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I see. Another wood-house project created by civil engineering or building material science graduates (Leeds Beckett University)--similar to the last one. Bui

I see. Another wood-house project created by civil engineering or building material science graduates (Leeds Beckett University)--similar to the last one. Build costs similar to brick (ouch!), requires a specific CNC operator to build panels (supply chain ouch!), and creates an integrated house (ouch! to any renovations using conventional materials; ouch! to system longevity). I hate these as they're basically the results of a couple of graduate students operating under a innovation grant. The practical results of this are that someone is going to find a local CNC operator (within 320km based on the study), find out the costs of buying 300 sheets of quality 7-layer plywood and running a custom project with the CNC operator, find a local engineer willing to sign off on the project (for insurance, mortgage, and to maintain the 10 year defect free period), and then have to find a local labour contractor willing to use their building materials as the structure. After all that legwork, they're going to go with a traditional building contractor.

ShredKazoo 4y ago
On the other hand, if you're a CNC operator and you already have spare capacity, this could allow you to cheaply branch into home construction by hiring a few more employees...
monkeydust 4y ago
So this happened. I looked at wikihouse many years ago for a project. I really liked the idea and team but (at least at the time) it was still very new. Too much risk to take on for individual homeowner and it was cheaper for me to get a local contractor who had experience in developing what I was after.
SamBam 4y ago
> requires a specific CNC operator to build panels (supply chain ouch!) Unsure what this means. The CNC files are open source, and there are millions of CNC machines in the world. What specific CNC operator? In general, I'd say your comments are valid for a random homeowner that decides they want to try this out. If you think in terms of a contractor who wanted to start specializing in this in their region, it seems quite doable. They could have their own engineer that has seen many of these, and a stable source of plywood/OSB and access to a CNC shop.
- emilfihlman 4y ago
  They mean that it requires a cnc operator, and that it's not usually required in building houses, which is a pretty huge added cost.
  - kitd 4y ago
    From which you can subtract the cost of the brick/cement/block manufacturer.
    - throwaway4aday 4y ago
      Wouldn't that be equivalent to the plywood manufacturer? This still adds an additional processing step where you take a mass produced construction material and make a specialized product out of it which you then use to build the house instead of just going straight from material to construction.
- forgetfreeman 4y ago
  I think it may be worth pointing out that this system as demonstrated exacerbates the two largest problems contractors face: materials costs and sourcing labor. The specialized manufacturing requirements for modules makes sourcing materials from traditional suppliers functionally impossible, adds additional (highly specialized) manufacturing overhead, and drives up the cost of materials. The wildly non-standard construction methods mean subcontractors will have to train on using the system, and projects will start from a functional zero-prior-experience knowledge base, which invites a diversity of headaches and potential safety issues. On an unrelated note, insurers are likely to be deeply skeptical of unproven construction methods in general, and plywood-heavy construction methods in particular given their propensity to fail catastrophically from even relatively minor moisture-related insults. Insurance premiums are likely to reflect that.
Spooky23 4y ago
I agree. Folks love to knock on traditional “stick built” buildings. I don’t get it. I live in a frame house built in 1927. It’s not going anywhere so long as the owners are stewards of the property. Watching similar houses get built, it’s a fairly efficient process. I don’t think the costs of homes are really driven by framing. Super conservative code requirements like electric socket requirements (my kitchen remodel required the addition of *5 dedicated circuits with arc fault breakers in most cases), fire sprinklers, etc and others drive costs. A frame house with a thoughtful architecture that incorporates passive heating/cooling, etc will cost less, be easier to bike and require less fiddling.
- Thlom 4y ago
  The plot next to us is being built now, and when they finally started erecting the house it took a couple of weeks. They spent months with excavators and explosives first. That's what you get for building on porous rock I guess.
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ShredKazoo 4y ago

On the other hand, if you're a CNC operator and you already have spare capacity, this could allow you to cheaply branch into home construction by hiring a few more employees...

monkeydust 4y ago

So this happened. I looked at wikihouse many years ago for a project. I really liked the idea and team but (at least at the time) it was still very new. Too much risk to take on for individual homeowner and it was cheaper for me to get a local contractor who had experience in developing what I was after.

SamBam 4y ago

> requires a specific CNC operator to build panels (supply chain ouch!) Unsure what this means. The CNC files are open source, and there are millions of CNC machines in the world. What specific CNC operator? In general, I'd say your comments are valid for a random homeowner that decides they want to try this out. If you think in terms of a contractor who wanted to start specializing in this in their region, it seems quite doable. They could have their own engineer that has seen many of these, and a stable source of plywood/OSB and access to a CNC shop.

emilfihlman 4y ago
They mean that it requires a cnc operator, and that it's not usually required in building houses, which is a pretty huge added cost.
- kitd 4y ago
  From which you can subtract the cost of the brick/cement/block manufacturer.
  - throwaway4aday 4y ago
    Wouldn't that be equivalent to the plywood manufacturer? This still adds an additional processing step where you take a mass produced construction material and make a specialized product out of it which you then use to build the house instead of just going straight from material to construction.
forgetfreeman 4y ago
I think it may be worth pointing out that this system as demonstrated exacerbates the two largest problems contractors face: materials costs and sourcing labor. The specialized manufacturing requirements for modules makes sourcing materials from traditional suppliers functionally impossible, adds additional (highly specialized) manufacturing overhead, and drives up the cost of materials. The wildly non-standard construction methods mean subcontractors will have to train on using the system, and projects will start from a functional zero-prior-experience knowledge base, which invites a diversity of headaches and potential safety issues. On an unrelated note, insurers are likely to be deeply skeptical of unproven construction methods in general, and plywood-heavy construction methods in particular given their propensity to fail catastrophically from even relatively minor moisture-related insults. Insurance premiums are likely to reflect that.

Spooky23 4y ago

I agree. Folks love to knock on traditional “stick built” buildings. I don’t get it. I live in a frame house built in 1927. It’s not going anywhere so long as the owners are stewards of the property. Watching similar houses get built, it’s a fairly efficient process. I don’t think the costs of homes are really driven by framing. Super conservative code requirements like electric socket requirements (my kitchen remodel required the addition of *5 dedicated circuits with arc fault breakers in most cases), fire sprinklers, etc and others drive costs. A frame house with a thoughtful architecture that incorporates passive heating/cooling, etc will cost less, be easier to bike and require less fiddling.

Thlom 4y ago
The plot next to us is being built now, and when they finally started erecting the house it took a couple of weeks. They spent months with excavators and explosives first. That's what you get for building on porous rock I guess.

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