Offsite Construction Needs More Than Interest. It Needs Training.
Most builders and developers are busy doing what they do every day —building single-family homes, duplexes, townhouses and multifamily projects. And most of them are doing so using traditional on-site building methods. But those builders and developers have also been hearing the growing drumbeat about this thing called offsite construction.
Offsite first showed up on the jobsite as components — roof and floor trusses, and wall panels. Although one would expect the next logical step to be a move to volumetric construction, this is where it starts to get hard. This is where the old processes break down and must be replaced with new, unfamiliar ones.
Trusses and panels don’t radically change on-site processes; they just speed those processes up. Framing crews are still needed, but those crews are more efficient because the dimensional lumber in the components has been cut to exact lengths and consistently fastened, which can shave off two or three days from the framing time.
The problem is that when the framing crew leaves, the rest of the job goes as always, with subcontractors doing what they have always done in the timeframe and manner they have always done it.
In addition, truss and wall panel manufacturers need not train framing crews on how to use their products. At most, they’ll create a video or provide some packaging that shows the fastening requirements and where to install the components on the plan.
By contrast, the move to volumetric modular construction is more of an heroic leap. New skills needed include how to fit modules to foundations, how to establish proper gaps between modules, how to assemble roof structures, how to make proper foundation and inter-module attachments and how to identify mistakes made at the factory and correct them on-site.
Diving into a modular project for the first time without prior training is like assembling a kid’s battery-powered Barbie Jeep on Christmas morning when someone forgot to put the instructions in the box. The pressure is on with a four-year-old daughter looking over your shoulder wanting to start riding, now.
Very often, the factory doesn’t provide good instructions, and the people at the 800 number haven’t been trained on how to put the modules together at the jobsite.
The point is that, as an industry, we won’t reach our potential unless we can scale our training and support for builders and developers. Until we do so, our growth will be but a trickle, despite the market demanding a flood of new homes.
Forward-thinking builders and developers know that modular is the future. They know that if they don’t get onboard now, one of their competitors will beat them to it and will gain the competitive advantage. But the dearth of training resources stops them from moving forward.
To fully embrace volumetric offsite construction, builders and developers need readily available training and an expert consulting industry that can support them. Once that happens, builders and developers will jump headfirst into the offsite pool!
If you liked this article, you can follow Ken Semler on LinkedIn, where he offers daily insights and commentary about offsite construction.
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