A net-zero house–one that creates as much energy as it uses–is usually a pricey custom design. The cost is one reason that there are only around 600 of the homes in the U.S. today.

But a new startup wants to make a house with no energy bills as cheap as buying a standard power-sucking McMansion. The Axiom House is ultra-efficient, runs on renewable power, and smart: Robots handle everything from lighting and security to mowing the lawn.

“We feel that on many levels, the typical home is terribly out of date,” says Andrew Dickson, cofounder of Acre Designs, which created the new house. “We view this as an opportunity to redefine what the American home is, and tailor for a lifestyle that is more focused on doing great things than having things.”

While almost every other product has evolved, typical homes haven’t changed much for generations, even though people have. At 2,600 square feet on average, they’re usually oversized for modern families. Over 30 years–with the cost of utilities, interest, taxes, and insurance–a $300,000 house ends up costing closer to a million dollars. Typical houses run on the equivalent of 11,000 pounds of coal. “And [they] don’t really serve people’s needs all that well,” Dickson says.

An 1,800-square-foot Axiom House costs around $220,000 (not including land), far less than most architect-designed homes. It’s cheaper because it’s a standard model; the designers compare it to buying a car. You can choose some features, but the basic layout is the same, so it can be mass-produced.

Careful design and prebuilt components help eliminate typical construction waste, while also making the house faster to assemble. The pre-engineered panels that make up the walls go up in less than half the time of a standard house, and the savings on labor help make the final product affordable. The house is even cheaper than a prefab net-zero house that is also aiming for affordability.

“The saying typically goes ‘fast, cheap, or good: pick two,'” Dickson says. “With modern manufacturing, we can have all three. That is what we enjoy in our devices and cars–continual design and functional improvements with costs going down and value going up. Time to bring that to housing.”