It's a strange way to analyze the situation. By that logic, building from premium materials makes economies of scale more difficult, and building from cheap ma

It's a strange way to analyze the situation. By that logic, building from premium materials makes economies of scale more difficult, and building from cheap materials makes it easy. Also, labor inefficiencies clearly exist, as protectionism by definition creates artificial inefficiencies, and it is rampant in all aspects of construction. It's easy to buy an off-the-shelf and cheap window air conditioner that uses a far more efficient variable-speed heat pump than the fixed-speed heat pump most central HVAC's use, but that same technology is rare in installed central HVACs, because the licensing and certification requirements impede the adaptation of newer more-efficient technology, despite the requirements ostensibly existing to increase its use, but in practice providing protectionism at the expense of modern efficient technology. There's similar effects with protectionism slowing the adaptation of longer lasting, safer, or less error prone infrastructure in other fields of construction like plumbing, electrical, framing, etc.… Licensing and certification is also easily hijacked by NIMBYists, and because it's not based on actual safety requirements it can vary significantly from region to region, as is demonstrated by nationwide home builders having an efficiency disadvantage over those operating in only one region. Granted, repealing NIMBYism and protectionism is nearly impossible, so it's not an effective means to reduce the costs of building housing, but it does demonstrate that there is a lot of inefficiency in the process. It also means that the field is ripe for disruption, because a concerted enough effort to sidestep NIMBYism and protectionism could break through and create a significant and immediate impact on the field, as for example, Trader Joe's did with wine importation, Southwest did with scheduled airlines, and Uber and Lyft did with town car services.