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The day has officially arrived: You can now order a ready-to-live-in prefab house online in the same fashion you would a Domino's pizza—complete with custom toppings and even a delivery estimate. And, oddly but perhaps not surprisingly, it's due to the pandemic.
In response to travel restrictions and limited in-person interactions due to the 2020 pandemic, Latvia-based modular homemaker Manta North revamped their business model and accompanying website to make ordering a prefabricated cabin as easy as any online shopping experience. Three years later, the online platform is proving just as useful, now stocked with additional offerings from the young company.
Founded in 2018 by a team of timber-industry professionals, Manta North has found a similar form in its sleek cabin structures to other prefab cabin manufacturers like Modular Dwelling, Backcountry Hut Company, and Aux Box, with its innovation lying within the ease of procurement through its online portal.
Upon arriving at the website, simply choose one of two basic skeletons: Ray, a box-like structure, or Slope, a visually softer design with a gabled roof. Then get to work choosing your floor plan, interior and exterior materials, and optional upgrades with a few simple clicks. Both models are approximately 430 square feet and start at $210,000.
Once ordered, within a couple of months your cabin is delivered on-site via semi truck and can be live-in ready by the end of the day, according to the brand’s Instagram stories.
Similar to other prefab companies, Manta North is grounded in an ethos of environmental stewardship. With radiant floor heating, a CLT structure, air circulation systems, and thermal performance that meets passive house standards, the cabins are designed to perform efficiently in a variety of climates.
Manta North still manufactures its prefab models in Latvia, but the young company is now headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with US-manufacturing opening in May 2023. For now, only the Ray and Slope models are available to US-customers.
Smaller, studio-size versions of both models, called the Weekend are available exclusively in Europe, along with the Slope Expand, which comes in at 786 square feet for approximately $212,000.
Across the Pond, the company also offers the ability to connect or combine units, encouraging customers to "think of and create their own microcosm." After all, whats better than one cabin? Two!
And, if you'd like to test-drive before you buy, a Manta North Airbnbis currently open for booking in rural Iceland. Constructed with a unique combination of multiple models, it goes for $290/night.
Published 04-03-2023
