5 ms·
You say it’s the wrong optimization but your argument seems to be that there are bigger problems. I tend to agree, particularly with pernicious stuff like singl
by jolux 6y ago
You say it’s the wrong optimization but your argument seems to be that there are bigger problems. I tend to agree, particularly with pernicious stuff like single-unit zoning and such, but that doesn’t mean that prefab is “wrong” overall. I don’t see it as a cost optimization, I see it as a speed and consistency optimization. Do we know if long-term maintenance costs of prefab construction are lower?
- jeffbee 6y agoSeems like it would be hard to reason about. Consistency is great but it means if you order assembled wall panels from a factory, your foundation has to be exact in dimensions and dead level, or it's not going to come together. On-site framers aren't really bothered by this. I think it trades one kind of complexity for another.
- sjg007 6y agoI'm sure a shim kit would be included to even out discrepancies. If the tolerance is too high for that then your foundation needs to be fixed.
- bluGill 6y agoHaving done framing in the past I assure you foundation tolerances are not close enough for a shim kit in general.
- sjg007 6y agoSeems like people are getting away with shoddy work then.
- jeffbee 6y agoIt kinda seems cheap for people on a forum for software developers to criticize the quality of, well, just about anything.
- majormajor 6y ago"What do you mean you didn't finish all the tickets in this sprint? Must be shoddy work." You're looking at single pieces of a complex and already optimized-for-several-factors system and assuming it would be trivial to do it better for one factor without taking others into account...
- bluGill 6y agoIt costs more than it is worth to have them do better. As a framer is takes me a couple minutes more to compensate. To have the do it would take hours of labor.
- jessaustin 6y agoI presume you're talking about scribing the bottom plate, or perhaps another board placed between the foundation and the bottom plate? Why couldn't a layer of that same sort of scribed board be placed on the foundation before placing the prefab modules?
- bluGill 6y agoDepends on where it was. The worst case I saw was a half wall, so we cut each stud a different length. There are options for prefab as you saw - but when building on site we have the saws and other tools needed anyway, so it isn't a big deal to use them. With prefab they don't normally use those tools so you have to account for the cost of getting them out putting them away.
- jolux 6y agoWell, you’ve certainly proved that I don’t understand this well enough to evaluate alternatives, fascinating though I do find this subject :) I guess the dimensions seem like they’d be easier to get right than leveling, though, maybe?
- vlan0 6y agoThis is really key. The quality of the end product will always be determined by the crew that sets the house. Same will be true for custom stick-built. The biggest challenge we faced, even with a skilled crew, was simply getting the pieces into some of these lots in the ADK. Between the tight winding roads and lot elevation, it was quite a battle. Source: My family has been in the modular and manufactured housing business since the 60s.