Family prefab houses of more than 100 m²

It is the single-storey house with the most rooms in the whole list, designed for a large family that does not want stairs.

The house is laid out in strips, with the living area on one side and the bedrooms with their bathrooms on the other, each oriented to the sun, so daytime life does not mix with rest. What Arquima makes and assembles is the timber envelope (structure, insulation and exterior joinery); the final roof finish, the interiors, the services and the floors are contracted separately, and the foundations do not appear in what it offers. It suits a large family with a big plot and the will to coordinate its own build; anyone looking for a fixed price for a finished house has to look elsewhere.

The only one in the list that its manufacturer presents as designed for the Passivhaus standard, the most demanding one on energy use.

It is the house Arquima built for a client in S'Agaró, on the Costa Brava, and it shows how the company works: it designs every house from scratch, without closed models. What it makes and assembles is the timber envelope; the external insulation with white render that gives the house its look, the interiors and the services are contracted separately. Daytime life faces south through large windows. It suits a family with children that wants the parents on another floor; if someone at home cannot climb stairs, it is not the right one.

Cheap for a turnkey house: its price per square metre is 22 % below the median for turnkey houses in the catalogue (1,639 €/m², from 137 houses by 21 manufacturers).

The concrete is only the skin: underneath there is a frame of solid and glued laminated timber reinforced with steel, insulated on the outside, which is built on your plot and does not arrive in modules. The price includes the preliminary structural design and a specification of finishes drawn up for your house. The company works from Sueca (Valencia) for the whole of Spain. It suits a large family that wants to start from a published figure and does not mind stairs, because the bedrooms are spread over two floors.

It is the one that puts the most into its price in the whole list: design project, professional approval, site supervision, ground surveys, utility connections and the fitted kitchen.

It comes to 1,791 €/m², with the median for turnkey houses in the catalogue at 1,639 €/m² (137 houses by 21 manufacturers), and that price includes paperwork and works that other houses charge separately. The manufacturer estimates about 160 days. It suits a large family that prefers a price that covers almost everything to adding up invoices; anyone looking for life without stairs has other options in this list.

A lot of porch: more than a quarter of what it advertises (101 of its 384 m²) is covered outdoor space, and the enclosed house comes to about 282 m² built.

The living room rises to double height and that void takes floor space from the upper storey, so here you pay for volume, design and outdoor space more than for rooms: considerably smaller houses in this same list have the same number of bedrooms. It arrives in concrete and steel modules that leave its Valencia factory almost finished. inHAUS presents itself as turnkey with interior design included, but this model's page does not detail what the price covers. It suits a family that wants a house for entertaining and living outdoors, with a plot to match.

The only one in the list arranged around a central courtyard: the courtyard brings light and privacy into the house, and there is not a single stair.

It is not one of inHAUS's modular houses: although it calls it a prefab house, the brand places it in its range of site-built houses, in concrete and built on the plot. With all its floor area at ground level, it needs a large plot, even more so with its porches. It suits a family that wants to live on a single level, also with older people at home; anyone with a tight plot will find two-storey houses in this list that fit better.

The only one in the list with the whole sleeping area on the ground floor and the upper floor for a study with its own bathroom and terrace: only whoever works from home climbs the stairs.

Here the porches and pergolas are counted separately from the house's square metres, unlike other models from the same brand, so inside it is as big as it claims. It is reinforced precast concrete made in the factory and assembled on the plot, and Hormipresa fixes the price in a preliminary design with the ground surveys already done and handles the building permit. It suits a family of three or four in which someone works from home; if you need four bedrooms plus a study, it falls short.

Everything on one level, study included: it is Hormipresa's stair-free option, whereas the L6 puts the study on the upper floor.

It is reinforced precast concrete made in the factory and assembled on the foundations on your plot, with about seven months of works according to the manufacturer, which gives that lead time for its whole range and without counting the permit. The price is fixed in a preliminary design that already includes the ground surveys, and Hormipresa handles the permit. It suits a family of three or four that wants to live on a single level and work from home; with more children, it is short of bathrooms.

The only one in the list designed to live a whole lifetime on the ground floor: upstairs are the guest rooms and a cinema room, which open up when the family comes to visit.

It is the house this German manufacturer built for a family on the outskirts of Paris and shows as an example: each one is planned to measure, and you choose how far it goes, from a house you finish inside yourself to one ready to move into. The timber wall is very well insulated and the heating uses the ventilation system with heat recovery. Its price list is for Germany, with German VAT and without the foundations, so it does not help to work out what it would cost here; for Spain it has an adviser in Barcelona. It suits a couple whose children now only come back to visit.

The only steel house in the list: galvanised profiles and panels that arrive dismantled, are bolted onto a slab you build yourself and can be taken apart again.

Its 185 m² include an enclosed garage (34 m²): the home itself is about 151 m², with the bedrooms upstairs and the closed kitchen downstairs. Karmod is a Turkish manufacturer with no branch in Spain: whoever asks for a price writes to Istanbul, it only publishes prices on its Turkish website and in lira, and it is not stated whether a quote would include transport, assembly or VAT. It suits someone looking for a light, demountable structure who is willing to handle an import; anyone who wants the manufacturer close by has other options in this list.