Zero Energy Homes, a developer of affordable, “net zero” homes using panelization and modular techniques, last week set its first home in southern Maine and its fourth overall.
The company is also moving closer to its larger goal: to build a modular manufacturing facility for year-round construction of its homes.
Quick assembly
The units for the home, at 11 Shyanne’s Way in Gorham, were assembled within a few hours.
“Maine desperately needs more housing and modular manufacturing offers a way to ease the shortage,” said Caroline Pryor, Zero Energy Homes’ president. “We want to put safe, comfortable, all-electric homes made with sustainable forest products within reach of Mainers who have been priced out of the housing market.”
A mission-driven, worker-owned coop located in the Hancock County town of Mount Desert, Zero Energy Homes focuses on modular and panelized manufacturing paired with “net zero energy” principles, with a goal to provide competitively priced homes that run on clean energy and are built using at least 80% Maine and regional building materials.
Energy-efficient features include wood-fiber insulation, 10-inch-thick walls, a well-insulated roof, heat pumps, an energy recovery ventilation system, triple-glazed windows, energy-efficient appliances and lighting and a solar array.
A building that operates at net zero energy generates as much power as it uses.
The company completed its first constructions last year: a panelized build in Searsport and a modular build in Trenton, along with an insulated shell for a home on the Blue Hill peninsula.
Modular and panelized construction is trending up for residential and commercial builds, providing greater certainty around construction timelines and replicable design details and efficiencies and making it easier to train employees and retain older workers.
Panelized build
The Gorham homebuyer, Camille Seo, works at Woodfords Family Services, supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
“My vision has always been to build locally to support my community with a focus on sustainability,” said Seo. But “near-net-zero homes built sustainably often come with a large price tag, which is unfortunately out of my reach as a single-income household working in the nonprofit world.”
Zero Energy partnered with Maker Construction, a firm in Hebron that specializes in modular and panelized home construction and earthwork, to build the wall, floor and roof sections in panels.
Maker Construction and Zero Energy Homes did the installation.
The panels have some components installed, including insulation, an air barrier and sheathing.
Zero Energy Homes will hire local contractors to install interior systems, including electrical, plumbing, floors and appliances, and to do the finish work, Mattie John Bamman, the company’s communications coordinator, told Mainebiz.
The company offers one- to four-bedroom homes with solar panels to generate power, a tight thermal envelope and efficient mechanical systems, including heat pumps.
Three pricing tiers depend on income. Customers earning less than 100% of the area median income can see “significant discounting,” while customers from 100% to 160% AMI benefit from modest discounting. Customers at 160% of AMI pay the standard price and contribute 2% on top of their home price into a homebuyer assistance fund.
“So it is complex,” said Bamman. “But if we imagine that people on the middle path are the average and they choose our Osprey model with all standard finishes and they make no design changes, that home is priced out at $339,000, including a $25,000 contingency that is returned if unused.”
The price includes the solar panel system but not the foundation, land, or site work.
“Our target is to get this option, minus contingency, under $300,000 and we are very close,” Bamman said. “All that said, most of the possible home configurations run from that price to $425,000 for the larger home option, with a finished second floor that can accommodate five bedrooms and some upgrades on finishes.”
Manufacturing facility
The company is moving closer to its larger goal: to build a modular manufacturing facility for year-round construction of its homes. To that end, it leased an 18,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at 518 Gardiner Road in Wiscasset in January and has an application underway for a modular home manufacturing license.
The building was previously operated since 2023 by Knickerbocker Group, a design-build firm with offices in Boothbay and Portland, to produce modular units for its own home designs, Bamman said.
Zero Energy Homes plans to build homes off-site using the panelization process while launching modular manufacturing later in 2026.
Once it is up to capacity, the company expects to employ 40 to 50 workers and produce 50 to 60 homes per year.
“Modular manufacturing offers a variety of efficiencies, from working in a controlled environment to fast-tracking finish work usually completed after the home is built on-site,” said Steven Eaton, the company’s vice president of operations.
Eaton is overseeing the facility’s build-out.
“The building is well-suited to our needs because it was already in use for modular housing production,” said Bamman. “It doesn’t need a lot of immediate renovation and we have been able to purchase enough equipment to start production.”
The build-out includes cleaning out the facility, taking down storage racks, upgrading the electrical system, purchasing equipment and tools, hiring workers and continuing planning for modular production.
“We are also working with customers to build out home production through 2026 and 2027,” Bamman said.
The investment will be $225,000 to $250,000.
“Standing up the manufacturing facility is being financed through a combination of equity investments and loans,” said Bamman. “It’s a big lift and capital-intensive upfront. Zero Energy Homes welcomes hearing from potential investors who are interested in providing five- to 10-year, patient capital and who are committed to the mission of year-round housing, investments in clean energy and a Maine-based supply chain.”
