By spring of last year, manufactured-home specialist Clayton Homes had formally rolled out its i-House line of modular homes, whose basic $75,000 model features one bedroom and one bath in 723 sq. ft.

There’s also a 1,023-sq.-ft. two-bedroom version that starts at about $94,000, and buyers looking for yet more space can prep their building site for a Flex Room – a detached 268-sq.-ft. module with a full bath and a deck but no bedroom or kitchen, for about $30,000.

With its trailer-like shape, concrete-fiber and metal siding, and metal butterfly roof, the i-House iresembles many of the simple, easily transported homes that have competed in the Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C. The i-House roof and floor are insulated to R-30 and the exterior walls to R-21. (We’re awaiting word from the manufacturer for details about airtightness.)

A debut in Georgia

We were reminded of Clayton’s i-House ambitions by a recent Jetson Green post highlighting an open-house event at Green Bridge Farm, an organic farm that includes a 9-lot housing community on 25 acres in Guyton, Georgia, not far from Savannah. The centerpiece of the open house is an i-House, designed to operate at net zero energy, and an adjacent Flex Room. It is one of the first residences built in the development, where lots of 1.2 to 1.6 acres sell for between $50,000 and $55,000 apiece.

Except for Denver, Colorado, the i-House hasn’t made it to many climates in the U.S. where the snow load and cold in winter can be severe. And as noted in a blog post on its website, i-House doesn’t meet code in certain states, including Michigan, although it is available in some parts of Canada.

According to the website, i-Houses are currently, or will soon be, installed in 10 locations in the U.S.: Fredericksburg, Virginia; Raleigh, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Knoxville, Tennessee; Denver, Colorado; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Tucson, Arizona; Sacramento, California; and Bend, Oregon.