With a lack of construction workers dragging down the home building industry, one of the biggest homebuilders in the U.S. is investigating off-site construction as an alternative to fully building homes on site.
PulteGroup announced Tuesday that it bought Innovative Construction Group, an off-site solutions provider focused on single-family and multifamily wood-framed construction.
The Jacksonville, Florida-based company provides “framing solutions include design services, manufactured wall panels, roof trusses and floor systems, and on-site installation to provide a full-frame shell construction process.”
According to PulteGroup, the acquisition will allow the company to explore off-site methods as an option to address some of the issues facing homebuilders.
“Off-site solutions can deliver high-quality framing components with less waste and help address trade labor shortages that are a persistent problem for the construction industry,” the company said in a release.
According to PulteGroup, the acquisition of ICG will initially address the Jacksonville market specifically, but the company said it may use the company as a “model” for using off-site methods to aid in the home building process.
“We are extremely impressed with ICG’s management team and automated plant operations, and look forward to working with the company’s founders, who will continue to lead the organization,” said Ryan Marshall, president and CEO of PulteGroup.
“As we capitalize on ICG’s existing products and services, we expect to expand the factory’s production capabilities to provide additional products and services to ICG’s customers,” Marshall continued.
“In acquiring ICG, we see the potential for our Jacksonville operations to benefit through faster cycle times, precision structural components and savings on lumber and other materials,” Marshall added. “ICG can also serve as a model to intelligently integrate the use of off-site production with our existing trade partners.”
According to the companies, ICG will remain a standalone operation and continue serving its existing customer base.
“Over the last decade, we have continuously developed and refined our fully integrated off-site model to service single-family and multifamily customers,” said Ryan Melin, co-founder and president of ICG. “We are excited to partner with PulteGroup and leverage our shared passion for innovation to offer a broader range of services and capabilities to all of our customers.”
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
This deal is not the first time that a prominent homebuilder invested in a construction alternative. In 2018, D.R. Horton invested in a construction tech company that claims to be able to 3D-print homes in under 24 hours.
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