Connect Homes

Completely unprofessional and this is a specific callout to Geri Baraconi - the HR Manager that flaked on my interview. That should've already been a redflag, but I decided to proceed anyways only to be met with the most unprofessional, rude, discourteous individual I've ever met. To upper management, vet your HR members and remember that they are there to represent the cultures and values. This company is a clear miss.
May 29th, 2023

Okay, let me say up-front that our experience building a Connect 2 was extraordinarily unique and certainly not all rainbows and butterflies; but honestly, whos ever gone through a construction process without aggravation and disappointment? Our project officially started in May 2015, just four years after Jared and Gordon founded Connect Homes. For reasons I wont cover in detail here, our decision to go with the Connect 2 was primarily driven by the Sonoma County CA Permit and Resource Department. They required us to have plans in review within two months or risk losing the use of a grandfathered septic system. Unfortunately, at the time, Connect only had a few designs that were fully detailed and ready to go to plan check on such short notice. Nevertheless, Gordon, Jared, and crew jumped through hoops for us to make numerous personalized modifications that they just wouldnt be able to do had their business been more mature (i.e., they couldnt possibly do this now). Thanks to their hard work, we met the countys deadline. The modules hit the Connect factory floor in late September 2015. After a cabinet supply chain issue and a couple of holiday delays, our house shipped out of San Bernardino on January 4, 2016. It was placed on our foundation the next day in Sonoma County (in the rain) on January 5, 2016. Unfortunately, this is when we began having more timing issues. The Connect stitching crew, the people who align the modules, make them water-tight, and complete the last bit of finish work, were based seven hours away in southern California. In addition, the winter of 2016 in Sonoma county was rainy (remember when rain was a thing in California?). So their team had to watch for a few forecasted dry days, drive seven hours on a Monday, and return seven hours home on a Thursday or Friday, then repeat as the weather permitted. This process dragged on way too long for our needs. We took over the build finish in March 2016 and, with the help of several great local contractors, received our occupancy permit in early May 2016, almost exactly a year since we engaged Connect (in retrospect, maybe our expectations were a tad high). We greatly enjoy our little get-away house with a few exceptions: the windows and doors are double glazed aluminum frames that are NOT thermally-broken (heat transfer issues and condensation on the inside, NEVER do that again). Other than that, our house is sturdy, well built, low maintenance, and lives much larger than its 640 sqft size. We affectionately call it the Love Shack and its perfect for what we need it to be.
Dec 31st, 2021

We bought a Connect home (6 modules + a deck) in 2014 to replace our 1940-era bungalow in Palo Alto. We loved the house and miss it to this day, having been required to relocate to Seattle in 2020. The house was beautifully designed, open, and well-constructed. We would definitely make the same choice again, given the opportunity.
Oct 6th, 2021

We've been owners of a Connect Home for almost 4 years now, and would love to chime in with our experience both with the design/build process, and with how our house has fared through time. Gordon, Jared, and his team were great to work with from day 1. Being the first 6T they were designing, they worked with us through every design detail, listening to our feedback and suggestions. Ultimately, we came up with a house design that was over and above expectations. What we especially loved about working with CH is that, though they came from luxury building roots, they're practical. They know when it's worth it to upgrade on materials (wood finishes, etc), and they know when it's much better to stick with Ikea (for example, closets and drawers). We are first time home owners, so at lot of this process was brand new to us, and they kept us involved and informed at every stage. The building process, including extensive site built work, took less than 8 months. By the time we had built our house, they had shortened the whole process to 4 months. Definitely wish our process had been as fast, but it was still ridiculously quick compared to traditional construction. The crew was professional and efficient, and it was mindblowing to get to visit your house at their factory! Almost 4 years later, and we have no regrets. We love our house, and how it's uniquely ours. Mostly everything continues to be of excellent quality (side note: if choosing exterior wood, make sure you are aware of how much yearly maintenance is!). My husband and I continue to wax nostalgic about the design process, and how all that scribbling on a sheet of paper turned into a living breathing dream home. So many friends of mine want new construction, but don't want to have to move out of their house for more than a year to get it. In our opinion, Connect Homes makes it easy - you can move out and move back into the house of your dreams in less than a year. Seems like a no brainer, we'd do it again in a heartbeat! Thanks CH.
Aug 8th, 2021

I will preface my updated review with the observation that there seems to be a million newly hatched prefabs coming to market on a weekly basis. I review them to provide a filter for the wisdom of my own decision making NINE years ago when my husband and I bought a Connect Homes 5.3. I dont see significant overall improvements on these new offerings. From my somewhat unique vantage point, it seems a bit like trying to reinvent the yellow sticky. Theres no point. I mean you can change the color or the size or call it something else. But why, other than the making of more money by new entrants to the pre-fab market? Connect Homes got it right first thing out of the box (pun intended) and theyve been steadily successful as a result. Note the number of homes they have completed. This conclusion seems pretty obvious to me and I am hoping that you, reader, do your homework and dont get distracted by the newest shiny pre-fab of the week. Good bones are good bones. You can, if you want, see my previous reviews that stretch back to 2014. You can also see it on the cover of Dwell Magazine (June 2014), in the Wall Street Journal and various books. Our CH 5.3 was novel because as there were few (none?) pre-fab vendors at the time there was a lot of interest in it. We were CHs first client in 2013 when we started by contracting to build a CH 5.3 on our property in Sonoma Valley. We bought the house for my 85-year old Mother who needed a one story, unobstructed floor plan and who we wanted to live proximately to us. She comfortably passed away 6 years ago and since then we have used the CH 5.3 as a guesthouse. Not a single person who has set foot in this house has ever said anything other than it is extraordinary and has an unusual fung shui about it. Or, if you prefer, wabby sabi. If these are unfamiliar terms to you, here is what it means to us. This house is designed and constructed using energetic forces with the intention of allowing individuals to live in harmony with their surrounding environment. Not woo-woo, just good design. We dont want to repeat what I have said in my other reviews. We stand by it all. It would be interesting to know if there are many existing reviews about competing pre-fab vendors that go back in time much beyond 1 or 2 years. Here we are at NINE YEARS. Now, the reason for this update. We are selling our large home that is just down the road from the CH 5.3 and downsizing. We dont want to leave the property we have lived on for 20 years so we devised a simple, effective way to add legs and arms to the trunk of the CH 5.3. We will move there. In terms of budget, time and efficiency, adding to the CH 5.3 with multiple other CH modules would have been much preferable. Unfortunately, the topography adjacent to the existing CH 5.3 makes that impossible. We dont have a choice but to add to the CH 5.3 with a measure of more expensive and less desirable ground-up construction. Even so, growing the CH 5.3 has been unbelievably easy to do because of the sensible layout and construction quality of the CH 5.3 trunk as it was originally built. The 1600 SF original house is a marvelously, well-thought out architectural gem.flexible, balanced, and intelligently changeable. We are very excited about this new project and the incredible expanding CH universe. End of story for now. In the meantime, we wish you the best of luck in your search, no matter where it leads you.
Aug 6th, 2021