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
