This Flat-Pack “Surf Shack” Can Be Plopped Down Anywhere and Assembled in One Week
Whether it was in the midst of a particularly memorable hike, a weekend of rock climbing, a day at the beach or during your daily commute, we’ve all come across a tiny stretch of desolate land and thought, "If only I could live here..." Well, thanks to the Backcountry Hut Company — an architectural design company based in Vancouver that’s focused on creating spaces that are both beautiful and affordable — you may very well be able to turn your happy place into your dream vacation home.
The company just launched an assembly kit for what it calls "The Surf Shack," a gorgeous prefabricated structure that ranges in size from 191 to 937 square feet and does not require any sort of heavy machinery to construct. Taking a page out of IKEA’s catalog, the kit arrives at your desired location via helicopter, in flat-pack boxes that take a crew of four about one week to assemble into full-fledged dwellings.
"We knew we had a great idea and high quality product, but the response has been better than we expected," co-founder Wilson Edgar said in a press release. "We were getting calls from people from Portland to Brooklyn even before we reached the prototype phase."
With the tiny house trend catching on in every corner of the country, Edgar says the company has no one typical kind of client. "Our customers seem to come from diverse backgrounds, but they all share an eye for design and a creative desire to play some part in the building experience," Edgar explained, saying that their first customers have ranged from young tech professionals to semi-retired professors.
"We wanted to create something that captured a certain essentialism," said architect Michael Leckie, Edgar’s co-founder. "A product and process that is unique unto itself, that has a practicality, without sacrificing good design." With two basic exterior and interior styles and a range of sizes to choose from, each structure can be customized to the specific customer. While the exterior is preassembled, customers can choose from a variety of spec interiors or leave that part of the design process entirely to their own devices.
From first contact to final detail, the building experience is a completely collaborative one. Clients work directly with the company to talk about the process and how it all works, while Backcountry’s in-house team of architects assists with permits and documentation requirements. The service is a particularly attractive one to people looking to create their own little slice of getaway heaven in a remote area that might not be able to accommodate a traditional construction team.
“In a lot of cases, our customers want to build on their remote dream property, as a way to escape the 9 to 5,” Edgar said. “Some of those locations can’t accommodate an intrusive, traditional building process.”
The company is currently taking orders. Because each kit is customized, prices will vary on a number of factors — including size and interior details — but pricing generally starts at about $45,000 ($55,000 CAN) for the base 10x10 studio structure, plus a retainer for the company's design services. For specific quotes and more details on all possible options, contact the company directly.
H/T: The Daily Mail
All images courtesy of Backcountry Hut Company.
