In the heart of America’s Central Port off Illinois Route 3 in Granite City, lies an innovative solution to affordable housing, KB Pods, launched by Trudy Luchini in 2018 and moved to Granite City from Potosi, MO in 2021. Prebuilds made up 9% of U.S. home builds in 2025, while they made up 63% of home builds in China due to their cost-effectiveness.
KB Pods constructs 27 kitchens and bathrooms in their warehouse at a rate of 1.5 units each day that can be built, transported to a job site and lifted into the proper location of the building’s exterior frame. Units are delivered sealed and do not require inspections by city inspectors.
Building a home or commercial building as a series of pods in a warehouse allows homes to be built quickly and at a lower cost than building a comparable home on site. KB Pod’s bathrooms, kitchens, and other small units (up to 500 square feet) are completed using a traditional “stick build” design (not modular) for as little as $140/square foot for a bathroom, compared to $250/square foot for a bathroom built on site due to the elimination of common construction hurdles…