It was founded in 2018 in British Columbia, Canada, by Morgan Seeber and Landon Sheck.
At first, the company exclusively made standalone backyard offices. It wasn’t until 2020 that Aux Box ventured into constructing ADUs people could live in.
"It really wasn't clear to us that we were going to get into homes — proper homes or ADUs," Sheck told Business Insider. "That language wasn't even really being used at that time, or we weren't exposed to it."
Now Aux Box offers six units: an office, three studios, one model with a bedroom, and a sauna.
Its smallest model, the “Auxffice,” has around 57 square feet of living space, according to its website. Pricing starts at about $33,000.
The models that can be used as a spare bedroom or a micro-studio are priced from $41,000.
There are installation and delivery fees on top of the purchase price, as well as an extra fee for hooking up services, Sheck said.
Model 620 has a bedroom, a bathroom, and an open kitchen and living space.
"The 620 square feet is currently the largest offering, but it's not going to ship right far," Sheck said. "It's going to stay on Vancouver Island for the most part."
Aux Box makes about 35 self-contained offices and ADUs a year.
Sheck said that a plus of building prefab structures is the ability to work in a controlled environment without worrying if it's going to rain or snow.
"All the materials are in premium condition and then fully protected by the time it goes out," he said. "You've got efficiencies by having different products at different stages of construction in the same building, and you can have all the tradespeople there working on them at the same time."
Aux Box builds all of its structures in-house on Victoria Island in British Columbia and then ships them across North America, as far as Ontario and California.
According to its website, the entire process, including delivery and installation, takes up to 18 weeks. Once the units are delivered, it takes Aux Box just one day to install them.
Aux Box is limited in what they can transport.
"The cons are you're limited to what you can transport down the road, in many ways, especially if you're trying to do 100% prefab," Sheck said. "Just because we can ship it across North America doesn't mean we should."
Seeber and Sheck have backgrounds as carpenters and use engineered wood and steel for the bones of the structure.
The insides have hardwood floors, wood planks on the walls and ceiling, and tile in the bathrooms.
Sheck has also seen resorts and campgrounds buy multiple units to provide extra housing for guests during the off-season.
"People that own these sorts of properties recognize, 'Oh, I can just, in the off-season, really rapidly drop off prefab products and immediately turn my RV site that was generating $70 a night into a $400 a night product,'" he said.
While the main purpose of Aux Box units is for added office or living space, Sheck has seen some unique uses.
California, especially, has legislation that makes it easier for Aux Box to drop off a unit without any hassle.
"California actually has developed a path where we can have the product inspected before it arrives," Sheck said. "California would be a monster for us and we would probably put a facility near California before we do anything else."
Some jurisdictions don't allow ADUs on the property by law, and some locations simply can't squeeze in a crane to drop in a unit. It's always best to check in on local ordinances before ordering an ADU.
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