A Surrey company hopes to make environmentally friendly modular homes a hit across the province and in the western U.S.

Britco recently displayed its solar-powered Glidehouse, which can generate five kilowatts of electricity, at a tradeshow in the San Francisco area.

“It was amazing,” said Tom Faliszewski, Britco’s housing manager. “There were probably about 20,000 people who went through that home.”

Britco built the 1,500-sq.-ft. Glidehouse for its Sausalito, Calif.,-based designer Michelle Kaufmann and her husband Kevin Cullen, who grew frustrated with the high price of housing in the San Francisco area. Britco teamed up with Construction Resource Group of Redmond, Wash., which handles sales and installation.

According to Realty Times, real estate developers in Seattle and San Diego are looking at tracts of land on which to place Glidehouses.

Photos courtesy Britco; Glidehouse by mkarchitecture
A ‘ranch house reborn,’ as a U.S. magazine called it, sits above in a desert-like setting. Below left, sunlight floods into a living area through a wall of windows. Below right, Glidehouse segments leave the Britco factory at Agassiz, B.C., on flatbed trucks.

Kaufmann coined the name Glidehouse from the sliding modules, which help hide rooms behind walls.

Faliszewski said Britco, which has been constructing pre-fabricated buildings for 27 years, has already received more orders for the Glidehouse, which is built in a plant in Agassiz, B.C., and then shipped in various pieces by trailer to the concrete-and-wood foundation on which it will sit.

“Details – like the aluminum-alloy siding and the exterior woodscreens that slide on barn-door tracks – add a Japanese quality,” said an article in U.S.-based Sunset magazine. “It’s a ranch house reborn for the eco-sensitive 21st century.”



Britco ships the Glidehouse 90-per-cent complete home kit on a flatbed truck approximately six months after ordering.

It includes a two-year warranty on plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems, plus 10 years on structural and exterior finishes.

Financing of the homes is done through conventional mortgages, said Faliszewski.



But it may be a while before the Glidehouse is widely accepted, said Faliszewski, because costs are quite high. Kaufmann’s home was built at a cost of $140 US per square foot, or about $210,000 – plus transportation and land costs. Such options as a deck, garage, louvered window coverings, major kitchen appliances and solar or other energy systems are extra.

The Glidehouse features aluminum corrugated exterior siding, bamboo floor coverings and countertops constructed of fly ash and paper.

“It looks like soapstone – literally . . . It’s a healthy environment,” said Faliszewski.

The Glidehouse is built with sustainable materials, minimizes mould and allows the home to recycle energy for both heating and cooling. Different heating options are available.