A $9.3 million smart prefab home in the Bay Area is now on sale and is designed to attract local tech executives — see inside
Business Insider
Brittany Chang
Dec 19, 2021
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa6d12983f360019c85971.webp)
One of the latest homes to enter Silicon Valley’s real estate market — 993 Los Robles Ave in Palo Alto, California — may look like any other luxury home in the area.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa6bb935814a00195e81f7.webp)
After all, the unit has all of the classic opulent family home amenities — like smart home features and an elevator — all within a 15-minute drive from hotspots like Stanford University and Googleplex.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa70e235814a00195e83c1.webp)
But the house hides a major secret that sets it apart from all the other luxury homes in the neighborhood.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa715135814a00195e83ed.webp)
Unlike traditional homes that are built on-site from the ground up, the $9.3 million 993 Los Robles home is a prefabricated house, which means parts of the home were built off-site in a factory.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa701035814a00195e8360.webp)
Construction technology company Veev is the brains behind the 933 Los Robles home, which has now been on the market for a little over 100 days, according to Zillow.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa740c983f360019c85bb1.webp)
The company specializes in prefabricated homes — from multi-family houses to smaller backyard units — with an effort to “bring the housing industry into modern times,” according to its website.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa6fc735814a00195e8332.webp)
“Our modular construction takes the approach of a home as a product, and we designed a [panelized] system that can build anything,” Dafna Akiva, Veev’s co-founder and CRO, told Insider in an interview. “A home is the most important, expensive product anybody has.”
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa7fb835814a00195e8732.webp)
Veev’s system, which Akiva compares to a Lego kit, can then create a home of any size and design.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa7b4f983f360019c85db8.webp)
Like other prefab home makers, Akiva believes prefabrication can help alleviate the housing crisis: The homebuilding method is often considered more time, cost, waste, and labor efficient compared to traditional construction.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa7072983f360019c85a7c.webp)
“Traditional construction doesn’t need to be replaced, there just needs to be more ways of building,” she said. “Without innovation in this space, the housing crisis will not be solved.”
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa7008983f360019c85a3d.webp)
Veev’s full prefab construction system can create the walls of a home while integrating it with electricity, plumbing, lighting, and sensors, all inside of its factory. This system then allows the company to build a home four times faster than traditional construction, according to Akiva.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa7bd835814a00195e864f.webp)
The Los Robles house’s steel structure was fabricated off-site, and its automation system — which Akiva calls the “brain” of the “digital house” — arrived on-site as a “kit” that could be installed.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa702a983f360019c85a61.webp)
But because the home was built with an earlier version of Veev’s system, aspects like the walls and paint were still completed on-site via traditional construction methods, Akiva noted.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa70c8983f360019c85aa5.webp)
The home was completed about three months ago, but it’ll be one of the company’s last high-end projects.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa73eb983f360019c85ba8.webp)
Moving forward, the team wants to shift its focus towards growing the company and alleviating the housing crisis, “and this you can’t do with one-off $10 million homes,” Akiva said.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa7109983f360019c85ac8.webp)
Given the price range, Akiva says Veev’s buyers are often executives and people in their 30s to 50s working in the tech industry, often with a family. But no matter the age, Veev’s buyers are almost all looking for a modern home with integrated technology, Akiva said.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa7122983f360019c85ad1.webp)
Let’s take a look inside 993 Los Robles, which has the prime price tag and location to attract a Silicon Valley executive.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa70d8983f360019c85ab1.webp)
The home has five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and a two-car garage, amounting to a little over 5,380 square feet.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa7016983f360019c85a4c.webp)
The kitchen is right off the garage and leads into the dining and living room.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa70f6983f360019c85abe.webp)
This floor also has access to the elevator, a lightwell, a half bathroom…
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa7128983f360019c85ada.webp)
…three bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, and the primary bedroom with a walk-in closet and bathroom.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa6fb735814a00195e832a.webp)
The lower floor then has the final bedroom with a bathroom, family room, media room…
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa7131983f360019c85ade.webp)
…bathroom, gym, laundry room, and mechanical room.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa706435814a00195e8385.webp)
Given its tech-forward location, it should be no surprise that the house is also “digital.”
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa701f35814a00195e836a.webp)
The home doesn’t have any light switches. Instead, its amenities — like the lights and temperature — can be controlled through a phone or by using the touch panels that have been flushed into the house’s walls.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa7fea983f360019c85f31.webp)
And there may be no backyard pool, but the home has been permitted for one in case its future owners want their own swimming hole: “This is the kind of thinking that is a product thinking,” Akiva said.
![](https://www.veev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/61aa7b42983f360019c85da7.webp)