Do It Yourself-ready:
no need for specialized workers and heavy equipment Adaptable to your life stages (upsize, downsize, divide, move)
Sustainable:
structure and walls made out of wood (plywood, OSB); no concrete necessary even for the foundation
Energy-efficient
triple glazing, air-tight building envelope, 20 cm thermal insulation – basaltic wool
”Packable”:
it can be disassembled, packed, moved in one week.
Read more about why & how.
NEW PRODUCTS
LIMITED AVAILABILITY IN 2025
Because we want the preserve the quality of our output,
in 2025 there will be limited availability for the following products:
15 x Flat Pack 7
7 x Box Pack 7
50 x Digital Pack 7
First come, first served – so make
sure you get on the waiting list.
Floor area 24 sqm + Loft 6 sqm
Packed volume xx cubic meters
5 hours of personal assistance (video calls)
Starting from 8.925 Euro (VAT included)
Floor area 24 sqm + Loft 6 sqm
Packed volume xx cubic meters
5 hours of personal assistance (video calls)
Starting from 15.795 Euro (VAT included)
Bill of Materials with full specifications and links to reference items
Detailed assembly instructions (pdf and video)
5 hours of personal assistance (video calls)
Starting from 975 Euro (VAT included)
We designed the Catun building system for making it reasonably easy for a DIY-inclined person to build a house.
No need for big machinery
No need for pouring concrete (only if you prefer such a foundation)
No need for scaffolding
No need for professional construction personnel
There are certain steps that require another pair of hands – especially installing the roof construction modules.
Starting with a complete foundation and a set of CNC-cut wood elements, a 4-person team working fulltime should be able to assemble a Catun 7 unit in 10 days (phases 3 to 5 indicated below).
Bellow is a short step-by-step summary for building with CATUN system.
The sequence applies to almost any home build.
- Building site preparation
- Foundation
- Module Pre-assembly
- Structure assembly
- External envelope
- Electrical, HVAC, water systems
- Connections to utilities
- Finishes and furniture
This phase involves clearing the building site of any obstacles and ensuring proper drainage. It also includes marking the layout for the foundation and making sure the site complies with local building regulations.
If you choose a screw-pillar foundation, the building site may keep a certain inclination – it’s best to consult your provider for the said foundation.
Most terrains allow a screw-pillar foundation – subject to confirmation by your chosen provider. For a perfectly-informed decision, a geological study is usually required.
The pillars (1-3 meters long, depending on terrain) are drilled directly into the ground. A painted steel chassis is installed to support the house, providing a strong and durable framework.
The modules will be anchored on the chassis with specially designed connection pieces.
However, you can opt for alternative foundation solutions based on their specific site conditions and preferences like concrete slabs, pier and beam foundations, or even full basements. The choice of foundation depends on factors such as soil type, climate, and personal preferences.
Assembling the construction modules, or “boxes”, is next. These modules form the structure of the floors, walls and roof. The assembly is designed to be quick and straightforward, with minimal tooling (a decent power screwdriver, rubber hammer, chisel).
After a day of practice, assembling a box should take one person no more than 30 minutes (or 10 minutes for a team of two).
The core modules, or “boxes,” are assembled in this phase. These modules form the primary structure of the home, and their assembly is designed to be quick and straightforward, allowing for easy customization and expansion.
Installing the window frames and the window glass is best left to your specialized provider, especially if you have no experience with this process.
The roof and external cladding are installed to protect the structure from the elements. This phase includes insulating the building to ensure energy efficiency and durability.
You can use wood / shingles for maximum sustainability and universally-appropriate aesthetics. Any other typical roofing material works. The roof underlayer is OSB / wood sheets sealed with a weatherproof membrane, allowing for total versatility.
Electrical wiring, heating, and cooling systems are next.
These systems are integrated into the structure to provide the necessary comfort.
Also. the water pipes and drainage is put in place during this phase.
The home is connected to external utilities, including electricity, water, and sewage. This phase ensures that all necessary services are operational, making the home fully functional.
The final phase involves adding interior finishes, such as flooring, painting, and cabinetry. Furniture and other fixtures are installed, completing the home and making it ready for living.
Assemble your Scandinavian-style home from a precision-manufactured flat pack, in less time than a traditional house, without the need for big machinery.
Catun Flat Pack (CFP) includes all manufactured materials and accessories for:
* Assembling the “boxes” which make the floor, the exterior walls, the roof and the interior walls;
* All fresh water and greywater internal piping, connectors
* All electrical system components (optional: wall sockets and lighting switches)
* Build the whole structure with the boxes and the accessories.
Catun Flat Pack includes step-by-step instructions for all phases of building your home.
Optional pack 1 which you can buy from us:
* Thermal insulation (fire-proof stone wool) for exterior walls, roof and floor
* Vapour-blocking membrane and water-proofing membrane
* Double or triple glazed windows and the corresponding window frames
* Roofing material
* Doors and door frames
* Wall sockets and lighting switches
These items are absolutely necessary for completing the build; you can order the optional pack from us or you can buy item by item from your local hardware store / provider.
Catun 7 is 7.2 meters long, for a total of 30 sqm (ground floor and loft). It’s a home for two (or 2 + 1/4) – with living space, sleeping loft, kitchenette, bathroom and outdoor terrace.
When the 1/4 becomes ½ or more, you can upgrade Catun 5 to Catun 7 by adding two more modules at a very affordable cost, with surprising ease for a construction project.
Price starting at 29.850 Eur + VAT for the build-it-yourself kit, with ½ glass facade and double glazing. Electrical and plumbing included.
You don’t need a typical concrete slab / foundation; instead of the 18-helical pillar foundation, Catun 5 can be placed on the same number of small concrete blocks (strong attachment necessary).
Buton “Pre-order now”
- The system is made of flat pack wooden panels which are produced using a computer controlled cutting machine (CNC) and are accurate to 0.1 of a millimetre.
- The process is managed using a parametric computational workflow, which allows us to turn your design (or one of our own) into cutting drawings, costs, and visualisations at the click of a button.
- The finalised cutting drawings are sent to one of our network of CNC fabricators, and arrive on site as a kit of parts for assembly.
- Using basic tools, the panels are assembled into ‘boxes’ which form the building blocks of the system.
- The boxes are stacked and bolted to form the walls, floor and roof structure.
- The open boxes are filled with natural sheep’s wool, which is cut to size to ensure no messy cutting on site or the resulting air gaps from rough cutting.
- The finished frame is left exposed if the structure is to be used inside, or fitted with a weather-proof membrane and cladding if outside.
- At the end of the building’s useful life, the boxes can be taken apart and moved, recycled or sold to other U-Builders.
– CATUN is a designed on the same logic as DIY flat-packed furniture – only bigger and with less components. These have all been precision cut at our workshop (or a fabricator near you), so the assembly process is standardized. Digital fabrication makes things easier, safer and quicker for you and empowers you to take part in the construction process.
Building a house is not a casual task, therefore we lowered the complexity to a very reasonable level. If you ever put together a flat-packed bed, wardrobe or cupboard, you most probably have the technical acumen to build with CATUN system.
You’ll also get a decent amount of physical exercise – but you don’t need to be a powerhouse 🙂 If you can lift 25kg over your head and have a friend that can do it too, you’re capable of building it. A team of three people would make the process considerably easier; a team of four will work wonders.
Yes. Every build package comes with at personalized assistance from us, including live videocalls for helping you solve specific build steps.
The BOX PACK consists of, well, already assembled “boxes” – construction modules which form the floor, the vertical walls and the roof.
The FLAT PACK consists of ready-cut plywood and OSB pieces which you have to assemble into boxes / modules, than into a house structure. Your upside is a double saving: for transportation (due to a much lower volume of the package) and for pre-assembly (you’re doing the work, you’re keeping the money).
CATUN building system is designed and manufactured in Bucharest / Romania / UE by a team of architects, builders and makers.
You’ll get to know us personally once you pre-order – which comes with a videocall for understanding your needs and answering whatever questions you may have about CATUN.
We designed CATUN to be a 4-season home in Romania. We still get -15 C in winter (in the mountains, at least). And we get more and more days of +40 C in the summer.
So the thermal insulation of 20 centimeters of basaltic wool for all the exterior walls, the airtight double membrane (inside and outside the walls) and the (optional) Low-E triple glazing make for a very well-insulated envelope.
Because it’s a rather low-volume building (around 70 cubic meters) and it is well-insulated, it requires much less energy for cooling and heating than a traditional home. A 9.000 BTU A/C unit is more than enough for this task.
According to your climate, you may want another heating source / a towel radiator in the bathroom.
If the main / glass facade is oriented towards South, you’ll need shading in the summer for improving your thermal efficiency.