If It Is Not a System. Then It Is Not a Solution

In Europe wood frame construction market adoption varies widely, from virtually 100% in Scandinavia to over 80% in Scotland and over 30% in Ireland and many other central and western European countries. However, what is common in all the countries, where wood frame is used, is that virtually none of it is constructed using stick framing. In both Europe and Japan offsite construction is the preferred and dominant method of construction.

Most of the customers in Europe, whether they are builder/developers of multifamily, single family or custom home end users, understand the benefits that off site systems can deliver in terms of speed, safety, productivity, quality, energy efficiency and sustainability.

It would essentially be as alien to a European to stick build a wood frame house, as it would be to buy a new car and have every single component shipped to your front yard and have a couple of local mechanics come out in a pick up truck with welding equipment and pneumatic tools to build the car. You simply wouldn't dream of it, ignore over 200 years of innovation and progress, since the industrial revolution.

Yet in the US residential market this is exactly how wood framed houses are built, without taking advantage of the last two centuries of innovation and ignoring the benefits of computer modeling and digitization, modern CNC/ robotic automation or factory controlled conditions and quality systems.

The real question is why?

Actually the question is better phrased as, why have off site solutions not been more widely adopted by the US construction industry?

Off Site System providers are not simple wall panel or component manufacturers

A large part of the reason, is due to the nature of the misnomered "Off Site" industry in the US. In Europe and other parts of the world, the off site companies are part of a dedicated and specialized Off-Site industry are categorically seen as offsite system providers and and not component manufacturers. In fact the term component is hardly ever used by the off site industry or builders, outside the US, as the Off-Site companies, realize that the customer, is in reality not interested in purchasing components but rather is seeking a solution. The components are merely an output, elements in a system, which provides a solution to the problem the builder wants addressed. They are not the raison d'être of the Off-Site company.

Off Site benefits come from an integrated approach.

Until there are dedicated Fully Integrated Off Site System providers, it will be very difficult for the builder/developer to gain meaningful benefits and for Off-Site solutions to gain a bigger share of the framing market in the US market.

One of the major obstacles to this is the requirement for an experienced in house engineering team, as off site solutions will always be compromised and suboptimal, if they are forced to use engineering and processes and thinking, that was designed for stick framing or is based on a simple component model .

In particular, design, engineering and manufacturing and integration of all the structural elements from the floor to the walls to the roof, requires a lot of internal engineering expertise. Engineering for maximum Off-Site efficiency requires a detailed in depth knowledge of factory manufacturing techniques, advanced automation, structural engineering and the off site building process and connection detailing, in addition to logistics and materials selection. It also requires a lot of time and effort in coordinating with all the subs from the concrete to the plumbing, HVAC, electrical and fire sprinklers as well as the architect and Engineer of Record.

Until those in the industry with a genuine interest and vision for the potential of the "off-site industry" realize that they need to become more than just component manufacturers and instead act as integrated Off-Site system/solution providers and resource themselves accordingly, the industry will fail to reach its potential, despite the labor shortage, which is driving builders to look for new solutions.

So in the US market we have a situation, where component manufacturers and commodity lumber suppliers are commonly masquerading as Off-Ste companies and customers (builders/developers) don't know the difference between them and true off-site companies. This leads to failed expectations and incorrect perceptions of the true capability of the "Real Off-Site" industry.

Off-Site companies may manufacture components but they are not component manufacturers!

True Off-Site companies are solution focused businesses that happen to manufacture components as part of a solution. However the solution comprises of much more than just physical elements. Components are by definition just that components or elements. They are parts. However Off-Site Construction is a holistic system.

The real value is in the process improvement and process reengineering, synergy and integration of services which go much further than just panels. In essence the manufacturing and selling of components, is not core to the Off-Site Company. The US construction industry is lagging behind taking the same systematic approach, that has been adopted and proven to be successful in other sectors of the economy. Anybody who claims Off-Site Construction. (OSC) is about components, knows absolutely nothing about Off-Site construction.

And as Aristotle said so eloquently over 2000 years ago, the whole, is greater than the sum of the parts. If it's not a system, it's not a solution.

*Gerard McCaughey is Chief Executive of Entekra Inc, a firm specializing in design, engineering and manufacturing of Fully Integrated Off Site Solutions? (FIOSS?) for homebuilding industry. Mr. McCaughey previously co-founded Century Homes, Europe’s largest offsite building manufacturing company producing over 8000 house units annually, with five plants in Ireland and UK, which he sold in 2005 to Kingspan Group Plc. He is regarded in Europe as being one of the leading figures in off site construction and green building movement, and was at the forefront of regulatory reform in both Ireland and Britain. He has acted as an off site construction consultant in Eastern Europe, United States and South Africa and has spoken and written about green and offsite construction in many other countries around the world and is a previous winner of Ernst and Young’s, Industry Entrepreneur of the Year Award and recognized by US Immigration Service as a "Person of Extraordinary Ability" in green and offsite construction.

www.entekra.com