Prefab Builder Aux Box Makes Preciously Small Backyard Homes and Offices Starting at $32K

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Aux Box was born in 2018 out of a 20-year friendship between Morgan Seeber and Landon Sheck. Having both worked in small-scale construction for the past decade, the pair had talked about making prefabs with the same sort of modularity as Lego blocks, where rooms could easily attach onto a base model. The idea was shelved until Morgan and Landon took a ferry to Horseshoe Bay and fleshed out at a coffee shop what would become Aux Box.

After making drawings for a prototype, they were hunting for a site to build it on when they came across a Quonset hut, a long structure made of corrugated steel with an arched roof. The building was flexible in terms of its use, and was also minimal, both ideas that resonated with Morgan and Landon. They’d end up using the testing ground to generate five self-contained and ready-to-ship designs that range between 96 and 620 square feet.

Here, Landon shares what’s on offer from Aux Box, and why manufactured designs don’t have to be mundane.

What’s the most exciting project you’ve realized to date?

We were approached by a resort in Tofino, British Columbia, to help them adjust a section that accommodated travelers in RVs into permanent structures. Given that we, too, are on the West Coast, our design leant itself to the vibe of the resort. When we took this on, we were still a very small business and up to that point our largest order was two units. This was 10 units of a new product (the Model 240) to be delivered on a relatively tight schedule, which represented a shift in what production looked like at Aux Box. Ryan from Mackenzie Beach Resort saw the value and believed in Morgan and I to follow through on that value, so we went to work.

The priority was to have the aux boxes installed and fully functional prior to the next high season. The obvious advantage of prefabrication is the limited time on site, which means minimal disruption of down time for the resort. We collaborated on some design elements in the interior, but our original layout for the Model 240 was already near optimal for their needs, allowing for a seamless design phase. We were heavily involved in site planning and how the landscaping and decks would interface with the units. Mackenzie beach resort has enjoyed two full high seasons now, and the Aux Boxes are performing exceptionally well.

What does your base model cost and what does that pricing include?

We currently have five models in our product suite, ranging from 96 to 620 square feet. Our smallest backyard office model is $31,820 ($44,000 CAD), and our largest full-time living model is $224,192 ($310,000 CAD). These costs are for fully finished Aux Boxes that are move-in ready. We provide full scope-of-work costs for our clients for items like shipping, services, foundations, etc. Our goal is to spend as little time on our customers’ properties as possible. We deliver fully finished buildings and connect them to services.