@Ben Leybovich the fact that you've graced my post with your reply has already made my day brighter. A phone intervention??? Even better!
So let me acknowledge right off the bat that your concern (sarcasm) is totally justified. As is my naivite. When does innovation happen? When a curious person doesn't yet know that something is impossible.
The main reason I started looking into this whole thing is twofold - design and price. I won't go into the design - their website can show it off much better (dubldom.ru). As far as the price goes, in Russia their various models range from $25 to 80k, with $80k getting you a large home (130 m2). Delivered and built. The one I like is closer to $50k. Remember, this is all Russian prices, in rubles (there is a noticeable mark up on their english/dollars page, not sure why. Well, maybe I know why.) So you can imagine that living in Maryland, the land of $400k 40-year old townhouses, as I read about these little homes, my mind is painting beautiful pictures of free and clear home ownership, with all the magical financial freedoms that entails.
As @Doug McVinua very rightly points out, getting permission to build this house in the US may be very difficult and costly. As yes, the design can absolutely be copied - while different and original, there is nothing special about it. The question is - how much?
So that's what I've been doing for the past two weeks - researching American modular home companies, looking at plans and trying to understand how that whole ecosystem comprised of planning/zoning people, builders and architects works. And with every passing day, my dream of doing this on the CHEAP is growing weaker and weaker. At this point, it doesn't look like you can go much lower than $150/sq foot total (exluding land), which is comparable to regular stick-built construction (although I believe modular still has some advantages).
As far as Urals go - of course I remember them. A trusty Russian workhorse based on a proven 80-year old BMW design. I was amazed when I found out a few years ago how much they go for in the US and Canada. I guess they are considered somewhat of an exotic/quirky novelty. Go figure. But I'd love to have one. Your neighbor sounds like a good guy to know.
