Elon Musk Really Is Living in a Tiny Prefab House in Boca Chica

Elon Musk Really Is Living in a Tiny Prefab House in Boca Chica

Photo: Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Remember when Elon Musk left California in a huff, swearing to sell off all of his mansions and live property free? Well, it’s been six months and, unlike with his other promises to, say, build an underground transit system or deliver fully autonomous Teslas or manufacture an electric bus, it seems he might have followed through with this particular pledge. Yes, Musk is now apparently living in a 375-square-foot prefab guest house in Texas.

The Real Deal reports that since Musk made the move to Boca Chica, the tiny Gulf Coast town where Space X has been gobbling up property, much to the frustration of locals, he has ensconced himself in a 20-foot-by-20-foot accessory dwelling unit (or ADU) made by the Las Vegas-based startup Boxabl. Although Musk tweeted last month that he was living in “literally a ~$50k house” on a property rented by Space X, it was Teslarati that first discovered the connection between the startup and Space X’s rapid expansion. In fact, Boxabl co-founder Galiano Tiramani — who calls the company’s ADUs “casitas,” the preferred name by some in the industry — dropped a major hint back in November 2020 in a YouTube video: “The casita I’m sitting in right now we just installed in Boca Chica, Texas, for a top-secret customer.” (There’s also a poster of a Space X rocket launch on the door just behind him.) Boxabl’s strategy to get the billionaire’s attention seems to have worked, as the company has been courting Musk for over a year; an April 2020 video asks: “Should we make space-Boxabls for Elon Musk? Or solve the world’s affordable housing crisis? Why not both?” Boxabl is currently looking for funding — it claims to have $1 billion in “reservations” from 20,000 customers so far, which is very similar to the way Tesla likes to frame its sales figures — so its timing really couldn’t be better. Just name-dropping the company in a single Musk tweet could raise millions.

While there are certainly a lot of unanswered questions about Musk’s specific living situation — where does Grimes sleep? Is the baby there? — it’s not hard to envision a formal brand partnership with Boxabl, seeing as there’s so much overlap here with Musk’s own endeavors. Boxabl’s casitas arrive, expectedly, in a box, one that can be towed to the site, perhaps by a large electric truck, and assembled in one hour, its innards unfolding with Transformers-like precision to reveal finished walls, countertops, and even appliances. It’s ideal for temporary housing on a site like SpaceX’s Starbase. It’s slightly less useful in a dense city where land is at a premium; the company says the units can be stacked, but images show them only two stories high (which is kind of like Musk’s dwindling interest in shared transportation solutions that would reduce greenhouse gases faster than just electrifying cars). Boxabl also claims to be “the only building system compatible with automobile-style factory mass production,” which could make for clean integration with Musk’s manufacturing hubs (some of which are also located in Nevada). And if social media is any measure, Boxabl’s stans are every bit as fanatic and evangelistic as Tesla’s, prognosticating that this home-in-a-box will signify the complete “disruption” of the construction industry.

But major disruptions of the construction industry have foundered in recent months. Katerra, the SoftBank-funded mass-timber start-up founded by Tesla’s former interim CEO, recently imploded after raising over $2 billion, in part because it was trying to sell prefabricated buildings like — wait for it — cars. Now 3-D–printing companies are manifesting themselves as a solution for the housing crisis in the same way. They actually all refer to themselves as “the Tesla of housing.” Modular housing done right, particularly in a way that can allow for maximum density on a site, is certainly one important part of the affordable-housing future in the U.S., but to be effective from a sustainability perspective, it needs to vertically scale. If Boxabl can accessorize with some of Musk’s other products — slap some SolarCity photovoltaic panels on top and strap some Powerwall batteries onto the exterior — to create a low-cost, solar-powered, plug-and-play dwellable unit that would ship from the factory in the time frame that’s guaranteed and somehow stack into a full-size apartment building, it could really be a game changer. Kind of like if Tesla had made that electric bus.

Elon Musk is living in a prefab tiny house worth only $50K on SpaceX site

Elon Musk may be one of the world’s richest people, but he’s not living large.

After selling much of his real estate portfolio in the past year and listing his final property earlier this month to focus on his mission to Mars, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO is taking the phrase “Live below your means” to another level.

Musk, who turned 50 in June, revealed in a tweet that he is now living in a humble $50,000 home that he rents from SpaceX on its launch site in Boca Chica, Texas.

“My primary home is literally a ~$50k house in Boca Chica / Starbase that I rent from SpaceX. It’s kinda awesome though,” he wrote earlier in June.

It’s rumored that the entrepreneur, who was named the richest person in the world this year, is living in a 375-square-foot modular home worth exactly $50,000 from Boxabl, according to Musk fan blog Teslarati and the Houston Chronicle.

The tiny homes are made up of the bare necessities: a living area, bathroom, bed and kitchen — all from a folded box.

Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company’s co-founder, Galiano Tiramani, could not confirm to The Post whether Musk was living in a Boxabl home, but gave The Post a peek inside a typical Boxabl residence.

The “Casita” floor plan that Boxabl offers. Boxabl

A Boxabl being folded and shipped to an unknown location. Boxabl

The Boxabl home has an open floor plan. Credit: Boxabl

The living room is adjacent to the bathroom and laundry area. Credit: Boxabl

The kitchen. Credit: Boxabl

The bathroom. Credit: Boxabl

The pioneering Las Vegas-based company, co-founded by Galiano and his father, Paolo Tiramani, in 2017, manufactures compact homes that can be shipped anywhere.

“[Paolo] had built a modular home back in Connecticut, dealt with all the oversize shipping issues, and came up with the folding solution,” Galiano told The Post. “After that, we kept working on it and things got better and better. As we started experimenting with new manufacturing methods and building materials, it became clear that the product had huge potential.”

The first model of the construction technology startup is called “Casita,” but they’ve already created other designs to fit different families and meet individual needs.

“The system doesn’t end at the ‘Casita,’ ” Galiano said. “We have plans for different room modules that stack and connect to build any building on the planet.”

In fact, the tiny house company has even bigger plans.

“The goal of the company is to mass-produce housing on a scale and at a cost that’s never been done before,” Galiano added. “We want to make housing dramatically more affordable for the world.”

When asked what he thought of Musk living in his creation, Galiano told The Post he was unable to comment on the matter.

But a Boxable does appear to have residences on the Starbase site in Texas.

An aerial shot of a Boxabl on the Starbase launch site in Houston, Texas. Google Maps

Musk began unloading his real estate portfolio last summer after revealing he would give up all tangible assets to focus on his mission to Mars.

“I am selling almost all physical possessions. Will own no house,” he tweeted in May 2020.

Where Does Elon Musk Live? SpaceX CEO Is Reportedly Living in $50K Tiny Home

After selling most of his real estate portfolio over the last year (most recently, his San Francisco home for $37.5 million), Elon Musk has moved into a $50K home in Boca Chica, the Texas town otherwise known as Starbase, where Musk’s SpaceX headquarters are located.

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

My primary home is literally a ~$50k house in Boca Chica / Starbase that I rent from SpaceX. It’s kinda awesome though.

Only house I own is the events house in the Bay Area. If I sold it, the house would see less use, unless bought by a big family, which might happen some day. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 9, 2021

He announced the news earlier this month in a Tweet. “My primary home is literally a ~$50k house in Boca Chica / Starbase that I rent from SpaceX. It’s kinda awesome though,” the SpaceX CEO writes. He adds, “only house I own is the events house in the Bay Area. If I sold it, the house would see less use, unless bought by a big family, which might happen some day.”

The move appears to be part of Musk’s plan to “own no house,” which he declared in a Tweet in May of last year. In the tweet, he also writes that he would be “selling almost all [of his] physical possessions."

Despite Musk having been named the richest person in the world, according to fan-blog Teslarati and The New York Post the home referenced in the CEO’s tweet is actually a 375-square-foot tiny home from Boxabl. Though this has yet to be officially confirmed, Boxabl hinted at the sale in a promotional video for the company posted in November. In the video, Galiano Tiramani, one of the founders of Boxabl, says “The [Boxabl] Casita I’m sitting in right now in Boca Chica, Texas, we just installed for a top-secret customer.” While the founder didn’t name anyone specific, he is seated in front of a door that appears to have a spaceship decal on it, leading many to wonder whether the detail was a hint. Teslarati also writes in a blog that they “recently received a tip noting that Elon Musk’s housing unit in Starbase, Texas is a Boxabl Casita.”

Boxabl homes are foldable, portable homes that can be set up in a single day. The homes are arranged like most studio apartments and are equipped with a full kitchen, bathroom, and dual living and sleeping area. According to the site, the homes are “complete right out of the box.” Looks like living like a CEO isn’t too far out of reach after all!

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Love knowing all the latest design trends? We’ve got you covered.

Nathalie Kirby Associate Editor of Content Strategy Nathalie is the Associate Editor of Content Strategy at House Beautiful where she covers everything from home decor to the latest news.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io