with new cash and a former apple exec now at the helm, connect homes is ready to reconstruct homebuilding

Greg Leung, bringing experience from both Apple and the smart lock firm Otto, joined Connect Homes following a recruitment process.

The company’s proposition – to develop affordable starter homes at a significantly lower price point than other prefabricated options, suitable for placement in urban centers – proved compelling.

“Essentially, it’s a remarkably well-designed product, delivered through a process that fundamentally alters conventional home construction methods,” Leung explained.

Connect Homes offers 15 standardized home designs, ranging in size from 460 to 3,200 square feet. According to Leung, a key advantage over competitors is the speed of construction, with a complete house erected in just six days.

Furthermore, the company leverages existing shipping and rail infrastructure for nationwide delivery. “We manufacture modules sized to fit within shipping containers, allowing us to utilize standard intermodal transport networks,” Leung stated.

Smaller Connect Homes models are priced around $174,000, fully inclusive, while a 3,200-square-foot home costs approximately $825,000. Leung noted this represents roughly half the cost of a traditionally built custom home.

“We are providing a beautiful, contemporary product at half the price of a typical custom homebuilder,” he affirmed.

Leung highlighted a gap in the current construction landscape, noting the prevalence of new tract homes, multi-family units, and high-rise buildings. He identified a significant opportunity for urban infill projects. “A substantial portion of the Bay Area and Los Angeles was built in the 1970s, meaning millions of homes are now outdated, undersized, and energy inefficient,” Leung said. “Building a home currently costs $1 million to $1.5 million… Currently, no one is focusing on the urban infill market except for us.”

Beyond residential projects, Leung expressed interest in applying Connect Homes’ technology to address the need for temporary shelters and housing for individuals experiencing homelessness. The company operates from its Los Angeles headquarters, with a manufacturing facility in San Bernardino, California.

Connect Homes was founded by Jared Levy and Gordon Stoddard, architects with experience in prefabricated construction through their work with Marmol Radziner. The company had previously secured $27 million in funding to advance its vision for the future of prefabricated building.

This funding includes a recent $5 million investment aimed at revitalizing the company and concentrating on its manufacturing technology, which enables the creation of deployable shelters alongside traditional housing. Leung’s experience in Northern California informed his understanding of the nationwide housing challenges.

The company’s single-module shelter can be transported and installed on-site within a single day. Equipping the 40-foot by eight-foot module with a generator provides the flexibility of a mobile unit, while ensuring it is habitable within 24 hours.

“Our intention is to sell these shelters to municipalities and organizations providing support services to house individuals in need,” Leung explained. 

Initial customers for this new product include the Thatcher School in Ojai and a project in Mountain View, California, undertaken in collaboration with Life Moves.

Shelter pricing ranges from $20,000 to $30,000 per bed, or $80,000 per module. Leung pointed out that these costs are significantly lower than the $500,000 to $1 million per bed typically spent on permanent supportive housing.

However, the company acknowledges that these innovative shelter solutions do not, on their own, resolve the fundamental housing crisis affecting cities across the country.

“We aim to provide an alternative to the highly customized housing that we believe contributes to the problem. The development of these shelters was a response to an immediate need, and we were able to leverage our innovative capabilities to address it,” said Leung. “I haven’t observed sufficient application of talent and innovation to this critical issue. It’s impacting the health and well-being of millions of people… This is a challenge that could persist for generations.”

The ambition to redefine the building industry prompted Brick & Mortar Ventures to reinvest in the company with the recent $5 million in funding, according to Darren Bechtel, the firm’s founder and managing director.

Bechtel, a member of the Bechtel engineering and construction family, possesses extensive industry knowledge and views Connect Homes as a promising disruptor of traditional construction practices.

“Current construction costs are higher than those of existing assets,” Bechtel said. However, he believes that rethinking construction as a manufacturing process can lead to more effective cost reductions.

“The housing industry has been employing a rudimentary form of manufacturing for some time,” Bechtel observed. “The key difference between this and traditional manufacturing, or even the automotive industry, is that the scale of a house often exceeds the capacity for efficient transportation from the manufacturing site to the final destination.”

Bechtel identified this as the core problem that Connect Homes is solving. “Standardization around intermodal shipping is essential, or navigating permitting and road restrictions becomes a limiting factor. A true kit of parts requires skilled workers for on-site finishing,” he said.

Bechtel emphasized that Connect Homes is pursuing a different strategy than homebuilders focused on vertical integration. He likened Connect Homes’ approach to Apple’s, where the company oversees the entire product lifecycle and customer experience. “This is how you achieve global scale and establish brands comparable to VW and Audi in the housing market. A home represents the largest purchase most people make, and the fact that it remains a bespoke product in most cases is illogical.”

Bechtel also differentiated Connect Homes from companies primarily targeting the accessory dwelling unit (ADU) market in California. “Many ADU buyers are seeking additional space for personal use,” he said. “However, at a larger scale, the ability to revitalize existing housing stocks in medium- or high-density areas by creating two or three units on a single property can dramatically improve both the quality and quantity of housing available.”

This is the overarching objective for Connect Homes, Bechtel stated, and the company is poised to capitalize on a potential rebound in the housing market.

“We anticipate a significant resurgence in housing demand,” said Bechtel. “The single-family housing market will recover.” And when it does, Connect Homes will be prepared to scale up production to meet the increased demand.