Like this one:

https://ecohousemart.com/house/solid-wood-house-clt-125-adu-two-one-bed-apartments/

I will be able to retire in 4 years.  I could sell this place now, make a mint, pack the money away, and live in an apartment for 4 years.  I have finished 2 basements (studded out, electrical ,low voltage, Mexicans from down the street to drywall.  I painted, installed cabinets, tile, backsplash.  Seems like I could subcontract out the foundation/basement, roof, and stock up on Lowes gift cards at 10% off. (Then, use my vets discount to bang another 10% savings). Use those cards to buy cabinets, tile, flooring, paint, etc.

I am trying to figure out if it is more expensive in the long run.  I have no idea what it costs to stick build the frame. (Which is all the kit comes with.)

There is very little YouTube University on this company, but I like the design, and it is not a California or Utah company.  I have my CDL, so I could transport it for the cost of fuel. (I know, I know, diesel is expensive.)

I like those kit houses, I have seen some go up around here in the past but alot of years ago.
I question the wisdom of building a 2 story house for retirement.
Your gonna get older and those stairs don't go away.
I also would think you could find a company that makes them without hauling the stuff from NY to TX. NY is almost as liberal stupid as CA.
I like the timber frame houses that company offers.
You might want to make sure their prints are TX stamped (approved) before proceeding.
I used to sell modular homes, I like the high end models of those as well.

Personally I think those houses look awful. But that’s my tastes….yours may be different.

Most kit houses are garbage. Bare minimum on everything. Some are good….most are not.

Cheapest way to build a house is to build square or rectangular shapes. Simple roof lines. Concrete slab.

TX isn’t known for basements so research that.

If I was building a smaller retirement home it would be a slab, no cell core PVC pipe anywhere in the build (solid PVC only) metal barn type siding, over insulated, good overhangs, all doors covered with some sort of roof or awning, generator transfer switches (240v and essential circuits on a 120v circuit) etc.

Get the land before you sell your current place. Build a shop/garage and you can store your excess stuff inside it plus purchase materials whenever you find sales and store inside.

I think your idea isn’t a bad one at all. I doubt this crazy housing market is going to last. When the housing market drops, material prices should drop too.

This right here.  You don't want stairs/different levels in a retirement house.  Also, a flat roof seems like a terrible design, just waiting to fail or requiring constant upkeep.

A kit house has the potential for better quality control than stick built.

If most people saw a stick built get framed, I mean stand there and watched, you would be in awe of the shit being built. You think the lumber at HD/Lowes looks bad? LOL

In stick built if you are running out of nails you use fewer so you can get through the day without making a run.

Before you pour a foundation you don’t clean the beer cans or wood scraps out, you pour over them.

Before drywall you sweep the coke cans and churches chicken bags under the stairs and then drywall it in.

People talk shit about prefab but don’t realize that unless someone is watching everyone every day the quality of your builds next year is dependent upon the skill and effort of the people running across the border this year.

Without good drywall and trim guys covering up shitty work… from foundations to framing, plumbing, and electrical, the new homes would triple in price because people would pay for quality builds. Now all that shit work gets covered up.  

Back in the day, you could order a kit house from Sears, mail order.  Some of them are still standing.

Eta-
Apparently it was a 30 year product run.  So more than just a few of them are still around.  https://www.oldhouseonline.com/house-tours/story-sears-houses/

Nothing for the op, but @giantpune this was very interesting. I had no idea that was a thing.

My bad, all.  The home would be built in Northern PA.  I have my CDL, so I can get the pieces parts to PA from Jersey pretty easily.

I will be "retiring" in the Great Bend/ Brackney area of Pennsylvania.  It will put me closer to my daughter from 10 - 18.  When she graduates HS, I'll head to Florida, but probably keep the place as a refuge.  (If the shit hits the fan, I can blast deer and survive...)  Not much sells up in that corner of the US.  When NY went full lib, they ran IBM and Endicott Johnson out.  When those 2 folded, the area lost 3 jobs for every 1 of IBM/Endicott Johnson.

Good point on 1 story vs 2 story.  If I go 1 story, it would give me a larger basement. Basement would store the crap, and the upstairs would be for living space. (And not reloading benches, work benches, computers, etc)

Never built one of these kits but I have built SIPS homes... similar idea but different materials. As a professional builder (at the time) it was still a challenge for a 5 man crew of full time carpenters. The company we worked for regularly built high end homes up to $1.5 mil so we weren't slackers. The problem is, nothing is EVER as perfect as it's designed to be so, when you're faced with a stud or sheet of CDX that's off, 1 person can deal with it... when an entire wall system is a touch warped or bowed, it can take an entire crew and sometimes equipment to wrestle it into place. This WILL NOT be as easy as the manufacturer makes it seem.

i hear that. every. fucking. project. that i have done in my house, I am motherfucking these idiot builders.

Sways in the foundation wall
Shitty drywall work
Half ass trim
nothing, and i mean nothing is square. So anything i do takes 10 times longer trying to add to it

If it's wood construction, even if you make it square, it won't be for long. It'll settle different. And people these days are so used to things being out of square that things truly square look "off".

I get really annoyed with the electrical runs that get done, and how right they string the wire - you could play notes on some of them.

The old kits had one thing in common,

A pro drew them.  I've noticed they don't suffer from swayback roofs, sag.
Solid bones.

My mom grew up in a Sears kit house. It’s still standing today.

There are quite a few of the Sears kit homes around me. As long as they have been properly maintained they are good to go. Most are still standing and in pretty good shape. The biggest issue I see with teh Sears kit home around me is the concrete foundations are all crumpling and failing. That isn't really the fault of the kits though.

A kit house?

Lots of people used to do "craftsman/sears" houses.

But the democrats look at kits differently now.  As in, they deemed many ghost guns.

So, would they look at a kit house as a "spook house"?

I would think so.