In Mallorytown, Ontario, is a new home that looks nothing like its neighbors. In fact, the modular cabin, a departure from the area’s stick-built gable residences with its boxy, lofted plan and shed-style roof, doesn’t look like many prefabs of its same size. But it does seem right at home in the woods, which is where Jackson Wyatt wants to build more of them.

“Because they are self-sustaining and don’t need to rely on city-based infrastructure, they can thrive in remote areas,” says the founder and CEO of Canadian startup CABN.

The SON.DER show cabin in Mallorytown, where Wyatt is from, features a solar array he says makes the cabin net-positive. Smart-home tech tethered to an HVAC system monitors and reduces energy consumption, passing on savings to a potential owner in the form of lower operating costs.

Now, he wants to share those savings with buyers in Canada and the U.S. Wyatt plans to offer a 540-square-foot model, the MOR.II, at around $219,000 USD and other larger designs like the SON.DER with an end goal of offsetting housing shortages. His thinking goes that with the off-grid solar arrays, people wouldn’t be tethered to expensive real estate markets, and could “locate to those lesser known and less populated destinations,” alleviating “the intense overpopulation in dense urban centers,” he says.

But those in need of housing they can afford might not be the same set that can make a lifestyle change to remote regions beyond the reaches of city grids. At the moment, interest seems to be coming from elsewhere.

Michael and Joanna, for example, who live in Cambridge, U.K., wanted a second home closer to loved ones in Sullivan, Maine. Their primary home was retrofitted with solar panels, so they sought out similar technology with their U.S. residence. “We wanted something sustainable,” Joanna says. “However, it needed to feel like a Maine lake house in this instance.” They purchased a larger unit than this show cabin, an 1,850-square-foot, four-bed, three-bath unit called GES.TALT that is packaged with the same off-grid tech and wrap-around deck.

Meanwhile, Jorge Dyszel is interested developing a property in upstate New York. The resort company CEO says he has purchased 12 units—all 1,120-square-foot, three-bed, two bath units called HYG.GE—that are slated as short-term vacation rentals. “We are very excited—it’s our first experience with sustainable homes,” he explains in anticipation of construction.

More prefab companies including Koto and Moliving are similarly catering to hoteliers like Dyszel, offering turnkey builds that would allow resort builders to set up shop in a snap.

Even though CABN only only has the one built example in Mallorytown, at present, Wyatt isn’t putting parameters on his company’s potential. “I imagine these for off-grid community clusters that are supported by government housing strategies, those interested in more sustainable long and short-term rental options, and even those in hospitality seeking to offer guests eco-resort style cottages,” he says.

(Editor’s note: a previous version of this article inaccurately stated the price of the cabin pictured as $160,000.)

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