Paolo Tiramani shows off a Lego model of a Boxabl Casita at the Boxabl factory in North Las Vegas Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022.
Monday, Aug. 15, 2022 | 2 a.m.
Elon Musk is one of the richest people in the world, but the guest house at his Texas residence is a $50,000 tiny home built in North Las Vegas.
Musk, the founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla, talked about the 375-square-foot house Aug. 5 during a guest appearance on the edgy, business-themed podcast “Full Send.”
The company that made the home, Boxabl, has a production facility just off Interstate 15 near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and another under construction in the same area.
Boxabl’s first tiny home — not counting the prototype that Musk purchased — came off the assembly line in October.
Two homes are now produced at the manufacturing facility every workday. Close to 150 factory workers, executives, engineers and support staff work at the complex.
Once the second factory is up and running, likely in two or three months, the dual facilities could produce about 5,000 homes annually, Boxabl director Galiano Tiramani said.
Boxabl’s first big order came from the Department of Defense, which wanted more than 150 units for military base housing. That was a nearly $10 million order that was completed in May.
The company is now working with developers who want to create an entire town community of Boxabl homes in Arizona.
Tiramani, who founded the company with his father, Paolo Tiramani, has big plans for growth.
“We’re considering what we have now a prototype, proof-of-concept factory,” said the 34-year-old Galiano Tiramani. “We’re trying to get to where we have a billion-dollar factory that would produce more houses faster than any company has ever done before.”
Paolo Tiramani said he envisions a megafactory in Las Vegas — maybe 15 times bigger than their current 170,000-square-foot facility — with a monorail-type transport system that would offer tours.
The Tiramanis admit their goals are lofty but say demand is there. As of last week, Boxabl had a wait list of nearly 130,000 customers.
The main home Boxabl produces is its Casita model, a 20-foot by 20-foot home with a 9-foot-high ceilings and a bathroom, kitchen, living room and bedroom.
The homes fold up like a cardboard box for shipping before they are quickly assembled at their final destination.
The Tiramanis believe part of the appeal of their homes stems from the relatively high cost of traditional houses.
In July, the median price for an existing home in the Las Vegas area was $465,000, according to the Las Vegas Realtors trade group. The Boxabl Casita sells for about $60,000.
Galiano Tiramani said he and his father didn’t expect what he calls a “little niche” product to become as popular as it has.
“I think it’s not necessarily that people are looking for tiny houses; I think they’re desperately looking for a type of financial freedom,” Paolo Tiramani said.
Boxabl houses are considered modular homes, but they are built with quality materials and are safe in even the most severe weather conditions, the Tiramanis said.
The exterior of the Casita is made from galvanized steel, and the walls are insulated by inexpensive but tough Polystyrene foam. The interior is covered by magnesium oxide wallboard that is resistant to water, mold and fire, the company says.
Paolo Tiramani said the purchase by Musk helped the company with branding, but the homes seem to connect with the masses.
“These absolutely will be on Amazon Prime,” Paolo said. “We’re going to be able to ship these next day, eventually.”
According to an annual filing by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Boxabl had close to $35 million in assets and more than $21 million in cash as of Dec. 31.
Paolo Tiramani came to the Las Vegas area in 2016, while his son, who grew up in Connecticut and has been involved in the cryptocurrency and cannabis spaces, later followed.
Paolo Tiramani previously ran an intellectual properties company called 500 Group.
“It’s been shockingly good to do business here in Las Vegas,” Paolo Tiramani said. “I can say with certainly that if we tried to do this on the East Coast, we’d still be looking for permits, though here we are in Vegas and we’ve been operating for a year.”
He said people with the Chamber of Commerce and the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance have been particularly helpful. He also credited North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee.
“There’s an acceptance of the new and an acceptance of creativity here,” Paolo said. “There’s also an encouragement of speed, which you can see if you look at the development on the Las Vegas Strip. This is the perfect town to do something as fast and as creative as what we’re doing.”
