Premium modular homes: high-end for a main residence

The only one on this list with two en-suite bedrooms on a single floor, without a single staircase: the main bedroom and a guest suite.

Dvele builds it in California as four steel modules and ships it almost finished (95%, with floors, sanitaryware and appliances already fitted), so all that is left on the plot is joining and connecting it. Its price is not published: it is fixed in a contract when you configure the house and covers the modules as they leave the factory. It is not sold in Spain: its reservation form only accepts addresses in the United States. Here it serves as a reference for a large family that does not want stairs at home.

Designed for the narrow plot (6.97 m of frontage): it gains its space lengthways and upwards, and fits between party walls or on a leftover piece of land.

From the outside it is a modern barn clad in dark boards; inside, the upper floor is a full storey rather than an attic, because the walls rise far enough before the roof starts to slope. Its price starts at the slab and includes German VAT: the foundations, the kitchen and the furniture are paid separately. Baufritz only delivers in Germany and Switzerland, so here it shows what high-end German timber gets you, not something you can order.

Upstairs, two identical children's rooms of the same size and a main bedroom with its own dressing room: a layout designed for a family with two children.

It is the same Baufritz timber as the Mono, in a squarer plan that came out of an international architects' workshop: downstairs, the kitchen-diner is arranged around an island and has its own pantry, and upstairs the windows reach the floor, with French balconies. Its price follows the same rules as the Mono's (from the slab, with German VAT and without foundations, kitchen or furniture), and it is not delivered in Spain either. For people who want that construction without the constraint of a narrow plot.

Its starting price is not a bare structure: the house arrives weathertight, with slab, triple-glazed windows, air-source heat pump and underfloor heating, and what is left to do is the interior finish.

It is ELK's flat-roofed house, with an L-shaped plan: it takes up little land for what it offers inside, and downstairs the living room and open kitchen take up almost the whole floor (57 of 75 m²). On top of that starting price, ELK sells three further levels that add bathrooms, paint, floors, doors and kitchen, so it is not the price of moving in. There is no record of ELK working in Spain. It suits people who want to finish the interior to their own taste, or by themselves.

An L-shaped single floor designed for two: two equal, generous bedrooms (15.5 m² each) and a separate room for working from home.

It is the compact Dvele: the same steel modules that leave the factory finished, in a single-storey house with the living room, dining room and kitchen in a row along the façade. Like the rest of the brand, it is not sold in Spain, and what you sign for covers the modules: the work on the plot is extra. It suits a couple working from home or someone downsizing without giving up a spacious house.

Non-combustible construction: steel modules clad in corrugated sheet, with a protection option for plots in wildfire risk areas.

From the outside it looks like a row of containers, but Honomobo builds its G5 series with steel frames and corrugated sheet, in modules that arrive finished from its factory in Canada; this is its family version, with one bedroom designed to double as a study and the option of replacing one or two walls with floor-to-ceiling glass. Its price, in dollars, does not say whether it includes taxes, leaves out transport, the crane, foundations and work on the plot, and moves with the exchange rate. It suits people who want their house to look industrial; if you do not need the third bedroom, the HO3 is the same house in a smaller size.

Its own brochure shows it with three roofs on the same plan (flat, gabled or hipped), so you choose the roof without changing house.

Its price is ELK's most complete level: finished inside and out, with the kitchen installed, and with the slab and assembly included; the land is extra. The same house is sold at three lower levels, down to leaving the interior unfinished, and that is where the saving lies if you feel able to finish it yourself. On two floors, it takes up little ground for what it offers inside (80.57 m² of plot). There is no record of ELK working in Spain.

The only one on this list with a price for Spain, and a fixed one: it includes the design, its professional endorsement, site supervision, the ground surveys, the utility connections and the fitted kitchen.

It comes to 1,791 €/m², with the median for turnkey houses priced for Spain at 1,639 €/m² (137 houses from 21 manufacturers), and a lot goes into that figure: with the architect, the building surveyor and site supervision included, it is the price of the finished house. The envelope, insulated on the outside and free of thermal bridges, gives it an A energy rating. It is for a large family with a plot that allows two storeys.

It does not stand out for anything the HO4 does not have: it is the same steel house with one bedroom fewer, for people who do not need the third.

What changes is the scale: a single floor, with a heavily glazed living area, and two bedrooms instead of three. It has the same non-combustible construction, with the same wildfire protection option. As with the HO4, its price in dollars does not say whether it includes taxes, leaves out transport, the crane and work on the plot, and moves with the exchange rate. It suits a couple who want a compact designer house, or as a second home with an industrial look.

The only one designed for the garden of an existing house: it is an accessory dwelling that Abodu delivers with permits, slab, transport and installation included.

In California these houses are placed in the backyard of a home to house a relative or to rent out, and that is how its manufacturer sells it: a catalogue model with high ceilings and large windows, a fitted galley kitchen and a full bathroom, ready to move into. Here it works better as a guest house or rental than as a family's main home.