California-based housing startup Samara has unveiled further details of their factory-produced studio and one-bedroom units. The company, led by Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia and former Flex chief executive Mike McNamara, will now roll out a selection of customizable ADU units, collectively known as the Backyard range, across Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Backyard studio units start at $289,000 and one-bedroom units start at $329,000, including installation costs. While the pricing of the units remains the same throughout California, the cost of installation differs based on regional factors. Customers can also choose between five colors, two roof designs, and customizable windows, doors, and decks.
“Built out of durable, cutting-edge materials, precision engineered and assembled in a factory, Backyard is designed to last a lifetime,” Samara said. “It harvests enough solar energy to power itself, and we’ve made it incredibly easy to get by taking care of the entire construction process.”
“We’ve obsessed over every square inch of Backyard, from the custom cabinetry in our signature kitchen to the airflow and duct layout of our whisper-quiet, central heating and cooling system,” the company added.
Similar to other design-build disruptors recently featured on Archinect, Samara offers an all-inclusive service for Backyard, including design, building permits, construction, and installation. The entire design process for Backyard takes place on the Samara website, where a simple interface prompts users to choose and customize their unit’s features, from cladding materials to wardrobe finishes.
The release of Backyard is a significant step for Samara, who began life as an internal innovation team within Airbnb in 2016. Earlier this year, the company broke away to become an independent startup, although Airbnb retains a minority stake in the company. Samara’s founding team is made up entirely of Airbnb alumni, including Airbnb co-founder Gebbia who left his full-time role in Airbnb in July to commit fully to the startup.
Samara’s decision to launch Backyard in California can be seen as a response to the state’s accommodating attitude towards ADUs. As we reported last year, Los Angeles has recently sought to facilitate ADU construction by publishing an ADU Standard Plan Program containing 14 pre-approved plans. Last month, we also reported on the rapid increase in ADU applications in San Diego, as cities along the west coast grapple with an ongoing housing crisis.
