5 ms·

Can some share some insight on why the construction industry hasn't moved to prefab for cookie cutter single family homes ? Does it not reduce labor costs in co

• turtlebits 7y ago
  People love their square footage and you can't get that with a prefab 1 story. That and most prefab/manufactured homes look cheap.
• georgeoliver 7y ago
  I think the efficiency cost reduction isn't as great as you might imagine. If you look at the National Association of Home Builder's estimates for building a home in the USA [1], construction cost is about half of the total, and you still have to prepare the site, build the foundation and finish the site (at least 20% of construction costs). So your share of offsite construction cost would be at most 40% of total costs. Though factory construction work tends to pay a little less than field work it's not that much less -- maybe 20%. So in the end you don't save much and still have to deal with the logistics of delivery. That said there are other production efficiencies which would make it worthwhile IMO. But cost is king. [1] http://www.nahbclassic.org/generic.aspx?genericContentID=260013 http://www.nahbclassic.org/generic.aspx?genericContentID=260...