While we were building Julia's art studio, she had nowhere to work. So our building crew started setting aside construction remnants like wood offcuts and Hardie board, cut specially for her to use as canvases. She made a whole series of paintings from them. And it ended up being one of our favorite parts of the whole project. Full video in the comments.
About us
Type Five is a housing company that designs and builds exceptional homes. Our modular design system, paired with software, helps us build homes faster and more economically. We streamline the hard parts of homebuilding so we can focus on what matters most: a seamless process, thoughtful design, and quality craft.
- Website
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https://www.typefive.com
External link for Type Five
- Industry
- Construction
- Company size
- 2-10 employees
- Headquarters
- Berkeley, CA
- Type
- Privately Held
Locations
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Primary
Get directions
Berkeley, CA 94702, US
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Get directions
1336 Channing Way
Suite E
Berkeley, California 94702, US
Employees at Type Five
Updates
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Artist Julia Schwartz knew exactly what she needed for her painting studio: open space, good light, plywood floors, and a utility sink. What she didn't expect was someone who would actually listen to her, until she met Aleksis and learned about Type Five's customizable homes. "He was the first person who was so interested in what I wanted and was willing to work with me to give me that." Full video in the comments.
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We're proud to announce our collaboration with Live Near Friends, with whom we've designed the Friend Compound Field Guide. Type Five is now also an official design-build partner for its end-to-end Custom Compounds service. Thanks to Phil Levin and team. Let's get building!
Today we're launching two things at Live Near Friends: 1. The Friend Compound Field Guide — 18 real Bay Area properties reimagined as 2–4 home friend compounds, with architectural designs, costs, and construction timelines. 2. Custom Compounds — our end-to-end service for groups ready to go from "we should do this" to actually living next door to each other. Why are we doing this? Ready-made friend or family compounds are incredibly rare. Most groups spend years scanning listings and never find one. But California's new housing laws (SB 9, SB 684, ADUs, etc) make it possible to take a single lot — in the exact neighborhood you want — and turn it into a 2–4 home compound. And in many cases, those homes are separately titled and financeable (no need to co-own anything). So we partnered with Type Five, a Bay Area design-build firm, and took 18 properties that actually sold in the last year. For each one we asked: what if a group of friends had bought this instead? The results range from a $1.3M two-home setup in Oakland to a $8.2M six-home compound in Burlingame. These aren't fantasy projects. Properties like these are on the market right now. For groups ready to go, our Custom Compound service covers everything — property search, zoning analysis, ownership structuring, design-build coordination, and the social architecture (governance, exit provisions, shared space agreements) that makes compounds actually work long-term. I built my own compound in 2019. It's now 20 adults and 8 kids across 6 buildings. We want to make this process repeatable. We'll take on up to 10 projects this year.
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