An Affordable Housing Innovation That Begins in a Garage
A Conversation with Rebecca Möller
Rebecca Möller is CEO and Founder of SYMBiHOM, a builder of prefabricated modular and kit conversion accessory dwelling units. Prior to founding SYMBiHOM in 2020, Rebecca served in senior roles within large national commercial construction companies providing innovative design-build acumen and leadership to successfully plan and execute projects for national and global clients. In 1997, she founded R. MÖLLER, Inc., which provided project management services to Fortune 500 Companies, such as General Electric, Verizon, and IBM Global Services. From start to finish, Rebecca has overseen the completion of more than 22 million square feet of commercial real estate worth over $10 billion in critical construction projects nationally.
As quoted in a recent article in The Atlantic, entitled “The U.S. Needs More Housing Than Almost Anyone Can Imagine,” David Garcia, Policy Director at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley, admits that however difficult the question is to answer, “All the numbers we have that address this question are huge. They’re massive…And they’re all [still] a massive undercount.” It is against this backdrop and within the Terner Center’s own San Francisco Bay Area backyard that Rebecca Möller brings a technical innovation to a complex problem.
Paige Warren: Rebecca, after reading about your solution in the Business Insider, I was intrigued. You are innovating in affordable housing in California where the need for creative solutions to the crisis of housing undersupply and affordability are desperately needed. You have developed a YIMBY (“yes in my back yard”) solution that’s even closer than in the back yard. It’s under the same roof. Please tell our readers about what you are doing at SYMBiHOM.
Rebecca Möller: In California, our working class simply cannot afford to live near their place of employment. Studies show that we have a shortage of 3.5 million in California. One in three renters in California spends over 50% of their income on rent. The government would call these households spending over half their gross income “significantly cost burdened.”
A beginning teacher’s salary in Santa Clara County, California earns approximately $90,000. If they spent 30% of their gross income on rent – a typical ratio applied to what people should be spending for housing – they could afford an apartment costing around $2,250 per month (including utilities). And yet, the average one-bedroom apartment in San Jose is about $2,600 per month NOT including utilities, or several hundred dollars more than that per month. Just affording a one-bedroom apartment in San Jose requires someone to earn over $100,000 per year.
We’re not going to solve our way out of the problem with new construction; we can’t meet the demand, it’s too slow, and it’s too expensive! The math just doesn’t work. I spent over 40 years in commercial construction cost and project management. Traditional methods of real estate development would never satisfy the demand for workforce housing and certainly not at an affordable rent.
I made it my mission to create a scalable platform for affordable housing in existing communities and within existing building footprints. SYMBiHOM converts often under-utilized existing space in any of the 1.2 million garages located in the Bay Area into upscale living units. We are offering a solution that can help meet the need for new affordable housing at scale while providing homeowners with an additional source of income.
Warren: The actual product introduces significant innovation to both preconstruction and construction methods. Can you explain the creativity and ingenuity you used in this project in a way that someone who is not familiar with construction would appreciate?
Möller: My background in leading the oversight and project management of large commercial construction and real estate development projects has made me particularly well suited to problem solve on this front.
The living unit is factory built all to a commercial grade specification. The SYMBiHOM garage conversion accessory dwelling unit (ADU) can be converted to studios, one-bedroom, or two-bedroom units, ranging between 180 and 1,200 square feet, depending on the size of the footprint being converted. Studio units include kitchens with a full refrigerator, kitchen exhaust, electric stove top, countertop convection oven, sink with disposal, and an in-unit washer and dryer. One- and two-bedroom units include larger refrigerators, gas stoves/ovens, and dishwashers. All units have a bathroom with a shower, vanity, toilet, and storage. Studios are generally furnished with a couch or desk, a murphy style bed, seating in the kitchen, and leisure space in the center. One- and two-bedrooms include private bedrooms with closet. The exterior entrance is created on the side of the living / kitchen layout or in the front, depending on the aesthetic of the existing house and the owner’s preference. All materials are seamlessly the same as the existing facade of the house, making the improvements difficult to spot from a neighborhood view. All units are compliant with California ADU laws, California Energy Code, State, County and City Planning and Building codes. A collage of photos from a one-bedroom unit is provided below:
In summary, the factory build allows for a much more predictable build timeframe. Master permitting allows for certainty of approval across jurisdiction and as well as a much quicker install. Once we laser capture the site, analyze the existing structure, and create drawings for issuance to a city’s building department for permitting, I can deliver an order from the point of contract and escrow in about 8 weeks. We install with a certified, commercially trained workforce.
Warren: Who is your competition? Is there anyone else doing what you are doing?
Möller: No one in the market has developed a prefabricated solution that can be installed in a residential garage, let alone one that is commercial grade construction (which is a more durable and timeless product). The closest competition I have is a traditional residential contractor converting a garage or a free-standing ADU provider. Anyone that has renovated or built new knows about cost and time delays. A few years ago, Navitas Capital, a venture capital firm for real estate and construction, published a super white paper on building for the future that laid out how the conventional approach to construction lacks the “speed and scale required…for accurate and timely results.” It also highlighted the extent to which traditional construction contributes to these inefficiencies because of a dearth of technology innovation. They conclude that one of the biggest opportunities in construction is “manufacturing styled, off-site production.”
SYMBiHOM units include everything on a timeline that is only dependent upon permitting. My garage conversion is less expensive, the price is guaranteed, it’s much quicker to build than a backyard ADU, and it doesn’t require a backyard of sufficient size enough to accommodate a new free-standing residential unit.
Warren: What have you experienced so far in terms of the types of people buying the units in the pilot stage and how are they using them?
Möller: So far, they have been used by caregivers of aging parents, where elderly parents can live with their children and still have their privacy and independence. Other uses could be for a nanny to working parents who would enjoy the stability of a live-in nanny while retaining some privacy or they could be used as a rental unit to a third party. They offer the potential to provide an ongoing source of rental income to pay for the unit before a homeowner retires and then have the full rent as passive income. They also provide a homeowner, as they age, with the flexibility to lease their home for income.
Warren: Interest rates are higher than we’ve experienced in some time. How are homeowners paying for them?
Möller: Some families are paying cash; others are financing with options of a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) where they can pay only interest until occupied and then they use the income from the unit to pay down the principal more rapidly. Another option is to cash out a part of their home equity to build the unit with no expectation of repayment but rather leaving a percent equity to the lender to cash out when the house is sold or is refinanced. The cost of improvements compared to a child or parent buying a home is insignificant.
Also, because the improvement results in the addition of finished square feet to the existing housing structure, a homeowner’s appraised value is increased proportional to the number of finished feet added. Separate, free standing ADUs do not receive such favorable appraisal treatment.
Warren: In and of itself, this concept seems eminently scalable in garages all around the country. Is it also scalable in ways beyond single family homes?
Möller: SYMBiHOM currently includes single family homes but also can build living units from carports or built in garages in apartment complexes. Subject to proper due diligence, retail and office conversions are entirely feasible. I can imagine mixed-use development, where some share of office or retail space remains based on market demand. Parking requirements for commercial buildings, including high and mid-rise residential, have been reduced in the past few years making that square footage potentially available for conversion to much needed living units. The COVID-19 pandemic has everyone rethinking how excess commercial space can be reused.
A commercial hybrid modular, factory built, fully customizable upscale living unit that fits inside and is assembled inside any of these spaces could be a game changer. SYMBiHOM has the solution.
Warren: It also seems like the unit could be designed to represent a solution for vulnerable populations, like the unhoused, migrants, families displaced due to climate disaster. Any thoughts on where or how this could work?
Möller: Absolutely!
I am familiar with services to the homeless and successful re-entry into society after receiving the proper services and care plus successful rapid rehousing for those losing their housing from serving on the board of HomeFirst for three years. The units could be used to convert an underperforming commercial building into apartment living units for the homeless. It is not an “all or none” as these can be mixed use with separate entrances for different populations of people in different phase of re-entry into society or full market rate in the rest of the building.
I also believe there is the potential to install them in shipping containers, which could be transported to meet the geographic needs from natural disasters or to provide transitional shelter for unhoused populations on a temporary basis. An aggregate plumbing system is an easy hook up to my units.
Warren: To what extent have you considered sustainability in your building specifications?
Möller: The units are designed with sustainability in mind, both in building materials and in terms of their long-term operating efficiency. Ceilings and walls are all insulated making the unit both quiet and warm/cool per season. An all-in-one heating unit does not require an outside compressor, eliminating outside noise pollution and providing a quiet operation inside. These decisions lead to greater climate control and provide greater noise control. Furthermore, all finish materials feature low to zero VOCs (volatile organic compounds). All plumbing fixtures are low flow. All appliances are 120V and there is dimmable LED lighting throughout. All units can be made “smart” with a thermostat that can be monitored remotely for energy use.
Warren: Tell us about the genesis of this idea. How long was it “in the factory” being conceptualized and developed before you rolled it out?
Möller: The idea evolved in the fall 2019 when reading a BBC article on how Berlin and London were addressing the housing shortage. I began tossing the idea of a commercial-grade, factory-built garage kit around with a city official. I saw a very replicable, scalable solution that could rapidly create upscale living units. I did my research to understand the demand and hired a data scientist who was native to housing data to understand the potential pool of demand. I then conducted market research which reflected a very favorable reception from homeowners with garages. I became convinced I was onto something.
From there, after a year at my desk (during COVID-19), meeting everyone who cares about housing locally, I identified a fabricator who already created panelized systems for midrise and high-rise apartment buildings. The owner collaborated with me to create the design and obtain the California Housing and Community Development (HCD) factory inspection.
The first investors came on board in May of 2021 and we delivered a mock-up of a unit so city building inspectors could audit the design and provide feedback. That feedback received came from one of the most challenging building departments in the San Francisco Bay Area. This intel suggested the design would work in any variety of settings.
Warren: Innovation is hard work and requires a temperament willing to walk through brick walls. What has been your hardest brick wall along the way?
Möller: I’ve walked through many-a-brick walls. Don’t forget, bricks are literally my specialty. I have succeeded in a profession with few women and have been the innovator in cost and design with leadership responsibilities for huge projects at a young age. It is rare to find a woman in charge of a real estate project who is from a construction background. It takes thick skin and grit.
Our current housing crisis is mission critical. Two years ago, I decided that I had both the vision and the practical hands-on experience to make an impact here. Now, I have a physical proof of concept for those that need to touch and see it (and even a video for those that can’t come see it in person) to understand the product. And it’s gorgeous if I say so myself.
Warren: Have there been positive surprises?
Möller: It was a big day in SYMBiHOM’s journey to legitimacy when SYMBiHOM received the support from (now former) Mayor of San Jose, Sam Liccardo. Both Mayor Liccardo and MacKenzie Mossing, former deputy chief of staff and senior policy advisor for the Mayor, promoted the product as a solution to creating a workforce housing for both communities and employers.
Warren: Thank you for your time. The combination of your background, coupled with your creativity and passion for having an impact on this complex problem, is badly needed and inspirational.
About the Author:
Paige Warren is a 2021 Harvard ALI Senior Fellow and senior editor for the Social Impact Review. Paige had a distinguished career in financial services at the nexus of business, government, and neighborhoods. Over the course of her 17-year tenure in the commercial debt side of Prudential Financial’s investment management arm, Paige served in various senior roles including Global COO and Head of Strategy, President, and Portfolio Manager.
Much of Paige’s career was spent in affordable and public housing development and finance: she built Prudential’s affordable housing finance platform and specifically joined the Federal Government to build an organization focused on restructuring the government’s affordable multifamily housing debt nationwide. In addition, he has served in various other private sector roles, including that of developer, investor, and feasibility consultant.
Paige is currently the vice chair of the board of trustees and chair of the finance subcommittee at The Washington Center, a non-profit, higher education adjacent organization whose mission is to enhance the pipeline of diverse talent and to build more equitable, inclusive workplaces and communities. She is an ESG FSA Credential-holder and holds a certification in ESG Investment from the CFA Institute.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.