Urban Retrofit vs. Prefab: A Varm Raised in 4 Days

Описание: Tim and Cynthia's 60-year-old Somerville home had poor insulation, inefficient mechanicals, and a layout that just didn't work. They could've poured money into a deep energy retrofit, but the math didn't add up. Even with a significant investment, they'd still be working around a compromised building envelope and an outdated structure that would never perform the way they hoped.

So they made a different choice. Instead of renovating, they decided to start fresh with a panelized, all-electric prefab home built for performance from the ground up. Using Bensonwood's panelized system, they got a home that was designed specifically for their tight urban lot, with reduced onsite labor, faster construction, and minimal disruption to their narrow city street.

The results speak for themselves. The shell went up in just 4 days, and the home achieved a 0.6 ACH50 blower door test that we conducted in house on day 7 of the raising. With R-35 walls, R-60 roof, triple-pane windows, and a flexible building envelope designed to last decades, the home qualified for a $25,000 Mass Save Tier Two incentive. Their 7.2kW solar array now produces twice what they consume annually, and they've chosen to donate the surplus electricity to local families in need through the Somerville Homeless Coalition.

This isn't just a case study about choosing prefab over renovation, it's about what's possible when speed, performance, and urban constraints all align.

To learn more, here's the full case study for this project:

https://bensonwood.com/blog/an-all-el...

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CHAPTERS:
0:00 Intro
0:38 The Varm Story
1:37 Off-site Construction
2:45 Design Process
3:37 Tight Lot Solutions
4:36 The Community
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