HOME-GROWN
IMPORTS
by Kate O'Brien
Entrepreneurs
are rushing
to set up
Scandinavianstyle
house
production on
U.S. soil
Advanced Building Systems (ABS) hopes to put
out three houses a day from this 53,000 squarefoot
factory. As in any manufacturing venture, it's
important to keep the factory busy to keep
overhead down.
Ever since researchers noticed ten
years ago that Swedish homes had dramatically
low heating bills, U.S.
builders have been trying to take advantage
of Scandinavian technology. Some
even imported whole buildings. In
building magazines, we began to see
reports of entire houses-down to the
finish- being delivered to building
sites, complete with Swedish carpenters
to train U.S. carpentry crews. The
buildings had a lot going for them-a
modular design for quick erection, excellent
craftsmanship, and a high level
of