Building with Unity

Does Unity Work with Owner-Builders?

We’ve recently visited several Unity projects where the owners have done much of the work, and that has us thinking about owner-builders: clients who either general contract the construction of their own home, or perform much of the hands-on work themselves.

Is Unity a good fit for owner-builders? The answer, as with so much in life, is “it depends.” While it’s easy to see the advantages of being an owner-builder, there are also significant pitfalls, some of which may not be apparent to an inexperienced owner who “doesn’t know what he/she doesn’t know.” […]

Siting Your New Home

Siting a home properly on the building lot is one of the first and most important tasks of building a new home. Because the siting of the home will affect construction costs, the appearance and performance of the home, and even its resale value, we strongly encourage all of our clients to engage a professional site designer to assist with the process.
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Evaluating Potential Building Sites

One of the more common questions we’re asked by prospective clients is whether Unity can send someone to help evaluate potential building sites. Generally our answer is “no,” because we simply don’t have the bandwidth, but we do have practical suggestions for assessing land on which you’re considering building. […]

How to Find and Select a Local Builder

A good local builder is critical to the success of Unity Shell and Tempo projects. If you’re looking to have a new home built within the next year and you don’t already have a builder on board, how can you find a conscientious local builder with whom to work?
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May I talk with a homeowner? Visit a house?

Until Covid arrived, in-person events were a mainstay of Unity’s marketing. During the warm months we’d host open houses that would allow visitors to experience our homes firsthand, and chat with the homeowner about what it’s like to work with Unity and live in the home. We’d also host gatherings that would combine education about Unity’s design-build process with tours of our production facilities and show home.

Covid changed all that. […]

The View from Inside the Covid-Jolted Housing Industry

The housing industry has been dramatically affected—in both negative and positive ways—by the Covid maelstrom that has been upending every aspect of our lives. Back […]

Choosing the Right Foundation

Installing wall panels for a Xyla on a slab foundation The choice of foundation type—slab-on-grade, full basement or walkout (“daylight”) basement—is critical to the design […]

Financing Your Unity Home

Although Unity is continually striving to make the design-build process simpler and easier for our clients, there are certain aspects of each project that are outside of our control. Project financing is one such aspect. It can be a complex and time-consuming process even for conventionally built homes. […]

Build More Walls – that Store Carbon!

In combating climate change, reducing carbon emissions from building operations is critical, because they represent such a large percentage of global CO2 emissions. […]

The Affordable Housing Crisis Hits Home

Anyone who follows national housing trends knows that insufficient affordable housing and a lack of skilled labor are two of the industry’s biggest challenges. These issues are related because without enough workers to build new homes, housing starts have lagged behind historical norms and current needs. Given the limited options for getting homes built, builders and developers have understandably been focused on more profitable higher-end projects, as opposed to affordable housing. […]

The Art and Science of Project Scheduling

For years, Unity’s clients have benefitted from accelerated construction schedules made possible by our off-site fabrication, which shaves months off of a typical construction schedule. […]

Local Builders on Unity Projects

When a project is too distant for Unity to general contract, we and our clients team up with a local builder who preps the site for Unity’s arrival, and finishes the high performance shell that Unity assembles on site. This scenario allows Unity and the local builder each to do what we do best. […]