Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

The Site Shack Is a Tiny Prefab Cabin That Sets Up Anywhere in a Snap

The Site Shack Is a Tiny Prefab Cabin That Sets Up Anywhere in a Snap

At under 100 square feet, the 8' x 12' Site Shack includes just the essentials: a wood-burning stove, a desk, and storage.

Working on a job site 40 hours a week, a construction company’s project manager naturally needs a home away from home, and a place to protect them from the elements-especially in a chilly locale like Vancouver, British Columbia.

To solve this dilemma, custom home builder Powers Construction started designing and fabricating mobile workspaces that they could easily transport and drop on their job sites for long periods of time.



Powers Construction originally developed the compact and contemporary Site Shack as a mobile workspace for their residential job sites.

"It was a fun design process and branding exercise," says Patrick Powers, owner of the Vancouver-based company that builds contemporary residences ranging from smaller economical homes to 12,000-square-foot dwellings. "When clients visit, this is where we hang out. It’s where we review and talk about the schedule of the project."



Powers Construction uses the Site Shack as a space to meet with homeowners and discuss the project.



Outfitted with a desk, storage, and wiring, the Site Shack is equipped for work.

The mobile office evolved into what is now dubbed the Site Shack. "It’s generally very comfortable," says Powers. "It really is an amazing work space, and something we can have fun with."



Inside, a Cubic Mini wood stove warms the cozy 8' x 12' space.

The interior is comprised of fir framing and plywood with two inches of Outsulation to keep the inside toasty. The exterior is covered in steel panels that are bolted to the framing. Look closely and you won’t see any visible fasteners, as Powers Construction’s welder was fastidious, creating a seamless shell with just steel and glass.

"The ingredients of this build are extremely tight and clean," says project manager and designer Ryan Arceneaux.



A tough, rusted steel exterior holds up against the elements of a construction site.

With a steel exterior, the Site Shack takes on a gritty and rusted-out look, and also holds up against the wear and tear that is bound to happen on a construction site. "I always envisioned it as rusting steel," says Powers. "I love the patina that comes along with it. It blends in."

Arceneaux and Powers designed the shack as a useful space to get work done and a place that jibed with their contemporary design principles. It needed to be compact, so it easily could exist on a tight residential site. It also has pick-up points on the exterior, so that it can be transported between construction sites with a crane.



The Site Shack is seamless in appearance without visible fasteners.



Pick-up points on the exterior allow the Site Shack to be transported by crane with ease.

"It's a real necessity for us to move these regularly," says Arceneaux. "Picking them up and moving them, they are fully wired and ready to go."

The Site Shack was built on one of Powers Construction’s residential job sites in East Vancouver so that the custom home builder’s team members could all participate in the design and building process. Upon completion, the mobile space was then moved to a temporary locale in the wilderness for staff to use as a getaway.



After completion, the Site Shack served as a getaway.

The Site Shack is the second iteration of the construction company’s site offices. Before, Powers Construction sliced up shipping containers and used them as mobile workspaces. After creating five of these spaces, the builder ventured into new territory with the Site Shack’s unique design.



The new, semi-custom PreMade mobile units can be used in a variety of applications.

Site Shack is a prototype for a line of semi-custom site workspaces that Powers Construction is planning to roll out under the name PreMade in the near future. So far, the custom home builder has soft launched the brand, and they will be fabricating units as demand requires.



The Site Shack can be used as a workspace or even as an off-the-grid getaway.

Design-wise, the spaces will be built-out replicas of the Site Shack. Powers Construction also plans to offer a variety of shipping container configurations that vary in size from 10 feet to 53 feet long. Depending on the client, a shack can be used as an office, writer’s retreat, or off-the-grid cabin.



"It is a function of what we are building at a greater scale, and pretty good resemblance of who we are as a group of people," says Powers.



The Site Shack in a pristine natural setting in British Columbia.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×