Using the construction equivalent of paint by numbers saved Ken and Julie Zuckerman about $8,000.The Grass Valley couple decided to use wall panels manufactured in an Elk Grove factory for a 1,000-square-foot house the couple built for Julie's mother.

Mike Leslie, the Zuckermans' contractor, gave them a bid using several different types of construction, one of them using prefabricated wall panels with windows and doors already installed. "I was thinking about the quality aspect because the walls are built in a controlled environment," Ken Zuckerman said.
But the savings were another reason the Zuckermans opted to use the time-saving construction method.

Leslie, owner of Tekton Construction in Auburn, ordered the wall panels through Auburn firm Perma-Dwell, one of 15 domestic Pacific Modern Homes, Inc. dealers, in mid-August. It usually takes four to five weeks, six in the summer, for panels to be delivered to construction sites, said Denise Dugger, co-owner of Perma-Dwell.

All the walls of the Zuckermans' 1,000-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath home were up within three days. "The neighbors couldn't believe it," Julie Zuckerman said. Their house used 32 panels, some as small as 3 feet in width, Leslie said.

Pacific Modern Homes, Inc. describes its method of building as environmentally responsible because far less energy is needed to manufacture lumber than other building materials. "Nine times less energy is used to produce a wood 2-by-4 than a steel stud, and 24 times less energy for a wood-framed floor than a concrete floor," the firm's material states.

Another advantage of factory framing is that framing packages allow owners to be in control of the construction of their dream homes, Dugger said. Leslie agreed. "A lot of clients want to come play on the team," Leslie said. "They want the thrill of putting their hand into the home they're going to live in."