A Vista company that makes prefabricated accessory dwelling units (ADUs) has grown rapidly since it was founded in 2020 by Luca Brammer and Ryan Jantz, with an annual revenue of $5 million to $10 million and a goal of reaching $100 million.
Brammer said that the company, Proteus Homes, is outgrowing the 750,000-square-foot warehouse it uses for manufacturing and is looking for a new location with twice the space to move into in 2024, preferably near where it is now.
Co-founder
Proteus Homes
“We definitely won’t be here in a year. We’re stretched to the limits,” Brammer said. “We’ll definitely be expanding. We want to expand, but we want to do it responsibly.”
Proteus has gone from doing eight to 10 projects in 2021, 15 to 16 in 2022, and has 42 ongoing projects in 2023, Brammer said.
“We’ve been basically doubling our sales every year since the business began,” said Brammer, who was an aerospace engineer before getting into the housing business.
Proteus Homes has four primary designs and six floor plans, although Brammer said that it can custom-build a project.
The four basic designs are what Brammer described as California classic with a stucco finish, modern farmhouse, modern, and modern Spanish.
“Lots of people still want to customize certain things, like tile, which we do.” Brammer said.
The floorplans range from a 336-square-foot studio apartment/home office priced from $183,029 to $213,356 to a three-bedroom, 1,200-square-foot, three-bedroom house priced at $386,606 to 4442,140, according to the company’s website.
The prices include everything that goes into a house, from electrical wiring to bathroom fixtures.
Eliminating Headaches
Until this year, all of Proteus’ projects have been in San Diego County, but Brammer said that the company has started two projects in Utah and one in Monticello, with plans to expand into Orange County and Riverside County in 2024.
The company does what it calls custom panelized building where the structure’s walls, complete with electrical wiring and windows, are built in the company’s warehouse and delivered to a building site on several flatbed trucks.
“We’re trying to eliminate or reduce the headaches and why people hate construction,” Brammer said. “We’re literally building their whole house in advance.”
Once the completed panels are delivered, they’re hoisted by crane onto a foundation that has been prepared in advance.
“It’s kind of like building with Legos,” said Alexandra Raven, chief of marketing and business development.
The assembly of the basic structure can be done in one day.
“From there, we finish your home just like traditional construction,” Raven said.
The finish work typically takes two to three months.
Proteus works with clients from beginning to end, through conceptual design, final design, permitting, construction and final inspection.
“We are a design-build firm. We take our clients from the beginning of the process of building and ADU all the way through move-in,” Raven said. “With traditional stick building, there are long time frames where you’re on and off the job site at multiple times,”
Brammer said that the process can start with something as simple as a drawing that someone makes on a napkin.
“It seems like an obvious thing and most people wonder why more houses aren’t built this way in the first place,” Brammer said.
Most of Proteus’ clients have been looking for what Brammer called “multi-generational living,” families with adult children who need a place to live or with elderly parents.
Proteus Homes
Founded: 2020
Headquarters: Vista
Co-founders: Luca Brammer and Ryan Jantz
Business: accessory dwelling unit (ADU) and home construction
Number of Employees: 12
Annual revenue: $5 million to $10 million
Website: https://proteus.homes/
Contact: 760-750-3050; [email protected]
Notable: Proteus Homes aims for $100 million in annual revenue