Frequently asked questions
Many questions are answered already in our Ordering Process page and Financing FAQ page. This page will be periodically updated with FAQ's that are as important and are asked more frequently.
Are the houses modular or prefab, how do I know that a house like this will be permitted in my area and what about financing?
The good news is - our houses are built using conventional building codes so they are considered to be regular houses, our houses are not modular, not prefab or mobile houses by building standards. This gives much more flexibility for construction and our houses can be built wherever a conventional house can be built. Being considered a conventional, permanent house opens up all possibilities for conventional financing too, just like any other residential house.
Are there any upfront fees or soft costs or we just pay the contractor to build a house?
Yes there are initial out of pocket costs. The initial soft costs vary by location but a reasonable average soft cost expectation is around 8-10% from the construction budget (expected construction price per square feet) . This includes design, structural and civil engineering, among other things. These will be out of pocket costs before building permits can be received in addition to city and local permit fees. If you are financing - these soft costs have to be paid out of pocket upfront and in most cases when the construction is done you can recoup these costs when you refinance the project to a conventional mortgage.
Why do I have to pay for the plans. My local contractor has plans for just a few hundred dollars and I see your plans are ready:
Katana House is a licensed design product. Our less-is-more design system has gone through hundreds of prototypes before the plans you see today were finalized. It is a custom house built using pre-designed programs that have been years in making. We are offering a fully thought-out design program that is made to fit our fast construction methods.
What about site planning and engineering:
As local conditions vary widely from site to site structural engineering of our houses is done individually for each project for all our global house designs. Your project will also need a local civil engineer and site planner to ensure that site planning, utility routing, capacity and design, as well as foundation engineering are done in compliance with local conditions and permitting requirements of your site as for any conventional permanent house. Depending on location your project might need more or less of various engineering services.
Do you come to my land to see if you can build there.
Our houses are installed in many parts of the country and internationally. We start the process with reviewing the documentation you provide us. Our construction supervisors or architects can visit your site before for a fee as well as if we have capacity you can hire our team to do the site due diligence, documentation review and city and A site visit usually takes place after the design order is placed. Site visit fees start from 500$ per day plus travel expenses. We can visit your site also before, subject to availability and scheduling.
Do I need local permits & have to pay local fees:
You will need to process a site specific land use and construction permits for the development of your project. While our designs and technology will be permitted at the state level, local regulations will usually require additional permitting approvals for individual projects. Some of the possible site fees are impact fees, utility fees, different local permit fees and services by land surveyors and other local experts.
Do you also build foundation and utilities:
As we will receive from you the site details including site elevation requirements, set-backs, zoning requirements and soil test report - our team will provide you with foundation solution and engineering details for a local General Contractor to build and have it ready before the delivery of the house kit. We do provide general contractor recommendations if available and in select areas our contractors will provide the full service of works. In other areas we will recommend a local contractor that meets our standards.
Utilities:
We will provide you with the utility requirements for your house and it will be your responsibility to ensure that those utilities are delivered to the designated locations prior to delivery and installation. In many cases the selected local general contractor will take care of that.
Delivery & Installation:
We will arrange delivery and installation of your house panel kits or modules, These expenses can be included in the final estimate but will be quoted separately. While most locations are, not all are accessible for delivery and often it is the last mile that is the most critical. To be completely sure please provide us with as much details as possible so our delivery team can verify in advance the best delivery method.
MGO Next-Gen SIP and and LVL timber panel systems in most cases are delivered in containers and can be shipped world-wide for local installation. Local deliveries in Europe and USA take place using a flatbed truck or a semi-truck delivery method.
How are houses installed:
For our US Manufactured MGO Next-Gen SIP houses installation services are offered in variety of stages. In some areas our installers can do a complete turn-key installation - in other - watertight shell installation only for your local contractor to take over. Installation training for your local crew is available at the factory.
LVL timber panel system installation services are also offered in select regions. Please inquire. For other regions we are providing extensive installation knowledge and training before installation and site supervision during the installation process.
In both cases factory certified construction site supervision is offered as an add-on service for more distant installations and is often mandatory to keep the factory warranty if installation is not done by our factory team.
What is included in your kit
Our houses usually come with the panel kit that includes, exterior and interior walls, roof systems, all anchors and brackets, beams, etc. Our window systems include everything necessary for window installation. Interior and exterior finishes are specified case-by-case, but typically include cabinetry, flooring, doors, etc.
How long does the process take to build your house:
In general our process can be 2 times faster than building a traditional house in your area. Building process is divided in 4 parts: 1. Planning and design phase, 2. Permitting phase, 3. Gneral construction phase. 4. Finishes and decor. Part 1 takes anywhere from 1 to 2 months. Part 2 can be from 2 weeks to 3 months. Part 3: 3-4 months. Part 4: 2 - 6 months.
Where can I see a demo house:
Currently all demo houses in US are sold and we have to honor the privacy of our homeowners.
Instead we do provide possibility to see the factory process and visit newly installed houses as they are built, if available.. We are currently working on next demo houses and looking for passionate brand ambassadors that would be ready to promote the new Katana design philosophy and our Modern Lifestyle Concept.
Instead of asking "Where can we see 2-3 of your houses and can we ask questions to at least 4 previous clients" we invite you to take the advantage of introductory prices in 2022 and be one of the proud first owners of our new design program developed by industry professionals with 20-40 years of construction experience.
How much is build it myself license?
Typically fee is 2x the initial licensing fee + required design supervision services. See the Ordering process page for a design fee references.
If I order several buildings, do I have to pay the licensing fees for each building?
Katana House design license is for building one copy of a purchased design. Each subsequent house is considered as a separate order. Discounts apply for package deals purchased at the same transaction of more than 5 units at a time on one invoice.
Can I finish a house myself and buy only the panel kit:
If you choose to purchase a build-yourself license and our panel and material kit or decided to go with our traditional house shell program for certain models. For certain models we can offer to install the shell, windows and exterior doors and roof only. In this case the main focus is to make the building watertight and make sure of the continuity of the process - that the works are not interrupted after handing over the installed house to you. You will need to assign a certified general contractor that will do the rest of the works and we need to make sure the contractor understands our panel systems and becomes competent enough to take over the works from there. We have the right to refuse a contractor in case a contractor would not match our criteria. Our factory warranty is valid if a factory certified inspector has provided you with a written certification and has done the site visit to verify that the contractor has followed throughout our building process.
Are the houses modular or prefab, how do I know that a house like this will be permitted in my area and what about financing?
The good news is - our houses are built using conventional building codes so they are considered to be regular houses, our houses are not modular, not prefab or mobile houses by building standards. This gives much more flexibility for construction and our houses can be built wherever a conventional house can be built. Being considered a conventional, permanent house opens up all possibilities for conventional financing too, just like any other residential house.
Are there any upfront fees or soft costs or we just pay the contractor to build a house?
Yes there are initial out of pocket costs. The initial soft costs vary by location but a reasonable average soft cost expectation is around 8-10% from the construction budget (expected construction price per square feet) . This includes design, structural and civil engineering, among other things. These will be out of pocket costs before building permits can be received in addition to city and local permit fees. If you are financing - these soft costs have to be paid out of pocket upfront and in most cases when the construction is done you can recoup these costs when you refinance the project to a conventional mortgage.
Why do I have to pay for the plans. My local contractor has plans for just a few hundred dollars and I see your plans are ready:
Katana House is a licensed design product. Our less-is-more design system has gone through hundreds of prototypes before the plans you see today were finalized. It is a custom house built using pre-designed programs that have been years in making. We are offering a fully thought-out design program that is made to fit our fast construction methods.
What about site planning and engineering:
As local conditions vary widely from site to site structural engineering of our houses is done individually for each project for all our global house designs. Your project will also need a local civil engineer and site planner to ensure that site planning, utility routing, capacity and design, as well as foundation engineering are done in compliance with local conditions and permitting requirements of your site as for any conventional permanent house. Depending on location your project might need more or less of various engineering services.
Do you come to my land to see if you can build there.
Our houses are installed in many parts of the country and internationally. We start the process with reviewing the documentation you provide us. Our construction supervisors or architects can visit your site before for a fee as well as if we have capacity you can hire our team to do the site due diligence, documentation review and city and A site visit usually takes place after the design order is placed. Site visit fees start from 500$ per day plus travel expenses. We can visit your site also before, subject to availability and scheduling.
Do I need local permits & have to pay local fees:
You will need to process a site specific land use and construction permits for the development of your project. While our designs and technology will be permitted at the state level, local regulations will usually require additional permitting approvals for individual projects. Some of the possible site fees are impact fees, utility fees, different local permit fees and services by land surveyors and other local experts.
Do you also build foundation and utilities:
As we will receive from you the site details including site elevation requirements, set-backs, zoning requirements and soil test report - our team will provide you with foundation solution and engineering details for a local General Contractor to build and have it ready before the delivery of the house kit. We do provide general contractor recommendations if available and in select areas our contractors will provide the full service of works. In other areas we will recommend a local contractor that meets our standards.
Utilities:
We will provide you with the utility requirements for your house and it will be your responsibility to ensure that those utilities are delivered to the designated locations prior to delivery and installation. In many cases the selected local general contractor will take care of that.
Delivery & Installation:
We will arrange delivery and installation of your house panel kits or modules, These expenses can be included in the final estimate but will be quoted separately. While most locations are, not all are accessible for delivery and often it is the last mile that is the most critical. To be completely sure please provide us with as much details as possible so our delivery team can verify in advance the best delivery method.
MGO Next-Gen SIP and and LVL timber panel systems in most cases are delivered in containers and can be shipped world-wide for local installation. Local deliveries in Europe and USA take place using a flatbed truck or a semi-truck delivery method.
How are houses installed:
For our US Manufactured MGO Next-Gen SIP houses installation services are offered in variety of stages. In some areas our installers can do a complete turn-key installation - in other - watertight shell installation only for your local contractor to take over. Installation training for your local crew is available at the factory.
LVL timber panel system installation services are also offered in select regions. Please inquire. For other regions we are providing extensive installation knowledge and training before installation and site supervision during the installation process.
In both cases factory certified construction site supervision is offered as an add-on service for more distant installations and is often mandatory to keep the factory warranty if installation is not done by our factory team.
What is included in your kit
Our houses usually come with the panel kit that includes, exterior and interior walls, roof systems, all anchors and brackets, beams, etc. Our window systems include everything necessary for window installation. Interior and exterior finishes are specified case-by-case, but typically include cabinetry, flooring, doors, etc.
How long does the process take to build your house:
In general our process can be 2 times faster than building a traditional house in your area. Building process is divided in 4 parts: 1. Planning and design phase, 2. Permitting phase, 3. Gneral construction phase. 4. Finishes and decor. Part 1 takes anywhere from 1 to 2 months. Part 2 can be from 2 weeks to 3 months. Part 3: 3-4 months. Part 4: 2 - 6 months.
Where can I see a demo house:
Currently all demo houses in US are sold and we have to honor the privacy of our homeowners.
Instead we do provide possibility to see the factory process and visit newly installed houses as they are built, if available.. We are currently working on next demo houses and looking for passionate brand ambassadors that would be ready to promote the new Katana design philosophy and our Modern Lifestyle Concept.
Instead of asking "Where can we see 2-3 of your houses and can we ask questions to at least 4 previous clients" we invite you to take the advantage of introductory prices in 2022 and be one of the proud first owners of our new design program developed by industry professionals with 20-40 years of construction experience.
How much is build it myself license?
Typically fee is 2x the initial licensing fee + required design supervision services. See the Ordering process page for a design fee references.
If I order several buildings, do I have to pay the licensing fees for each building?
Katana House design license is for building one copy of a purchased design. Each subsequent house is considered as a separate order. Discounts apply for package deals purchased at the same transaction of more than 5 units at a time on one invoice.
Can I finish a house myself and buy only the panel kit:
If you choose to purchase a build-yourself license and our panel and material kit or decided to go with our traditional house shell program for certain models. For certain models we can offer to install the shell, windows and exterior doors and roof only. In this case the main focus is to make the building watertight and make sure of the continuity of the process - that the works are not interrupted after handing over the installed house to you. You will need to assign a certified general contractor that will do the rest of the works and we need to make sure the contractor understands our panel systems and becomes competent enough to take over the works from there. We have the right to refuse a contractor in case a contractor would not match our criteria. Our factory warranty is valid if a factory certified inspector has provided you with a written certification and has done the site visit to verify that the contractor has followed throughout our building process.
While here you might also want to check out our financing FAQ and Ordering process pages.