FOR THE PAST DECADE, the shelter-mag set has drooled over high-concept New Prefab homes. But while these minimalist tissue boxes—the high-selling LV series by Rocío Romero, Charlie Lazor’s FlatPak houses—have graced the pages of countless glossies, they haven’t exactly taken off locally. This, despite prefab’s green-and-lean reputation. And despite the fact that components are assembled almost entirely indoors—a big bonus in a region where rain tends to wreak havoc on building materials. But the popular prefab companies ship components all the way from the Midwest, which is costly and environmentally unsavory. Plus, their look—more Bauhaus than backwoods—doesn’t really appeal to your typical Northwest second-home buyer.

“The houses look like trailers glued together,” says John Jamnback, a Capitol Hill lawyer who recently decided to build on his Winthrop weekend property. And yet in September, Jamnback and his partner Lori Salzarulo will move into their very own prefabricated home: a two-bedroom cabin bought from Method Homes. What sold them, in the end, was an overnight trip to the company’s cedar-clad prototype at the foot of Mount Baker. “We looked around in there for something cheesy,” says Jamnback. “But it was just a beautiful place.”

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Seeing is believing: Bamboo flooring, EcoTop counters, radiant heat, and picture-frame windows: outdoorsman John Jamnback found the rustic, eco-friendly retreat he was seeking at the Mount Baker prototype cabin.

Jamnback learned about Method through Tom Lenchek, a principal at Balance Associates well known for his sustainable, “mountain modern” retreats (think exposed cinder blocks and natural woods). After Lenchek described the two lines of cabins he’d designed for Method, a three-year-old prefab start-up in Seattle, Jamnback decided to go see one for himself. Stepping inside the demo, he discovered a home decked out with crunchy customizations like bamboo floors, EcoTop (recycled composite) counters, dual-flush toilets, and radiant floor heating. It was just the green-built country cabin he’d imagined.

When Method founders Brian Abramson and Mark Rylant first approached Lenchek, the architect was instantly intrigued by the opportunity to solve some of the construction conundrums of site-built projects. “We work in remote areas where workforces aren’t available,” says Lenchek. “And because of our climate, the building season in the Northwest is really short.” In places like Winthrop, where 82 inches of snow fall each year, building crews go for long periods without progress while they wait out the storms. But since the Method cabins are built indoors at a factory in Ferndale, they arrive at the site 85 to 95 percent complete, and the materials are never compromised by exposure to the elements. Lenchek says the system is well-suited to islands without ferry services, where the modular units are sent over on barges.