--- title: "Unity Homes — Home Builders | Houzz" canonical_html_url: https://www.houzz.com/professionals/home-builders/unity-homes-pfvwus-pf~1545682349 markdown_url: https://www.houzz.com/md/professionals/pf~1545682349.md entity_type: LocalBusiness business_name: "Unity Homes" category: ["Home Builders"] image: https://st.hzcdn.com/fimgs/4c6350f60783ecf6_8023-w400-h400-b0-p0--.jpg address: "Walpole, New Hampshire, United States" latitude: 43.0795 longitude: -72.4259 phone: "(603) 756-3600" website: http://www.unityhomes.com rating: 4.6 review_count: 7 best_of_houzz_awards: 1 followers: 35 last_updated: 2026-08-17 --- # Unity Homes Original Houzz profile: [Unity Homes](https://www.houzz.com/professionals/home-builders/unity-homes-pfvwus-pf~1545682349) ## Professional summary - **Primary category:** Home Builders - **Location:** Walpole, NH - **Serves:** Northeastern United States - **Houzz rating:** 4.6 out of 5 (7 reviews) - **Best of Houzz:** 1 award (2020), for Service. ## About ### Houzz Badges - Recommended on Houzz - 250 Ideabook Saves We've moved! Unity Homes was founded in 2012 by Bensonwood, a premier high-performance builder in Southern, New Hampshire. Now, the same design platforms and home plans can be found as the Unity Collection on www.bensonwood.com. With more than 50 years of experience in design, engineering, timber framing, panelized construction, and high-performance homebuilding, Bensonwood continues to refine a simpler path to a durable, comfortable, and energy-efficient home. ### Services Provided - New Home Construction - Custom Homes - Energy-Efficient Homes - House Plans - Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) - Green Building - Project Management - Pool House Design & Construction - Garage Building - Floor Plans - Sustainable Design - Drafting - Prefab Houses ### Areas Served - Northeastern United States ### Typical Job Cost $500,000 - 1.5 million $500,000 - 1.5 million ## Business Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Business Name | Unity Homes | | Address | Walpole, New Hampshire, United States | | Phone | (603) 756-3600 | | Website | http://www.unityhomes.com | | Followers on Houzz | 35 | ## Contact - **Houzz profile:** [Unity Homes](https://www.houzz.com/professionals/home-builders/unity-homes-pfvwus-pf~1545682349) - **Website:** http://www.unityhomes.com - **Phone:** (603) 756-3600 ## Credentials **Certifications & Awards** - LEED Gold; Net Zero Ready; Energy Star Certified; - New Hampshire's 1st Zero Energy Ready Home - DOE Zero Energy Ready Home Partner - **Best of Houzz:** 1 award (2020), for Service. **Affiliations** - [Northeast Sustainable Energy Association](https://www.houzz.com/professionals/schools-and-organizations/northeast-sustainable-energy-association-pfvwus-pf~437828998) - [The National Association of Women in Construction](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/professionals/schools-and-organizations/the-national-association-of-women-in-construction-pfvwau-pf~2083202005) ## Reviews **Overall rating: 4.6 out of 5 — 7 reviews** *Aspect averages:* - Work Quality: 50.0 - Communication: 50.0 - Value: 50.0 ### All 7 reviews **★★★★★ — Adam Farrell, April 2021** > My wife and I had an excellent experience building a Tradd with Unity Homes this past year. We opted for the shell only package and worked with a local GC to accomplish the site and finishing work. We visited the main office several times, saw the timber shop, and toured the factory during the process and were impressed at every stop along the way. Both Project Managers we worked with had great communication and good attention to detail, and Unity's estimated timelines for design, manufacturing, and installation were true to life for our project. The install crew was personable and hardworking and it is obvious the pride the Unity team takes in their work. > Our finished home is airy, efficient, comfortable and everything we were hoping it would be. The building science and timber frame were the notable selling points for me, while my wife most appreciates the light-filled open concept and focus on functional design. If you are building a new construction home and prioritizing quality and efficiency, you would be wise to consider Unity Homes for your project. **★★★★★ — Janet Obermann, Oct. 2019** > I can't say enough about how happy I am with my Unity Homes Nano! I purchased the "shell package" and finished the exterior and interior with the help of my son and friends. Unity team members responded to my questions with professionalism, expertise, and real interest in helping me to complete my project. I was honored to have Unity Homes select my small cottage to represent their energy efficient homes on the recent SEON energy tour. Each member of the team was just as enthusiastic about assisting me with my small project as they are about building much larger homes. I highly recommend this company for anyone looking to build an energy efficient home with the highest quality materials, and great support for owner/builders! **★★★★★ — Christine Alexander, Sept. 2018** > When I first started researching for a contractor to build my home, I was looking for one who would be kind to my land (our world) as well as my pocketbook. Unity Homes impressed me with the professionalism, knowledge, and consideration that I met with in their open houses, factory tours, and various crews once we started the consultations, design and construction processes. Everyone that I worked with was respectful of my ideas and questions while they shared why and how they had evolved certain practices. They were truly a joy to work with. After living in this home for almost 2 years, I am continually pleased with the efficiency with which I can live comfortably with minimal impact on the environmental. My home is 'better than advertised'. **★★★★★ — Sandy Crawford, July 2018** > We cannot overstate our satisfaction with our net zero post and beam homed designed and built by Unity. We found Unity through friends who had just built a Bensonwood home. They raved about their Bensonwood team, and the house they built was truly remarkable- unique, beautiful, and sustainable. We went to Bensonwood, and after discussion of what we were looking for, they steered us to Unity; a division of Bensonwood dedicated to making beautiful and sustainable homes which are more affordable because they are built based on standardized platforms using a modular building process. > > Working with the Unity team we were able to design just what we wanted, putting together their pre-designed components (base house, master bedroom pod, screen porch, etc) in ways that fit our site and aesthetic tastes. Because sustainability is important to us, we appreciated that Unity's processes are green. (They are committed to leaving as small a footprint as possible, and just opened a solar-powered manufacturing facility in Keene NH.) Unity offered us choices of finishing materials that were green as well. We appreciated that they had done this legwork, and while we didn't always take their selections (our siding and flooring came from our land, and we used a local blacksmith to create some of our hardware) we appreciated that they were there. We have heard the saying "build a house, lose a spouse" but working with Unity was never like that. We got exactly what we wanted without being overwhelmed by the choices. Because our new home is within 30 miles of Unity, they served as our general contractor after we finished the site work. They were responsive to our needs throughout the building process. > > We are now lucky enough to have a home that is effortlessly and sustainably warm in the winter and cool in the summer. The solar panels on the roof it generate all of the power we use- even here in Northern New England. With it's timber frame, and vaulted living areas, it is a small house that feels large. It is a precision-built modular home which is engineered for energy efficiency, but it is also incredibly beautiful and in many ways uniquely our own. It is the most comfortable and beautiful house we have ever lived in, and building it was a pleasure from beginning to end. **★★★★★ — Laura Chandler, Jan. 2018** > We own a Unity home, a Tradd model, which was built in 2016 in New Jersey. Our experience with Unity was excellent from start to finish. All of the staff are professional and dedicated to their work. The planning and budgeting process is very good, as all costs are clearly spelled out in the contract prior to signing. The fit and finish of the standard lighting, plumbing, and cabinetry are very high quality, and we needed almost no upgrades from standard choices to make a beautifully equipped home. > Our home was built on time and within budget and is everything we had hoped for when we began our search for a quality built, energy efficient house. Unity claims to build well, build efficiently, and they have certainly delivered with our home. It is beautiful, quiet, energy efficient and a delight to come home to. > When working on our project, Unity stayed well-coordinated with our local contractor and followed-up several times after move in to correct small issues (one window had smudges inside the IGU, the back door needed adjustment, and some sealing details needed follow-up). We especially appreciated the personal attention Unity showed on the project, they responded quickly to questions and issues, and kept us informed of progress during the entire process. > Using the energy calculations provided by the Unity team, we sized and installed a PV Solar array, and look to be on-track for Net-Zero electrical use for the year. **Comment from Unity Homes:** > Thank you Laura for this great review! We are delighted that you are enjoying your Unity Home and appreciate your continued support of, and interest in, Unity. **★★★★★ — Steve Taylor, Nov. 2017** > Unity built a Tradd for us. The house is beautiful and very comfortable to live in. As with any project there have been small issues here and there. The impressive thing has been the way that Unity has responded to them. They have been creative and done whatever it takes to resolve any issue that has come up - even sending out their own staff to take care of problems caused by our contractor (at no charge to us). Unity is a really professional and excellent company to work with. **Comment from Unity Homes:** > We're so glad you're enjoying your lovely home and thanks for sharing your experience. **★★ — Eileen Udry, Dec. 2016** > Not ready for prime time…but charging top dollar! > > The home that we had built by Unity/Bensonwood (Zum model, 2015) has been a huge disappointment. First, a bit of background...Bensonwood is the parent company to Unity and has been building custom high-end homes for decades. Bensonwood enjoys a great reputation. Unity is the newer the spin-off company that is trying to make more "affordable" pre-fab homes by offering several models, which can then be customized. Here are a few points for any potential clients to consider: > > 1\. Unprofessional: Unity/Bensonwood (UB) says they build contemporary pre-fab homes. We live in the Mid-West and they are in the Northeast. During the sales process, a UB sales rep told us more than once that- although an actual Zum home was not available in the Mid-West to tour, a 3-D virtual model of the home would be available. While not ideal, we figured we could make 3-D modeling work. Unfortunately, once we signed the contract we were informed that 3-D modeling was, in fact, NOT available. So, all decisions (such as floor plan changes, etc.) that we made had to be made completely “blind” in terms of how things would actually look. This was one of our first signals that UB wasn't going to deliver as promised. > > 2\. Inability to meet deadlines: UB marketing materials and their website boasts that as a builder of pre-fab homes they can build their homes in "30 days". So, how did they do in our case? Well, the length of time from when we signed our contract (at which times the majority of planning and designing was completed) to when we had our Certificate of Occupancy was approximately 12 months. Because we experienced so many delays, etc. we asked our project manager if our project took longer than usual for some reason, he commented that our home building process time was "about average". This timeframe really isn’t that different from the timeframe associated with most conventionally built homes. So, no real time benefit in terms of using "pre-fab" that we could see. > > 3\. Poor work quality and knowledge of building science: UB claims that their clients will end up with a very “green”, high performance home with low energy needs and superior indoor air quality. Our experience has been quite the opposite! > > Specifically, once we moved in our home it was so uncomfortable that we started communicating with UB and tracking data (e.g., temperature, humidity, etc.). After a few months of this with no resolution, we contacted an independent consulting company with specialized expertise in this area to do a thorough analysis of how the house was performing. (Note: UB had installed a mini-split and HRV system rather than a conventional HVAC system). The data from the consultant confirmed what we were experiencing i.e., that the house is substantially under-ventilated (and doesn’t meet ASHRAE 2013 standards or other recognized standards), it doesn't adequately remove humidity, and it was designed with too many windows (causing the house to have poor energy usage, overheat and have large temperature fluctuations). Interestingly, the problems created by over-glazing (i.e., designing a home with too many windows) have been documented since the 1980’s so it’s surprising that UB is still struggling with this issue. > > On more than one occasion UB reps said that they thought our humidity and ventilation problems were significantly related to the fact that we have three (40 lbs.) dogs. Seriously? A "high performance home" has a heating/cooling/ventilation system that can't handle several dogs? I will say that for over a decade we’ve lived in a number of homes of similar square footage with three medium-sized dogs. We have never had the problems we continue to experience. > > I will give UB credit for making a trip to our home to attempt to problem-solve about the indoor air quality issues we continue to experience. It is also true that UB has acknowledged the problems associated with our indoor air quality. It is just that we still don’t have a comfortable/livable home. > > In conclusion, it's unfortunate that this young company hasn't worked out numerous important aspects of building homes. Based on our experiences, I would strongly recommend potential UB clients look to other home building companies who can really deliver on their claims. **Comment from Unity Homes:** > At Unity Homes, we take the concerns of our clients seriously. In her negative review of Unity, our client Eileen Udry suggests that the issues she experienced on her project were the result of Unity being a young company, and “not ready for prime time.” However, Unity has built more than forty homes in the past four years, and our clients are generally very pleased with the process and the result. > At Unity, we know that issues and challenges are always going to arise in the construction of high-performance homes. When they do, the most important questions for us are “How effectively are we responding to these issues?” And, “Are we improving our process by learning from our mistakes?” > > Eileen mentions that she was told that we model our homes in 3D, but that the 3D modeling was not available to her. The fact is, every Unity Home is modeled in 3D, because the information from the 3D model drives the computer-controlled cutting equipment in our shop. However, the 3D model that we created for this project was apparently not shared with Eileen, or it was not what she was expecting. The 3D model can be used to understand the basic massing of the house, but it does not easily lend itself to a virtual 3D walk-through. Photo-realistic virtual 3D walk-throughs are coming—for Unity and for other builders—but they are currently too expensive to be included in Unity’s standard process. We are now making sure that our clients have a clear understanding of the 3D modeling that we do, prior to their signing a contract. > > Eileen’s second point relates to the timeframe for construction. Unity has ambitious goals for reducing the time required to build a new home, and our off-site process generally makes for significantly faster construction compared to building a home entirely on site. But the “30 days” that Eileen references from our website is more aspirational than actual: “We have the potential...to build homes in 30 days that last 300 years.” Many factors affect the construction schedule, including certain tasks like permitting that are outside of our control. On average, our homes require 8 to 10 weeks to finish, after our crew has assembled the shell of the home on site. For most of our clients, the predictability that we can provide in terms of cost and quality is a greater incentive than a compressed construction schedule. > > The third point that Eileen raises centers on the temperature and comfort within the home. At Unity, we strive to make each of our homes as comfortable as possible, and in fact, we promote comfort as being a primary benefit of our homes. However, in the Udry’s house, we made two mistakes that resulted in discomfort for Eileen and her husband: we allowed the design to include too much window area facing south, and we did not fully take into account how the linear layout of the house would affect the mechanical systems. The extensive windows resulted in the home occasionally being too warm during the winter when the angle of the sun was below the roof overhang. The linear design resulted in the home’s ventilation system being slightly undersized, and a room at the far end of the house being under-conditioned. > > So how did we respond? When the significance of these issues became apparent, we flew two representatives (the project manager and our in-house energy specialist) out to the job site. Our team confirmed the issues and discussed possible solutions with the homeowners. We proposed that we add shades to address the overheating issue, increase the size and associated ductwork of the ventilation system to handle the loads, and add an additional mini-split heating/cooling zone that would condition the portion of the home furthest from the units that were originally installed. And we offered to make these changes free of charge. > > Ultimately, Eileen and her husband decided to decline our offer, and instead opted to retain the final payment on their contract, which they had been holding pending resolution of the issues. > > Because we at Unity are committed to standing behind our work, on this project we would have preferred to have the opportunity to “make it right” through the shading and changes to the HVAC system. However, we believe that the final resolution, while not fully satisfactory to either the clients or to us, was fair and equitable. > > At Unity Homes, our work is guided by 12 principles. Principle \#10 is “we own the problems we see.” Our response to Eileen and her husband exemplified our commitment to this principle. Principle \#8 states that “unless proven otherwise, we assume that people are good; only systems are at fault.” Knowing that these clients and our team of hardworking professionals are good people led us to evaluate the breakdown in our systems that resulted in the mistakes and the unfavorable review. > > The path to a Better Way to Build is not without bumps, and as we see it, the path has no end—there will always be room for improvement. We learned expensive but important lessons on this project. Unity Homes is stronger for it because the knowledge and experience that we gained is making all of our projects better. ## Selected projects - [At Home In The Virginia Hills](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/at-home-in-the-virginia-hills-pj-vj~2307303) - Location: Castleton, VA - Photos: 5 - Description: A traditional cape inspired home, this Unity "Tradd" was completed in early 2016. At 2685 sf, this home has an open kitchen/dining/living room area with a screen dining porch and deck, as well as a master suite on the first floor. The second floor has two additional bedrooms, full bath and an open loft overlooking the great room below. James R Salomon Photography - [Healthy Living at the Lake in a Unity Homes Xyla](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/healthy-living-at-the-lake-in-a-unity-homes-xyla-pj-vj~2033861) - Location: Marlow, NH - Photos: 14 - [Moving towards Net-Zero and loving every minute of it!](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/moving-towards-net-zero-and-loving-every-minute-of-it-pj-vj~2840472) - Location: Pelham, MA - Photos: 6 - Description: This contemporary home in Western MA is so full of light and healthy air that the homeowner's remarked "It feels like we're living outside"! The solar array on the garage roof is moving the home to net-zero operating costs. - [Country Living in Southern Connecticut](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/country-living-in-southern-connecticut-pj-vj~2224214) - Location: Easton, CT - Photos: 5 - [Contemporary New Hampshire Home](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/contemporary-new-hampshire-home-pj-vj~2033782) - Location: Keene, NH - Photos: 8 - [At Home on the College Campus](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/at-home-on-the-college-campus-pj-vj~1957805) - Location: Hanover, NH - Photos: 7 - Description: This Värm platform, influenced in style by the Scandinavian farmhouse, was designed to accommodate weekly gatherings of students, faculty and staff as well as to house the faculty family. Ten foot ceilings on the first floor complemented by large triple pane windows provide for maximum natural light to the interior. The space combined with a natural color palette creates a comfortable and spacious feel to the first floor. The addition of a wrap around porch easily accommodates larger groups on d… - [Serene and healthy living on a NH lake](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/serene-and-healthy-living-on-a-nh-lake-pj-vj~2834063) - Location: Fitzwilliam, NH - Photos: 5 - [Lakeside Living in Massachusetts](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/lakeside-living-in-massachusetts-pj-vj~2624154) - Location: Lakeville, MA - Photos: 8 - Description: This Tradd home is located on a long lake in Massachusetts. It's the perfect place to come home to after a long day at the office, or escape the city for the summer! Almost all rooms on the spacious, airy first floor look directly to the Lake, with beautiful sunsets coming across the lake and setting the main living area aglow regularly. - [Net-Zero Ready in the rolling hills of New Jersey](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/net-zero-ready-in-the-rolling-hills-of-new-jersey-pj-vj~2608769) - Location: Lumberton, NJ - Photos: 8 - Description: This traditional cape inspired "Tradd" was completed in the fall of 2016. With over 3700 sf of living space, this home features Unity's "open built" first floor plan with an adjacent patio overlooking the property and a large master suite on the first floor. The second floor has two additional bedrooms, full bath and an open loft overlooking the living room below. A finished walk-out basement completes the model. - [An Ivy League Home](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/an-ivy-league-home-pj-vj~1963239) - Location: Hanover, NH - Photos: 7 [See all 10 projects](https://www.houzz.com/professionals/home-builders/unity-homes-pfvwus-pf~1545682349) --- *Source: Houzz professional profile. Reflects the profile as of 2026-08-17.*