Samara expands from prefab ADUs to small starter homes

Samara, a prefabricated homebuilder that began by constructing accessory dwelling units (ADUs) for the California market, is now expanding into building small, single-family starter homes. The company unveiled Locale by Samara, a new line of homes designed to address the state's housing affordability crisis.

These new homes range from 1,000 to 1,750 square feet, significantly smaller than the average U.S. single-family home of nearly 2,200 square feet. Samara will utilize the same modular, factory-based construction process used for its ADUs, aiming to deliver homes that are sized and priced more like traditional starter homes.

"It's a missing form factor in California," said CEO Mike McNamara. "The price points would be significantly lower on the back of the square footage. And we think it's the right product, too, because more people want lower square footage, they want smaller yards, they want to be closer to the cities."

Samara, originally an internal division of Airbnb before spinning out in 2022, has already built over 250 ADUs. The new initiative focuses on clustering smaller homes on lots previously zoned exclusively for single-family residences, a move enabled by recent California legislation. Samara has approximately 10 such cluster projects in development, leveraging its factory production expertise to speed up and reduce the cost of building detached homes.

The first Samara starter home projects are nearing completion in Healdsburg, California. The company emphasizes that the prefab modular approach allows for construction that is up to three times faster than traditional methods once the foundation is in place. This speed, combined with smaller footprints, is expected to result in more approachable price points compared to typical new construction in the targeted markets.