right now that are $500 square foot all the way through. So it still seems like you're, on a cost basis, you're a little bit lower than some of the other groups. Which, I mean, makes sense, because most custom companies we see actually, let's see so sorry. So what did you say? The Bozeman would be in terms of just your kit cost.
Zip Kit Homes
You know for the kit and all the windows and everything, so you know the outside is completely you know dried-in, weather-tight it is probably $150, somewhere in that range.
Prefab Review
Yeah, okay. So that's probably a little lower than others. We see a lot of times the kits would maybe be a little less comprehensive than yours. We'll see it like a $125 square foot. So that's probably a little bit less than that. That's cool. And yeah, so I guess when you talk about the development of where you are now, and again my recollection is not that your product line has been that different but it seems like there's been a bunch of different sorts of skews and products. How do you end up on these?
Zip Kit Homes
These are our most popular plans that sell well and that are easier for us to build. They are higher profit margin products and we're always trying to scale back.
Prefab Review
it seems like you're trending bigger in some ways, in like potentially a little more modern than maybe you were a few years ago. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong, just observationally.
Zip Kit Homes
You know, we have forty plans that we could throw on the website but we're trying to limit ourselves. I would say where we've kind of gone away from that a little bit is in the middle. So it's either a small little pod that's 400 square feet or we're going to go bigger or nicer where we have higher margins. It's you know, the middle. Sometimes you know we haven't done as much work. We would love to like help with the affordable housing crisis that's going on all over the world but we’ve got to make a profit as well. So we're always working on that. But we haven't really dialed that in so that we can actually put our thumb on it and say, “we figured it out.” We're not quite there yet.
Prefab Review
Yeah, what are the requests that you haven't done yet, but you get all the time?
Zip Kit Homes
Well, the biggest request we get all the time that's kind of frustrating for ourselves, yeah customization is a big thing but then people all the time call and they'll say, “Hey, we're in Tennessee. And we just want you to give us a quote to build the whole house.” And we go, “Okay, first of all, we're not sending to Tennessee, and then second and all we are not the general contractor. We're not going to give you a quote to build the whole house. That's not what we do.” So that's the biggest thing that people just can't get past sometimes is everybody just wants a turnkey bid. That's not our business model. We're not going to give you that. You know, we're more like home Depot than a general contractor. You know we sell a product, not a service.
Prefab Review
Right? That makes sense. And then tell me a little about your multi-family products. Because one of the things we get is for some of these small multi-family plans and offerings. What inspired that and can you tell me about some of the projects you've done?
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah, so multi-family you know, is modular and panelized. We haven't done huge projects like hundreds of units, but we've done you know fourplexes six-plexes eight-plexes. There's a project now we're looking at that's about 120 units but they’re four-plex units. We just finished a project up in Idaho that's 16 single-family homes. But they're all individual homes. But they’re 6 bedroom 6 bath employee housing units.
Prefab Review
Cool.
Zip Kit Homes
You know things I don't know that we're super interested in. You know, we don't want to be doing the thousand unit apartment complex. That's not really our wheelhouse. But you know, a fourplex a six-plex, some employee housing, things like that.
Prefab Review
Right. Yeah, that's great. And then do you end up having to cut just because of the scale and all sorts of commercial issues. Do those end up like.
Zip Kit Homes
Affordable housing in expensive areas - we really like those types of projects.
Prefab Review
There are some companies that basically the plans on their site are basically just advertising and they never build them. It sounds like in your case on the modulars and really on your kits, that's mostly not true. On these multi-families, do they end up actually getting a little bit customized?
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah, a little bit. So we'll customize it a little bit. I mean, the biggest customization we've done, there's one we're working on now that we haven't built, it's in the design phase where he's taken one of our units and he wants the bottom floor to be commercial and then the top is living with some minor modifications. So we're doing that. And then the other thing, depending on how big the project is, we would customize it a little because sometimes it has to fit certain regulations or a certain size lot or things like that. So you know, we'll do customizations on bigger projects because it's worth the effort to make those. We just don't do them on you know, single-family units.
Prefab Review
That makes sense. And are you seeing a lot of people building your homes as investments as opposed to owner-occupiers on the single-family side?
Zip Kit Homes
Yes, I would say so. I mean, there are a number of them that I think are like Airbnb. As I said, our biggest mark is probably the affordable second home and so that's you know, somebody's going to build a let's say a $400,000 second home, and then, I think they do you know Airbnb out or rent them out. But it's also their home. So you know that's kind of a big market right now, I think.
Prefab Review
That kind of the owner-occupier investor person. Cool, that makes sense. And then I guess one of the questions in terms of timing - I get this a lot. So I come to your site. I've got my shiny piece of land in Park City or whatever and I really want to put a Zip Kit home. What does the timing look like then in terms of the process? Do I just select what I want online and then what are the sort of next steps and timing for me as a consumer?
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah, so you just go online, and then there's a button that says, this is what I want to submit, and then we get that back to you and we'll go back and forth a few times to figure out exactly what you want. If you're super interested and ready to go, the next step is we sell you the complete engineered floor plans. So you know, the first step to build that house in Park City is you’ve got to get a set of plans submitted to the building department. That's going to be approved and so we charge you anywhere from $4,000 to $10,000 depending on the location, which house it is, and then we go to work and we get you in.
Prefab Review
And you'll stamp those and all that stuff?
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah, they're stamped by an engineer. The energy codes you know res-checks all that kind of stuff is done. So we'll get you the full set of plans and then you submit it and then it depends. It could take anywhere from a week to a year to get that approval depending on the location and how hard it is to get the approved plans and things like that. When you get the approval, then we'll try to work you into our schedule. You know, scheduling is really hard for us because the buyers, if people say, “yeah, we're working on our zoning and we're going to get it in July.” I'm already thinking in my mind I'm they're going to be ready in November.
Prefab Review
Like December. Yeah, exactly.
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah. I mean, it's going to take them four to six months longer than they realize. And so anyway, we try to work around your schedule the best we can and then, you know, work you in but right now we're super busy through the summer and through the fall and even through the winter. So if I put you in a production schedule, I'd say you know, in January we can start your home and deliver it in March. But there's a good probability that people think they're going to be ready in September who are really going to be ready in December. So I call and say, “hey, if you want to go earlier we're going to have this opening.”
Prefab Review
Got it. Are you doing a set on these homes as well or is that someone else?
Zip Kit Homes
So we're always juggling that. It depends. We do the set and it works best if we can do the set. The only challenges are that we’re only licensed contractors in Utah and Idaho. And so if we're outside of those 2 states then we're kind of in a legal gray area. Where I think we'd be in trouble by doing the set without being a licensed contractor in that state and so generally, outside those 2 states we'll usually send a guy as kind of a consultant to make sure that everything goes well. But they would have to provide their own.
Prefab Review
You’ll send someone who will help be the instructor. And people are using cranes for these for the most part?
Zip Kit Homes
Framers to put it together. Yeah, cranes or most of them can be done with a forklift or telehandler. One of those rough train telehandlers can do it.
Prefab Review
Cool. That's awesome. Well, thanks so much. Do you have any particularly cool homes or examples of homes that like, “Wow, I'm really happy that this person did this for this reason or in this place”, etc?
Zip Kit Homes
Like homes that have been built? There was a guy in Reno that built one of our houses and he kind of had a Youtube following because he's a Bush pilot.
Prefab Review
Oh, I think I saw that one - the drone guy or something.
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah, the drone guy. So that guy, they were owner builders. And they built a house kind of in the foothills of the scares over in Reno. And yeah, but anyway he did a little video and put that up there and it's I think, it's at over 3,000,000 views now. So we've sold a number of homes off of his video.
Prefab Review
I saw that. That was a cool one. Nice views and stuff.
Zip Kit Homes
That's probably two and a half to three years ago and but the price is dramatically different. We just had someone the other day, and the lady called and said, “I saw that video where he said he built it for $200 per foot. We're ready to go. We're ready.” And we're like well it's probably going to cost you more than $200 a square foot because you know, the supply chain and costs have changed dramatically over the past two years.
Prefab Review
That makes sense, awesome. This has been great learning about your company. So if you don't mind, I’m hoping to transition you into the sort of our quick fire round where we ask you frequently asked questions from our audience, and yeah so I guess question number one is: around finding a GC, do you have any tips on what to look for in a GC that would be a good fit for putting together your homes?
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah. I would say usually a GC that's a little bit younger and a little bit more open-minded. Sometimes the older GCs are not as open-minded to something different and just not as interested. So we've had more luck with an open-minded GC that's ready to try something different.
Prefab Review
Got it. And tell me a bit about it. It sounds like you don't do California but obviously, some of these nicer ski towns certainly have design review processes. Have there been or is there anything specific that people should know if they're going with a kit like yours, where the specs are pretty defined from a design perspective to have design approval go smoothly?
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah, so with the design review committees, there are pains sometimes. We can usually work around small issues. Like they come back to say no, we want more with sighting and the windows have to be black. I mean those are easy fixes that we can do. The biggest thing we run into is a lot of HOAs or design review committees that have kind of antiquated or older rules that are set twenty years ago and one of the biggest ones we run into is there are rules that say it has to be like a six-twelve pitch or a five-twelve pitch that are very flat roots.
Prefab Review
Yeah, and you guys are what? One and a half 12 or something?
Zip Kit Homes
Yeah, they're very low slope, like a 1 or 2 - 12 pitch. And so people come back and say, “Hey, we just want to get the Bozeman plan, but can you do it with a six-twelve pitch?” And the answer is absolutely not. I mean, it completely changes the design and the aesthetic and the structural engineering and everything. So before you get too deep in it, I would make sure that there's not a pitch requirement. That's something we grow into.
Prefab Review
Got it. That makes sense. The last question here, I think this is from your Instagram or something related to that. It sounds like you have a culture of adventure sports with your company. Can you tell me a little bit about that and how that developed?
Zip Kit Homes
I mean, we live in Southern Utah and we've had employees also up in Idaho. So I think it could just be because of the locations where we're located, I mean, there's awesome mountain biking, rock climbing, snowboarding, skiing. You know me and a number of our different employees, that's what we do after work. I've got my mount bike loaded up in my truck, so after work today we're going to go ride a trail and that could just be because you know, we're here where everything's close and so, the other thing I'd say our culture is maybe it's because you have to be a little bit more open-minded, but we've had better luck with younger employees than when we get like old-time contractors that are 50 or 60 years old. Sometimes it's hard to teach an old dog a new trick. So we've had better luck with hiring younger, more open-minded people. So maybe that's kind of blended itself too.
Prefab Review
Got it that sounds cool. I mountain bike a bit myself and that sounds very fun as long as you don't have too many injuries which is a constant fear of my life, right now.
Zip Kit Homes
You know, it's funny. Some guys that used to work for me wanted to build a little motocross track. We have some extra land and I finally let him do it and the guy broke his leg the second day. That's a terrible idea.
Prefab Review
Yeah, oh wow. It’s still unclear where the line is sometimes on this stuff. So you did a great job with the fire round. And so, final question. We ask everyone this. What are you most excited about for your company or the industry for the near future?
Zip Kit Homes
I think that the housing industry has not come along with the rest of technology in the rest of the world. We're still building houses and 90% of the homes are built the same way they've always been built. And there's a huge affordable housing crisis throughout the United States. I mean, everybody knows that buying a house is so expensive. So I think whatever company it is, whether it's our company or another company. Whoever finally figures it out and could build a house faster and more efficiently and better and less expensive than the competition is going to kill it. I mean, the sky is the limit. So you know, I'm excited and passionate about being involved and figuring out a way to just build more efficient homes and hopefully make a dent in the affordable housing crisis.
Prefab Review
That’s awesome. That's definitely a worthy goal. Thanks again. Chris, I really appreciate the time. For more information about Chris and Zip Kit Homes visit zipkithomes.com and as always you can visit us and read about the industry at prefabreview.com. Chris, thanks again.
Zip Kit Homes
Thanks for having me.