Arguably the world’s most famous homeless billionaire, Elon Musk, also has a soft spot for tiny houses, preferably prefabs that combine modern design with sustainability considerations and all the construction advantages of a prefabricated product.
These two might seem to contradict each other, but not if you keep in mind that we’re talking about a man who counts his money not in thousands or even hundreds of thousands, or millions, but billions with a capital B. As of this writing, Elon Musk has just reclaimed the number one spot as the world’s richest man, with a net worth estimated at $210 billion.
So, when the SpaceX and Tesla CEO said in 2020 that he would be “selling almost all physical possessions” and “own no house,” he either meant “mansion” or was thinking in the short term. It would later emerge that he bought a house in Austin in 2022 and had also become one of the first people in the world to own a Casita, a $50,000 prefab from startup Boxabl that boasted the impressive goal of revolutionizing the housing industry.
Either of these houses would qualify for just that, a house, making Musk come across as a liar for claiming to be “homeless.” Context is everything, though; any one of today’s billionaires owns at least a mansion large enough to sleep an entire small village, a portfolio of real estate, and more luxury toys than they can keep track of. By comparison, Musk is homeless.
He would still be, even if a now-suspended transaction for another prefab had gone through. As part of ongoing proceedings related to Musk’s $56 billion pay package, documents have revealed that one of the eight members of the special committee set up by Tesla to oversee the company’s reincorporating from Delaware to Texas had stepped down after what could have been perceived as a conflict of interests.
That member is Tesla director Joe Gebbia, who is also the co-founder of Airbnb and the CEO of startup Samara. In the latter capacity, he’d been approached by Musk in view of an order for a new prefab home Samara is selling, called Backyard. Gebbia disclosed the transaction when it had already been paused and stepped down from the committee as an extra precaution.
As for the prefab that caught Musk’s eye, it’s a doozy. Not only does it confirm Musk’s penchant for alternative housing solutions and sustainability, but it tries to show the world that ADUs (additional dwelling units) can break the norm and write their own rules, with the right person handling the design.
Gebbia talked at great length about the Backyard prefab in an interview with Fair Companies. At the time, he was based out of Eames Ranch at the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity in California, which was only fitting seeing how he says he only got into industrial design after he became acquainted with the Eames’ work.
The Backyard is infused with a focus on functionality, but it doesn’t come at the expense of aesthetics. As Gebbia describes it, this prefab home is restrained and minimalist in styling, but “with a soul.” It’s also twice as energy-efficient than a standard home its size, can be rendered fully off-grid for power with solar panels (and might even double as a power bank for the main house, offsetting energy bills), has integrated smart air filtration, and comes with a plug-in foundation that allows complete installation in a couple of hours.
Unlike tiny homes that sit on trailers and thus remain highly mobile even after they become full-time homes, ADUs aren’t made to be moved frequently. But they can still be relocated if need be, and, like Backyard, have the advantage of reduced construction time. Samara even says they’ll be handling all the permits, contracts, and approvals necessary for the setup.
The Backyard is offered in different sizes and layouts, with a Studio version, a standard version that can be either one- or two-bedroom, and the XL variant. The biggest variant offers 800 square feet (74.3 square meters) of living space, while the standard is a more modest 540 square feet (50.2 square meters).
Regardless of size, though, any Backyard unit offers comfortable living spaces that feel much bigger than their physical footprint, thanks to plenty of glazing, the absence of doors, and super-high gabled ceilings. The one-bedroom standard unit shown by Gebbia below could even serve as a full-time home and has everything from a spacious bathroom with a laundry station to a home office and a small but fully equipped kitchen.
Its price does that, too. Pricing for the Backyard starts at $269,000 but can go as high as $400,000+ for the largest, highest-specced unit, which some outlets suggest Musk wanted to buy. Can you blame him? 
