Design Driven Prefab Homes with Steve Glenn, CEO of Plant Prefab
What do you think of when you hear the words "prefab home"? Maybe like me you think of what looks like a stick-built home, but it's delivered on the back of a truck and put in place (this is what I witnessed as a kid right next door to our home). Maybe you think of homes typically associated with mobile home parks. But what is prefab home meant beautifully designed, energy efficient homes, suitable for any neighborhood or setting? What if it meant reduced cost and time to build, and could be part of the solution towards solving housing shortages in some areas?
Some of these questions and more are answered by Steve Glenn, CEO of Plant Prefab. Plant Prefab designs and builds homes for consumers that are described as smarter, healthier, and higher-quality. You'll hear Steve describe the different types of homes that can be considered prefab, the advantages and disadvantages of prefab, and what's likely to trend moving forward.
Steve also gets into how his company has be growing and their plans to significantly multiply their growth through a hub and spoke distribution strategy, leveraging smarter manufacturing technology. The built world is getting very exciting!
More about Steve and Plant Prefab
Steve Glenn, CEO, founded Plant Prefab in 2016 as an offshoot of the award-winning residential design studio, LivingHomes, which he founded in 2006. Previously, Glenn worked with the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) and managed the development of a $220 million program in Mozambique. He was also the founder and CEO of PeopleLink, a leading provider of enterprise community solutions; founding partner of idealab, a business incubation firm that raised and invested $1 billion in a number of successful companies; co-director of the Virtual Reality Studio at Walt Disney Imagineering; and co-founder of Clearview Software, which was sold to Apple Computer in 1988. He holds a BA with honors from Brown University, studied Urban Planning at Harvard Graduate School of Design, and was a Coro Fellow.
Plant Prefab is the first Certified B Corporation™ building technology company dedicated to sustainable design, materials, and operations. The company’s patented Plant Building System™ utilizes advanced digital modeling and fully customizable Plant Panels™ and Plant Modules™ to help architects, developers, general contractors, and individuals design and build multifamily and custom single-family homes 20 to 50 percent faster than site-based methods. The system provides better quality control, design flexibility, and time, cost, and material efficiency than traditional methods of offsite or on-site construction. Plant Prefab has two factories in California (Rialto, Ontario) and a design studio and show home in Santa Monica. With a mission to build a better world by design, Plant Prefab was the first housing prefabricator to announce a net zero goal and has achieved carbon neutrality in their operations since 2020. Plant Prefab is backed by leading investors including Amazon, Asahi Kasei, Gerdau Paris Ventures, Obvious Ventures, and others.
Steve Glenn, CEO, founded Plant Prefab in 2016 as an offshoot of the award-winning residential design studio, LivingHomes, which he founded in 2006. Previously, Glenn worked with the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) and managed the development of a $220 million program in Mozambique. He was also the founder and CEO of PeopleLink, a leading provider of enterprise community solutions; founding partner of idealab, a business incubation firm that raised and invested $1 billion in a number of successful companies; co-director of the Virtual Reality Studio at Walt Disney Imagineering; and co-founder of Clearview Software, which was sold to Apple Computer in 1988. He holds a BA with honors from Brown University, studied Urban Planning at Harvard Graduate School of Design, and was a Coro Fellow.
Plant Prefab is the first Certified B Corporation™ building technology company dedicated to sustainable design, materials, and operations. The company’s patented Plant Building System™ utilizes advanced digital modeling and fully customizable Plant Panels™ and Plant Modules™ to help architects, developers, general contractors, and individuals design and build multifamily and custom single-family homes 20 to 50 percent faster than site-based methods. The system provides better quality control, design flexibility, and time, cost, and material efficiency than traditional methods of offsite or on-site construction. Plant Prefab has two factories in California (Rialto, Ontario) and a design studio and show home in Santa Monica. With a mission to build a better world by design, Plant Prefab was the first housing prefabricator to announce a net zero goal and has achieved carbon neutrality in their operations since 2020. Plant Prefab is backed by leading investors including Amazon, Asahi Kasei, Gerdau Paris Ventures, Obvious Ventures, and others.