Altadena Prefab Showcase
Year: 2025
After the Eaton fires, many Altadenans are curious about Prefab construction as a simpler, faster, and less expensive way home. However, off-site construction comes with its own challenges. For those unfamiliar with the process, purchasing and installing a pre-fabricated home can be complex — it's not always as simple as a single transaction or a fixed price.
On vacant County-owned lots in Altadena, cityLAB and our partners at LA4LA, RNLA, Community Women Vital Voices, Altadena Rebuild and Recovery Corporation, Community Organized Relief Effort, and Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s office have created a prefab showcase to highlight a range of homes that help Eaton fire survivors better understand how off-site construction might offer them an affordable and expedient path home. The showcase is a collective achievement, and our team is indebted to the Wells Fargo Foundation and the California Community Foundation for their generous financial support.
We understand that no two family’s rebuilding efforts are exactly alike, and that’s why the showcase contains a range of Prefab models to demonstrate a diversity of price points, construction methods, and home types, both in terms of scale and style.
In our Altadena Prefab Handbook, cityLAB shares neutral, unbiased research about prefabricated units so Altadenans can reasonably evaluate how off-site construction might ease their rebuilding process. Written specifically for the challenges facing the Eaton Fire’s survivors, our work establishes relative costs, acquisition processes, design and construction timelines, and future maintenance and adaptability in an accessible, legible tone and visual style.
The Altadena Prefab Showcase is now open!
Address: 2231 Lincoln Ave, Altadena, CA 91001
Grand Opening: Saturday, Nov 8th, 10AM - 5PM
Lincoln & Archwood: Open 11/1 - 12/7
Wed-Fri: 12PM - 6PM, Sat: 10AM - 5PM, Sun: 12PM - 5PM
Tour a variety of factory-built homes and connect with resources for rebuilding!
Credit
Ryan Conroy
Dr. Dana Cuff
Partner
LA4LA, Restore Neighborhoods LA, Community Women Vital Voices, Altadena Rebuild & Recovery Corporation, Community Organized Relief Effort, and Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s Office. Supported by the Wells Fargo Foundation and the California Community Foundation.
See also
Fall Showcase
Six prefab homes are featured in the Fall 2025 Altadena Prefab Showcase. The organizers are proud to share these examples as illustrations of the breadth of home types, construction systems, and price points that might help Altadenans better understand how off-site construction can be a part of their rebuilding efforts. We are also providing information about other prefab companies who were not able to bring a full-size unit. While we cannot endorse any particular manufacturer, our goal is to assemble enough information for property owners to make informed decisions. These options are presented alongside other vendors and community groups—resilient landscaping designers, insurance experts, and more—to provide Altadenans with the information they need to think holistically about rebuilding.
The showcase is presented in tandem with an accompanying publication, the Altadena Prefab Handbook.
Altadena Prefab Showcase is generously supported by Wells Fargo Foundation and the California Community Foundation, and is presented in collaboration with our partners LA4LA, RNLA, Community Women Vital Voices, Altadena Rebuild and Recovery Corporation, Community Organized Relief Effort, and Supervisor Kathryn Barger. The showcase is only possible because of the hard work and dedication of this impressive group of collaborators.
Common Questions
What exactly is pre-fab construction?
“Pre-Fab” is an umbrella term for many different methods of constructing a building off-site. Some methods are familiar, like Manufactured housing, while others are novel, like Structural Insulated Panels, or SIPs. Categorically, our research focuses on Manufactured, Volumetric Modular, Panelized, and hybridized approaches.
Why Would Prefab Construction Make Sense for Me?
It depends! Depending on your family’s needs, lot size, and budget, prefab could offer a way of simplifying the rebuilding process, perhaps by providing a fixed cost, easing the time and decision-making burden on the owner, expediting construction, or leveraging economies of scale.
What does Prefab look like?
Like any other house! Many prefab products use the same logics of wood-frame construction, they’re simply built in a predictable, controlled environment. Other models use proprietary systems, to offer even greater production speed or lower costs.
Is pre-fab less fire-safe?
No, many use best-in-practice fire safety measures, including Class A roofing, eaveless designs, fire-resistant siding, and meshed gutters. In tandem with a resilient landscape strategy and defensible space, a prefab unit should be as fire-resistant as site-built construction.
Can Prefab Units be easily maintained?
Largely, yes. One thing to consider is the nature of any proprietary systems, if it differs from the lingua franca of typical wood construction, and how future maintenance would have easy access to building systems for expected repairs.
Where can I find out more about Prefab?
Our Community outreach presentation discusses in greater depth how Prefab Construction differs from site-built, broken down by specific categories, including cost, time, architectural character, and design flexibility.
