Episode 27 - Paul Buraczynski & Michael Hawkes, Acorn Deck House Company

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Prefab Review

Hi, my name is Michael Frank and this is the Prefab Pod presented by Prefab Review where we interview leading people and companies in the prefab housing industry. Today we are speaking with Paul Buraczynski and Michael Hawkes, the general manager and design manager respectively, of Acorn Deck House.

Paul Buraczynski - Acorn Deck House Company

Good morning, Michael.

Acorn Deck House Company

Great to be here.

Prefab Review

Welcome guys. Well, thanks for being with us. It's a pleasure and exciting for all of us. We regularly talk with prefab and modular housing companies. We spoke with one that I think, had been around for three or four years last week and I think you've been around as a company for like 60 or 70 years which is obviously a lot longer than most of the companies we've worked with. Can you tell me a little bit about the history of Acorn Deck House?

Acorn Deck House Company

Sure. Well, the Acorn product has been around for 75 years, the Deck House product has been around for 63 years. You know, a while back, both of our companies merged together to create one company. We're following the Acorn Deck House name and we also introduce the next house in that. So throughout the years, We've kind of grown together as a product. We've used each other's knowledge and through the past one of the great things with our company is we've kind of done it all. We've seen it all. We're kind of a trend setter in the world. In some ways, a lot of other companies look at us as a parent company. And the follow through of the architectural design, I'll let Michael answer those questions, on that side.

Acorn Deck House Company

Yeah, so the history of the two is architect driven. If you look back to the founding of both Acorn and Deck House, they both started with architects and they both, I think, owe their legacy to Carl Coke specifically. And sometimes he's considered the grandfather of prefab. So he started Acorn and then also started a company called Tech Built in the 50s and a couple of architects Bill Burkes and Robert Burnell came out of Tech Built and started Deck House on their own. So they kind of all trace their roots back to Carl Coke. And I think that kind of made sense when they came back together because they share that legacy.

Prefab Review

Got it. And then so the companies eventually merged and they became Acorn Deck House. Now you're a subsidiary of another builder, is that right? Can you tell me a little about the company's history and how it's evolved?

Acorn Deck House Company

Now we're falling out of the Acorn Deck House name. And go ahead…

Prefab Review

Got it. Oh, like I thought that you were now associated with Trudeau. Is that not true?

Acorn Deck House Company

Trudeau Homes International is the parent company. They're actually the owner of Acorn Deck House Company. We still fall under the Acorn Deck House name. Trudeau Homes actually has other assets that they are also involved with. But they are the parent company of Acorn Deck House

Prefab Review

Got it. Okay and then you were talking before about how there was sort of the Acorn house and the Deck House. When you look at your website there's the Acorn House, the Deck House, and the Next House. Obviously, there are some aesthetic differences, is it primarily aesthetic the differences between these different lines or is there more to it than that?

Acorn Deck House Company

I could talk about them all. So because they do have that history, the building systems themselves are what also make them unique. And like you've mentioned too, architecturally the sort of the style and look and feel of them is unique.

Acorn Deck House Company

So the Acorn and Deck House they both come from a post and beam building system and frame and then from there the floor and wall panelization that we do is the same for both of them. Then the bigger difference comes in the roof construction. So the deckhouse uses Douglas Fir laminated beams.

Prefab Review

Yep.

Acorn Deck House Company

And Western Red Cedar structural decking that kind of gives us its name. The Acorn side uses more conventionally framed roofing. Although it is still prefabricated and probably has more of a lighter material, you know, it uses more Oak and lighter materials inside whereas Deck House is more Mahogany and Cedar. Acorn I'd say is more like a New England vernacular. Deck house is more contemporary, certainly mid-century. That's where it sort of gets its roots from and then the Next House is really a modern interpretation of either. But at this point too, we sort of use that as a starting point but we essentially do a lot of hybrids which is what we call them because it's all really coming from the same kit of parts, the same quality system. So you know, we just sort of use that as maybe a general filter at the beginning. But everything is custom made with that building system.

Prefab Review

Right. And I assume if you're the design manager you would work across those 3 lines or 3 specs. It's not like you have separate employees for each line, right?

Acorn Deck House Company

Exactly, right. And so that uniqueness just comes from client demand, what the site calls for, what the design calls for, the budget, and everything else.

Acorn Deck House Company

The same thing follows under the manufacturing plan. Everything is manufactured the same way for all products that we do here. And everyone is basically trained across the board to do any type of the product cutting or manufacturing of any of the material.

Prefab Review

And you're located in Massachusetts, correct? Do you own your own manufacturing and is that also in Massachusetts?

Acorn Deck House Company

So we have a manufacturing plant here. It's 85,000 square feet. And it's right behind the corporate office. Everything is manufactured here in Massachusetts and shipped out. If we do have homes that we're doing in other states that are further way - Colorado or Ontario, for example, are shipped directly from our vendors to save some of the freight for that package. But the majority of everything comes from here.

Prefab Review

Right. So when you think about manufacturing, you mean like the beams, the panelization, that would all be in factories but like windows or something would come from different vendors? Are those the kinds of examples you mean?

Acorn Deck House Company

Correct. We actually manufacture our own line here. That's been done in house for years. We also are a pear distributor and a Marvin Distributor. So both come from here. Both of those companies can go direct for the windows. And for the local areas that seems to work best for us with those brands and the options we give our customers.

Prefab Review

Got it, that makes sense. In terms of thinking through the advantages of your homes - let's talk about your homes specifically versus in general. What are the sort of specific things that, again, we constantly get the question of, "hey, I'm thinking about using a company. What company should I work with?" So let's say we're dealing with a client who's at least like proximally located to you, meaning somewhere in New England, though I know you serve a wider area. What are the specific advantages that separate you all from other, not even just prefab, but other companies in general that you might be able to use to build a home.

Acorn Deck House Company

I'll let Michael bring up the first part of it and then I'll take over the manufacturing side of it. If Michael could talk a little about the design side of it and what would be helpful for the customer.

Acorn Deck House Company

Yeah, certainly. So we have product directors here who will sort of vet and talk to the initial leads and clients that come in. They make sure that we're a good fit and so from there they're looking at the site, at what we offer, and then they'll hand that over to us in design to start to work with them. There, we are basically at the earlier parts we're similar to a custom architecture office. And so they're getting a really big value in that service. Early on, it's just that we're using sort of the system and the parts that we have in-house and then we also have standardized the options that they can choose from. That sort of helps the client through that process and then we prefabricate everything after that fact. So there's a big benefit in sort of doing it all in-house. It's almost a design-build but we still give the client that flexibility to change you know, the interior, the kitchen, the walls, the finishes and fixtures and sort of work with their builder on that side or perhaps bring in an interior designer. And so they get the whole custom build all the way through with a little bit more control, and also their own flexibility in that process. And then and the fact that we do have our own factory here is huge. So I'll let Paul talk about that part.

Acorn Deck House Company

Yeah, a little bit before we even get to the factory we are able to establish cost and pricing for the houses as they're going along to give the customer a more accurate price as we're designing it from beginning to end. My buying power here is direct. We're not buying from the local lumber yards, we're buying directly from the distributors. So I have greater price control in-house. We can buy inventory. We actually have inventory here but with the construction of houses we can control our waste, we can control our environment. By being an indoor manufacturing plant, the weather doesn't stop us. There aren't those delays and then after the house is even manufactured we can store it here for when those sites are available for the delivery of the package, which makes the whole process so much easier for a customer, for the contractor who's erecting the house. Those are some of the major things that can save the customer.

Prefab Review

Let me make sense of this. So in terms of where you stop, so you're obviously doing the shell of the house. In terms of interior design, in terms of right, the interior systems, etc, is that all being done by the local contractor? And to what extent are you sort of setting the plan there - purchasing stuff, et cetera, versus them?

Acorn Deck House Company

So you're correct about the shell and we do supply a weather tight shell. We also supply the interior trims, the stairs and the rails for the interior side but because we're diverse and we're throughout the whole country, we gave it to the local builder to basically help their customers shop along for interior design and finish. We found in the past it's just not worthwhile for us to be shipping sheet rock from Massachusetts to other states and the same with plumbing regulations and any of the electrician side of it. It's easy for our contractors because we have a great network of contractors that have built our houses in the past to take care of that directly with the customer.

Prefab Review

Do you end up handling local permitting or is that the local contractor?

Acorn Deck House Company

Michael, you want to answer that one?

Acorn Deck House Company

Yeah, the builder still pulls the permit but we set up everything that they need for that. We stamp and arrange the construction documents. We're getting them stamped by an engineer and that's ready for permitting.

Prefab Review

Right. You're creating the construction Docs etc. Got it, that makes sense. Okay, so I guess one of the questions that we get all the time and is always a little tricky but maybe you guys can sort of help out. The best you can, around the cost of projects, and I understand there's a gazillion caveats here, but we still try to go through an example because again, it's literally the most asked question we get probably like 5 or 10x. So let's assume, you guys are both in Massachusetts, right? Let's assume, you know one of the affluent suburbs around Massachusetts, Lexington or Concord or one of those. You have a nice flat piece of land. You're putting you know, a pretty modern home. Like one of your Next Houses, says that's around let's say 2,500 square feet or 3,000 square feet. Do you think one of you could maybe walk us through the cost of a project like that? And sort of also explain the cost side of the Acorn Deck House frame and you know, what the range of outcomes would be from a local building standpoint. And you know, the soft costs et cetera. And I understand there's ranges and this is imperfect. Today is March 28th and we don't know what's going on in the future. But just to give people an idea of the range.

Acorn Deck House Company

So we always look to our customers and give them a rough number like you're looking for. And in that rough number we usually tell them there's around $550 a square foot with the way the market is right now and the craziness that's happening in the world with products and delays. Where in between that and $750 a square foot, a lot goes into a house. A lot of material choices can affect that price but that's kind of the range that we're working with right now. But the nice thing about this company is that we do a sketch for a customer. We actually price the job out. So it's not done by square foot. At that point, it's done a little bit more accurately and as the customer goes forward and we go into arcs that price is actually nailed down pretty tightly. And so we have a better target of where we're going with that customer so that they actually understand the price of their house. We're not going with a square foot price. At that point we're actually going with actual cost.

Prefab Review

So moving on to the design side and I'm sorry I'm getting a little feedback from you all or maybe from my side, but moving on to the design side. Again, one of the things that I think is really cool on your you have this survey of wants. I think for people to get started on their house you have a bunch of really beautiful designs. Let's say I come to you all and I want to build something. Can you talk a little bit about how you hone in on sort of a design and vision with a client?

Acorn Deck House Company

Yeah, so it definitely comes from listening to the client and understanding their site, first and foremost. So we don't have stock plans. We don't have you know, sort of anything that's like cookie cutter and ready to go. We definitely use our portfolio as a way to show what we can do and there may be some similar themes. There may be some similar solutions to common problems, but it really is all unique and cited to what the client's looking for and what the site is calling for. And so we try and keep that sketch phase pretty loose and it isn't an iterative process. But like Paul said too, we can get some accurate estimates from that right at the beginning to make sure that we're going in the right direction and inform how we keep proceeding with the design process so that we don't get too far where you know, we're bidding it out and then realizing we have to value engineer. We kind of nip that in the bud pretty early. And it's a huge advantage to go through that process so we can focus on the design and make sure we're prioritizing everything that matters.

Prefab Review

Got it. And then do you end up signing design contracts with customers separate from a production agreement? Is that standard with you all?

Acorn Deck House Company

So the process kind of goes that we do sketches with the customer for the most part upfront. And I would say the majority of the time we have a sketch or deposit involved with it. After that sketch is approved we go to arcs and they make a deposit. At that point, but both of those two payments actually go to the future package. It reduces the price of the package when it comes to those prepayments. We do have a contract. And then it does go into release to manufacture. When it goes into the shop and the final payment when it goes out. The contract with the GC is separate.

Prefab Review

So essentially, you have two contracts. They have a contract with you and then a prime contract with the GC separately. Good. Okay, I guess another question I had that I thought was kind of unique about you all- we actually get requests all the time for people who are like "I love this company's work, can I use them to do an addition?" For a lot of the companies that we sort of cover, especially the modular ones, the answer is no. But in your case, I believe you do additions. Can you talk a little bit about that process?

Acorn Deck House Company

I'll let Michael take over the design side of it but I can tell you that you know, over the 75 years as companies had clients, those clients are so important to us and they always seem to come back to us like a little club. Everyone's doing business with us. We're on the third generation of owners of our houses. There's original owners from houses from you back in the 60's who are still in contact with us with additions being done. We have a parts and service department that does very well with catering all the older materials that are in houses and even some of the newer materials for upgrades. It's all located here. It's a great way to stay in touch with our customers and we have newsletters with them and they share their opinions and they share their thoughts in ways to keep their house up on their own through a Facebook club page. They're very valuable to us and we have a great relationship with them. I'll let Michael talk about the actual designing of the additions.

Acorn Deck House Company

Yeah, so that's one of the big benefits too. What we prefer is to do additions to an Acorn or Deck House that has been built in the past because we have archives of all of the plans going back and copies of blueprints and we have the detail manuals and all the books back to the 50s and 60s. And so we really understand all the little minutiae that goes into those houses and how they were built so that we can more seamlessly tie in the additions together correctly when it comes to yeah when it comes to doing additions

Prefab Review

That's super cool.

Acorn Deck House Company

For a non-Acorn Deck House that's where we'd prefer to be sort of self-contained in a way and then lightly touch an existing house. But we get enough requests for additions to existing Acorns and Deck Houses. It doesn't come up that often to do an addition for a non Acorn Deck House.

Prefab Review

I see. That's super cool because I imagine, I mean I've seen old plans, but right, like the stuff from 1950, these aren't cad files right? These are just like two-dimensional things that I guess pulling into whatever you're using to design somehow.

Acorn Deck House Company

Correct. Yeah, there are some pretty great drawings and also what was done historically is that you'd have a plan set that was pretty basic in its floor plan elevation and then a few details. But there was a huge detail manual that went along with most of these designs and that's what was constantly updated. So you're sort of using the standard set of details and assemblies as opposed to reinventing the wheel every time. And so we're still doing that in a way. It's just all, you know, digital and through bim like you mentioned.

Prefab Review

Cool. Do you think one of you can take this? One of the things that customers often like hearing is you all talk through one of the projects: and ideally one on the website so people can go and follow along, that you've had a lot of fun with or you think it's particularly cool. Do you think one or both of you can talk through one of the projects you've been involved in that you're really proud of?

Acorn Deck House Company

Sure, I guess one that comes to mind is a project we called Headland and that's up on the coast of Maine. And the client really helped to kind of push us to see things a little bit differently and really take our Deck House system in a different direction. And this allowed us to really get some expanses of glass for their view and push some of the insulation values and really encourage passive solar design - more so than we inherently do. And the results I think came out really nice. And he needed a lot of great work with the local builder to do some custom mahogany trim work that we provided, did shop drawings for, really customized it, and made it his own. And that kind of showed the flexibility of you know, here's the system of our parts and then here's how you as a client can really control how it suits your personality; how you can help fit it your own. And that one also got featured on Maine Home & Design as a cover article which, you know, it's always a proud moment when artwork is recognized like that, of course.

Prefab Review

That's awesome. It's been really great learning a bunch about your company. When we get experts like the two of you on our podcast what we try to do is a quickfire round where we get your expertise on questions we get every day. So if it's okay, I'll toss a few of these at you and you know, we try to get answers in one minute or less, but I'm not too big of a stickler on that. So if it's alright, I guess to start, one of the questions we get all the time is around how do you evaluate land in terms of feasibility? Particularly in your case, let's say for a kit of parts like yours, what are the things that a client should look at?

Acorn Deck House Company

Yeah, I mean our kit of parts doesn't limit that part of it. So if you know, if a site can build any house, it can definitely build one of our houses. But to that end, what we always say is, "what's the topography? What's the slope? Where are the views and how are those in relation to the solar orientation?" Because all that's going to tell you how you can best provide a passive solar design. "How are you going to use the spaces and how they're adjacent to each other to the proper views?" And, "how are you going to use that space?" And then you know, bigger picture things like what are the local utilities? How can you connect to it? What kind of site work would be involved in it? Is it a lot of ledge or is it pretty straightforward? Are there wetlands and then all the other sort of restrictions that could come up from local zoning? So there's a lot to consider but at the same time, I feel like if you have a feeling for the site, you kind of know why. You know why it works. We've seen every different type of site and everything always has and everyone always has something unique about it that we always try and feature.

Prefab Review

That's helpful. Okay, next question is can you talk a little bit about choosing a builder? Similarly, this is one of the questions we get all the time around, "okay, I've found this great company to work with, you know either modular or kit. Now, how do I choose a builder who I know will be good?"

Acorn Deck House Company

So the way that we work with builders is, over the years of doing business we've accumulated a large list of builders that we call "qualified builders." They've come in and they've worked with us and they understand our project. And we put the customers in a local area. We try to find those particular builders and we actually have them do a bid on the house to see if they come into the right range. We try to give a customer maybe 3 different builders in the location that've worked with us in the past. If the customer doesn't like the 3 builders or there's only 2 builders or even 1 located nearby, they can bring their own builder in. And actually we have them here for training. They can come up when the project is being manufactured in the shop. So they can actually see it being manufactured and they sit down with that design team, directors, and our panelizers, and they go through the entire house together. And then we also give them access to that whole group after the fact so that they can call up with any questions they may have as the job is going along.

Prefab Review

And then the last question. I believe you do some sort of custom millwork. A bunch of companies we work with actually do, are there really cool examples of millwork that you all have done for clients that come to mind?

Acorn Deck House Company

I personally do and let me hit the background on the custom milling. We do have our own milling machines here. So if there's any particular trim piece or anything they need in the house we can actually get the knives to actually do this on our two molders. We also have a five-axis C&C machine with a 14x5 foot cutting deck on it which we can basically work anything that we have in front of us on drawings and try to come up with something that's custom for someone's home. One in particular that I'm thinking of and Michael might have his own, we did an entryway where the customer wanted a glass entry door but also wanted to have a winding plant-looking woodwork in the glass area. We were able to perform that on the C&C machine and actually give the client what they wanted. So they actually went through the main door and then into the light of glass above the door. And the customer was very happy that we did that for them.

Prefab Review

That's awesome. It sounds beautiful. I guess the final question for each of you - we ask everyone, what are you most excited about for your company or for the industry in the near future?

Acorn Deck House Company

On my end, technology is what I'm excited about. It seems like things are moving fast in the technology world. I've been here 38 years. Now to see how much things have changed. Even in Michael's department, in design, the way that we present drawings to customers now, it's just an incredible thing to be able to work online with a customer and actually visually see what the interior of the house looks like as it's being drawn as a walkthrough. Some of those things are just incredible. I talked about the C&C machines and the accuracy and the speed that we've increased the actual production lines because of these new things. That's what excites me in the future and Michael might have his own opinion on that too.

Acorn Deck House Company

Yeah, I mean what I've noticed recently too is just how educated the clients have become and what kind of resources are available to them too. So they're getting a better understanding of what the process is like and what options are available. That helps us too. Our point of what we do gives them that quality and that predictability and we're starting to keep removing the stigma that's around prefab. So you know, websites like yours and this podcast are what are really helpful in that as well.

Prefab Review

Awesome! Thanks so much guys. It's been great chatting with you. It's been really cool to learn about the history and all the product offerings of Acorn Deck House. For more information about Paul and Michael and Acorn Deck House visit deckhouse.com and as always you can visit us at prefabreview.com. Thanks again.

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