OFFERING AFFORDABLE HOUSING WITH GREAT DESIGN By Erin Kelly-Allshouse
The homebuilding industry is evolving fast with changes in technology, construction and how homes are built. Joy Line Homes --a new construction company that designs and builds contemporary homes --has rethought the whole process of how homes are designed, built and bought these days. From design to manufacture to installation, they do it all. They pride themselves on no delays, no headaches and no sticker shock. Their mission is to create affordable housing with great design for all, using higher quality building materials and creating more modern designs. Joy Line Homes designs and builds modern “prefabricated” homes, built in sections in an off-site facility in Oregon, then shipped to the homebuyers’ site and assembled. Joy Line Homes are considered the same as homes that are built on site but their homes are built under Federal HUD regulation, and codes supersede county code requirements making the process more expedient. Since selling their first model home last October and launching out of Watsonville in January, things have exploded quickly and business is booming according to Ben West, the company founder and lead designer of Joy Line Homes. “There’s no one doing what we’re doing and we are super excited,” said West, the 39-year old Santa Cruz resident. “Where the big shift has come is how homes can be built in factories based on a custom order.” 32
Spring-Summer 2020
Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, West came to Santa Cruz County in October of 2018 with intention after researching what he wanted to do behind closed doors, for two years. With 20 years in the building profession under his belt, and a desire to go beyond and give back to his community, he found there was a high demand with the housing crisis --Santa Cruz being one of the worst, and it was a crisis he wanted to combat, he said. West didn’t waste time. Joy Line Homes was born out of a need for housing when he was looking to buy a house in Santa Cruz, but couldn’t find an affordable one or a design he liked. So he created a home line with customizable options and unique designs. “Necessity is the mother of invention,” West said. They designed, built, and then hosted an open house with their first “prefab” home last October in Aptos Pines Mobile Home Park. The 1,640 square foot, three bedroom, two bath home sold for $639,000 even though the home cost only $180,000 to build, West said. “It was built as a model for buyers to look at for ideas then it sold for a higher price because the land ended up costing so much along with development and construction costs,” West said. Known as the Aptos Pines Homeowners Association, Aptos Pines has 170 mobile/modular homes and is a deeded lot, and the homebuyers own the land, according to West. “The Pines” model home in Aptos was designed and built by Continued on page 34.
