Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 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
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×