From factory to woods

By Greg Breining
Midwest Home

When Scott McGlasson bought land on Little Lake Pequaywan northwest of Two Harbors, he knew the existing one-room shack would have to go. After the first summer, he had it hauled away. In its place, he built a concrete pier foundation. Early the following spring (a year ago), a flatbed trailer delivered two box-like modules from a Wisconsin factory. A mobile crane set the two pieces of his new home gently on the foundation.

After bolting the house to beams that are attached to the foundation, hooking up the ulitiies and installing a glass-front gas stove to augment the electric heat, th place was ready for McGlasson, his wife and three kids to move in. Later he added decks and a ship's ladder to the roof.

McGlasson, a furniture designed who owns Woodsports in St. Paul, had purchased a weeHouse. Designed by Alchemy Architects, weeHouses is one of several local designs of prefab homes that emphasis high-quality contraction and clean modernist lines.

McGlasson figures he saved money by going with prefab rather than hiring a builder. More important, he says, "on-site construction would have required a lot of time to supervise and build. For me, it was all about utility."

McGlasson had an in with weeHouse. Several years ago he helped build the prototpe for St. Paul-based Alchemy. But other seasonal-home owners are likewise concluding that prefab housing is a more convenient way to build a house — especially when the building site is locted hours awar from job, family and primary residence.