Which of the following capability struggles homebuilders face at this intense mixed-signals moment would not be eased by the latest array of industrialized manufacturing technology solutions for start-to-completion building lifecycles?

  • Supply chain
  • Skilled labor
  • Schedule predictability
  • Weather-proofing
  • One-time quality
  • Materials waste
  • Structural performance
  • Velocity

We’ll come back to your answers to the question. First, we’ll consider why there may be a gap between logical answers to them and what will actually happen in 2022, a year like the past two or three that should have signaled an inflection point embrace of exponentially-growing tech solutions in new construction.

A brief digression.

There are

Source: Mosaic
  • 92% of respondents said it is important to use technology services, such as software products, in the homebuilding process;
  • 83% of respondents said they are likely to seek out new technology products in the homebuilding process; and,
  • 72% of respondents said they are likely to seek out homes built using technology products in the next 12 months; and,
  • 92% of respondents said it is important to use technology products that create efficiencies in the homebuilding process, with 84% reporting they are likely to use said products.

At the same time, Mikaela Arroyo and Tim Seims, analysts at John Burns Real Estate Consulting looked at three topical “catalysts — code adoption, credibility, and competitive pressure”— as drivers that could impact more widespread adoption of offsite construction facilities in framing and building envelope solutions. In light of those three timely forces, JBREC identifies six key validation checks builders might apply to consideration of a pivot now to offsite.

Here they are:

  • Your desire to control the building process. The more you control in the construction process (from initial design to the field), the more you control your own destiny. This is especially important with today’s supply chain issues. Consider moving one piece of the process from “subcontracted” to “self-performing” per quarter.
  • Your emphasis on speed and quality. Offsite and prefab methods address speed, labor quality, and construction quality issues. Modular brings you speed but also creates logistical challenges.
  • Your financial analysis, which needs to consider build time. The direct cost of offsite will be higher than traditional stick framing. However, those costs are made up in speed to market, less waste, eliminated scaffolding, and more. Speed to market is one reason single family build-for-rent will likely be a likely driver of offsite, since speedy construction results in quicker leasing.
  • Your relationships with inspectors and permit authorizers. Building good relationships and fostering clear communication with municipalities (state and local), underwriters, and code officials will impact your success.
  • Your location. Offsite construction requires careful logistical coordination between where pieces are built and where they are set. Proximity to offsite plants should be a determining factor.
  • Your emphasis on the environment. Offsite can impact the environment in numerous ways, including reduced waste, reduced noise on site, safer work environment, and healthier air quality (from less dust being kicked up). If sustainability is a focus area right now, industrialized construction in some form may be a solution.

For these benefits – all of which can impact building companies’ bottom line if expenses capture in each of these six areas flowed directly to profits – a pivot to industrialized, precision manufacturing construction makes sense, and amount to at least part of the necessary solution.

The other two parts of the solution remain tangled in the dirt – both as a cost basis and a potential revenue and profitability trap: policy and financial equity.

When the two conversants recognize that a homebuilder’s core business is not solely vertical construction, but rather an entangled, triangular combination of building, policy, and finance, then they can be in the same conversation about the timing of homebuilding’s technological advance.

It looks and sounds like that time is drawing nearer.

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