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Prefab getaway housing is one of those topics that pits sensible people against each other like plucky roosters, each side bristling with opinions. Just mention it among folks who talk about architecture, and watch the feathers ruffle up.

A couple of weeks ago, for example, I reported in this column on the strongly anti-prefab views of Graham Smith, principal in the Toronto firm Altius Architecture Inc. Mr. Smith thinks the last thing needed by rural areas and cottage country (where most prefab is headed) is more factory-built housing. What's appropriate out there, instead, are custom-designed cottages of the kind done, as it happens, by Altius Architecture.

The appearance of Mr. Smith's views in these pages was quickly followed by a little blitz of e-mail from people for and against. One of these spirited responses came from Toronto builder Richard Stark, who, with business partner Hy Rosenberg, went to market last autumn with a handsome, well-designed prefab cottage called Blue Sky Mod.

Mr. Stark, a 20-year veteran of the construction industry, found especially objectionable the claim that an architecturally significant prefab unit and a basic custom-built house will both cost the consumer roughly the same — about $300 a foot — at the end of the day.

"Graham may well be able to place a finished product, all in, for $300 per square foot. My experience working with other architects on custom-designed cottages is that construction costs alone start at $300 and range up through $400, $500 or more at times. In addition to this, the owners have design, engineering, survey and permit costs."

On the other hand, there's Blue Sky Mod. "[W]e have been looking at costs upwards of $200 per square foot for our structures, including all servicing costs. There are no additional design or engineering fees."

In an interview at Mr. Stark's Leaside office, the builder and Mr. Rosenberg stood fast by their projected estimate of about $200 a foot in retail costs for their prefab projects. And cost apart, they believe, with evident zeal, in the overall prefab advantage.

Modular housing, in their view, frees clients from the decision-making involved in doing a custom-built house.

"People can walk through, touch and feel what they are buying, somewhat akin to buying a car. They do not have to rely on an architect's vision, transferred onto two dimensional drawings or a miniature three dimensional model."

And prefab saves time. For an off-the-rack house, "we estimate two months in consultation, rather than seven months of design and anywhere from four to 18 months spent in construction."

It's housing for buyers "who don't want to be bothered" with the fees and artistic opinions of architects.

The goal of Mr. Stark and Mr. Rosenberg is to sell 20 units a year, at $200 a square foot — an objective they believe to be entirely attainable, despite the technical backwardness (when compared with Europe) of Canada's factory-built housing industry. (Though they have received numerous inquiries, the team has yet to get more than "serious interest" from a couple of potential clients for Blue Sky Mod, and is now gearing up to market other prefab options.)

"Over the winter," Mr. Stark said in an e-mail, "Hy and I have been speaking to several [Canadian] factory builders as potential fabricators for our products. What I have found, which is particularly surprising to me, is that they, in fact, can provide economies on the production side. Previously, like Graham, I believed [this] was not possible.

"The part of the equation that makes this so, is that the process is engineered to reduce the thinking part on the production side, allowing for lower-skilled workers to perform what is now largely mechanical labour. Since the labour component is very high in construction, this more than offsets the overhead costs of the factory environment. . . . It turned my thinking around and we are now seeing the potential for significant reductions in the cost of producing our products."

These entrepreneurs insist that what they are doing is a complement, not a black-and-white alternative, to one-off homes created by architects.

"There is a whole class of people who don't want a mobile home, and who don't want a custom-built house, and that's our market," Mr. Rosenberg said. "They want to feel comfortable, but they don't want to make a statement." The designs under development by Mr. Stark and Mr. Rosenberg will be, they believe, attractive to "the loft mentality, minimalism — all very hip right now."

The two men are wagering that the recent strong pulse of interest in prefab by a few architectural designers heralds the emergence of clientele for chic modular housing in cottage country. It will be interesting to watch the progress of their venture in a largely untested sector of the housing market.