Rocio Romero - LV Series

[tijs z]

Alright, so I have to admit that this is my first foray into architectural blogging. My wife and I, since we've been married (approx. 2.25 yrs), have been renters. To be honest, we're ready to not be renters anymore and have felt that way for a while.

But, we have not been able to figure out how/what we want to buy. We've considered old 'heritage-style' fixer-uppers, condos, flats - even duplexs. None of them has really been truly exciting to either of us. Nor have any of these options really been financially feasible (seeking to get into ownership before we really have the funds to make it comfortable).

Well, now, we know what we want to do. And we're both super-excited.

I was first introduced to Rocio Romero by my cousin, and ever since, I've had that ever-so-annoying merry-go-round spinning in my head, saying, "Rocio Romero, LVL; Rocio Romero, LVL..."...you get the idea.

So, the LV series, designed by Rocio Romero, are "pre-fab" homes that have the sexiest, cleanest, most fabulous minimalist modern lines and spaces of pretty much ANY modern prefab I seen.

There are three models of homes in the LV series: the LV Home, the LVL Home and the LVM Home. The LVL is our pick. The kit for the the home is 1453 sq ft. (single floor), that can be set on one of three foundation options: a concrete platform, a concrete crawl-space foundation, and a full concrete basement. We're opting for the full basement, which will leave us a total home sq footage of nearly 3-grand. Sweet.

But, check this out. These prefab solutions have many benefits over traditional or what some call "stick-built" homes.

First of all, which is, of course, very chic today, these homes are <em>very</em> green. There are, as the category frefab would suggest, pre-fabricated in a factory, and the kit is built by a standardized system assembly line, which increases effeciency: reducing energy loss, resource waste, and, of course, cost.

Secondly, these homes are of superior quality. The manufacturing process and materials used ensure excellence in solidity, structural integrity and the patented aluminum exterior weathers exceptionally in all climates.

Thirdly, the construction process is MUCH quicker than a traditional new construction. The kit, schematics, and prefab elements facilitate these homes coming together in exceptionally quick periods of time.

Fourthly, the LVL home, which is the LV series' largest home, starts at a price of just over $42,000. Now, bear in mind, that is just for the kit. You still need a lot, foundation and builder.

However, my wife and I have crunched the numbers, and even at very aggressive percentage rate for construction/land costs in our market, we can start-to-finish, build a new home - the likes of which would be nigh unto impossible in traditional construction - for about $180,000.

So, it will be a little while before my wife and I will be able afford this. But, we hope, by next summer, to be able to build one of these beautiful homes.

So, thusly I conclude my unabashed endorsement of Rocio Romero and all that she's doing. To learn more about your own LV series home, follow this hypertext!

Oh, yeah, here are some of the picutures, as well.
<img src='http://marshmallowweb.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/lvl_b.jpg' alt='LVL Bedroom' /><img src='http://marshmallowweb.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/lvl_d.jpg' alt='LVL Exterior' />

[ArchiMotion]

Hey, not that a tad of self-promotion is going to do anyone harm.
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Would they be the ones, would we be the ones, the same to this the sum. We are all to one as one is one and so be to all.

Anyone got something to sell us, we're here for the takes.

[csintexas]

I do like them but when you add everything up correctly you will find they are not a great deal.

[dsgnr]

My wife and I recently had to abandon our three month effort to find a way to build an LVL150 house. We did thorough research, visited a nearby LVL owner, knew the degree of self-contracting and self-install/finishing we were going to do. But we couldn't get past these items:

1. Finding a craft-oriented builder/G.C. in central Ohio who could believe in this design. After three interviews we concluded the builders/G.C.'s really didn't review RR's website to understand the details of their responsibity and exactly what comprised the shipped components. They ran with the media's popular portrayal of this as a modular home, which it is not. We had to tell two of them that essentially the open walls were pre-assembled and shipped from St. Louis, but 80% of the undertaking (at the site) was the stick-built process. We also had to nicely educate two of them on the roof's ability to handle central Ohio snowloads.

2. Sourcing the window kit was going to be a major challenge (i.e., reasonable cost but high craftwork). It needs to be fabricated by a commercial window manufacturer; costs for fabrication alone typically will hit $20k.

3. We really need a garage and that would add another $20k+ to the budget.

We absolutely love this design and believe in what Ms. Romero is doing (from our research, she's the only one successfully pulling this off thus far). The LVL owner we visited was their own G.C. (via "UBuildIt" which he did not recommend) and managed to hold his total cost (excluding land) to $185k. We would need to hire a G.C. AND stay at or below that number which, as we describe, we simply couldn't make happen.

Good luck to all that pursue this!

[phansford]

DSGNR -

I would be interested in what aspect of the LV house you like? The Modern style, green, pre-manuf. (which is lean construction), percieved cost-savings?

As far as builders - you are probably looking in the wrong places. These types of houses are not for your typcial residential builder. You need to find a small commerical contractor who also does residential.

If interested - PM me and I will give you a name of a contractor here in Dayton that could probably put this house together for you. He has experience with modern houses and has worked at OSU - so you're not too far away for him.

I am not sure what consitutes success in pre-fab or modern house components. There seems to be an interest of late bascially generated by Dwell magazine (The GQ of arch mags). But there have been many experiments into manufactured houses and cost-effective houses - modern and traditional.

The Lustron being maybe the most famous.....



Just saw a documentary on the leisurama . They had a mid-century modern design with an open plan.

I always likes Keck & Keck's glass house they showed at the Chicago World's Fair (1933 (?)



The other issue might be needing to get some sort of industrialized unit approval for this house and its components by the State of Ohio. I would need to know more about the Romero product to know if that could be an issue (as related to the code issues your builders were raising). Does it come with an assembly manual.... how does it work. Why are parts of it being stick-buit on-site?

There are many ways to get a modern house - you could have one designed for you and manufactured or panelized locally. I have a client who does this and we are looking to convert a couple of our standard house designs into panelized "stock" house plans. One being a small single modern cottage I have been designing for elderly parents. - Brings me back to my question - what is it that interests you about the LVL product?