'Solid structure'

Weighing 2 to 3 metric tons each, he said the houses can cope with wind speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour in inland regions. In coastal areas, pilings are installed in the four corners of the cabin to fix the structure to the ground

Chen added that the folding sections of modules are reinforced with bolts to stabilize the structure.

"Some customers question the safety of foldable houses as it looks like they will fly away with the wind. There's really no need to worry about their solidity. A truck also occupies a small piece of land, have you ever seen one fly away with the wind?" he said.

The houses start at 300 yuan ($43) per square meter for the most basic model, but customized versions can cost more than three times as much

Chen and his team usually take dozens of orders per month, according to Wu Cuili, who manages the online store.

Ninety percent of their customers, including construction companies and individual buyers, found the online store through posts by Chen on Douyin, the short-video platform also known as TikTok. A 15-second time-lapse video showing a villa unfolding gained 18 million views in just four hours.

"Customers from Africa, the Middle East and Australia also ordered our products after they saw the videos on TikTok," Chen said.

Delivery inside China takes a week from the time the advance payment is made.

Overseas orders take longer to fill, with the cost of the shipping often equal to the cost of the foldable home. Wu said: "A special requirement of an overseas order is that a shipping container at least 12 meters long is involved."

Copycats

But as business booms, Chen's team faces the threat of copycat products, even though he has registered the patents for his foldable homes in China.

"They disassemble the modules to study the designs and sell the duplicates in their own stores," Chen said.

The cost of pursuing legal action against the unlawful imitations is high. "Usually, we report to the local administration for industry and commerce but sometimes no results follow," he said.

To keep his competitive edge, Chen keeps coming up with innovative designs and testing new materials. Several prototypes are needed before a new foldable villa is launched online with each one costing more than 50,000 yuan.

"The expenses incurred for the experiments account for 50 percent of our profits, but 90 percent of those innovations don't bring back any direct economic benefits," Chen said.

However, he said that only through innovation can his company make a product that has true value.