IT Briefcase Exclusive Interview: Bringing it All Home – How Homebuilding is Going High-Tech

In this interview, we tackle several current technology-based construction topics with Steve Glenn, CEO at Plant Prefab (a custom prefabricated home builder). Glenn discusses how tech plays a role in home construction and how prefabricated homes help meet some of the construction challenges facing builders today.

• Q. How has tech played a role in home construction, particularly data, IoT or cloud computing?

The construction industry has been slow to change, often utilizing antiquated methods that work, but that haven’t improved much in the last 100 years. Traditional construction is time-consuming and in housing-crunched and technology-centered areas, like Silicon Valley, it frequently takes too much time to build a home from groundbreaking to occupancy. Labor shortages, construction delays and an increase in construction costs are making home building even more challenging, particularly in urban areas. Building homes in factories offers an important solution to these increasing challenges, particularly as companies like Plant Prefab integrate online technology, new building systems, and automation to dramatically reduce the time and cost necessary to design and build custom homes. Plant Prefab’s homes can be designed through an architect or entirely online where customers can choose between homes that can be configured, viewed and priced through our website and saved.

• Q. How is prefab housing today different from the past?

Prefabricated housing has been around for over a hundred years, but slowly rose throughout the first half of the 1900s when “home kits” could be purchased with thousands of pieces that could be assembled together to create a house. Parts were mass-produced and shipped to site. The prefabricated home sector was largely unregulated until the 1970s and re-regulated in the 1990s to include stricter standards. Currently, prefabricated homes are held to the same standards as a traditionally-built homes. Although there are still the “mobile homes” that symbolize prefab to many, there are a new generation of prefabricated homes that are fully customized and built as modules, which are then assembled onsite in a matter of hours.

Prefabricated does not have to mean lower quality. On the contrary, the materials used in today’s prefabricated homes are often sustainable and green. Consumers have been catching onto the trend of utilizing prefabricated’s cost-efficient and time-saving methods. Celebrities, too, have been drawn to the efficiency of prefabricated homes. Arrested Development’s Will Arnett recently built a completely customized home in Los Angeles.

Prefabricated has come a long way, expanding from single-family homes to high-density apartments and condominiums. As new technologies emerge, Plant Prefab plans to remain on the cutting edge of what can be done with sustainable material use in modular homes.

• Q. What manufacturing technology are you seeing in homebuilding that is changing the game?

One of the unique aspects of prefabricated homes is the amount of customization that can be made within any modular build. Plant Prefab is creating first complete online platform to give consumers and developers a way to manage their custom home project, from finding land and selecting and customizing their designs to service once they’ve moved in. In addition, Plant Prefabs is developing a patented system which integrates hardware components and online/digital design tools to reduce the time, cost and complexity of custom home design.

• Q. Let’s talk about the urban housing market: What are some of the challenges facing home builders and potential homeowners today?

Increased urbanization has been the driving demand for single and multifamily housing. Oddly shaped sites, varying zoning regulations and unique access have essentially required new projects to require custom design solutions. Further, the urban housing constraints are unable to accommodate the “standard” homes that have defined prefabricated housing. High-density housing has also become more common in urban areas where space is limited and the population continues to increase. The demand for building quickly and efficiently is growing and traditional builders have difficulty meeting these needs.

Home builders are faced with a dwindling workforce and high cost of labor, exacerbating the issues. Potential homeowners are also searching for ways to take control of their property in less time. Construction setbacks, which are bound to happen, further delay the process.

Prefabricated is just one of the answers to the urban housing market. A high-density home builder can have a complex built onsite in a matter of weeks, while single-family home builders can fully assemble a prefabricated home in a matter of hours. Wiring and landscaping are completed once the modules are assembled, but residents can typically move in within a month of the completion of onsite construction. And by leveraging lower cost, off-site labor, the cost of building in urban areas can be far less, too.

Steve Glenn is the founder and CEO of Plant Prefab, Inc, the first prefabricated home factory in the nation dedicated to sustainable construction, materials, processes, and operations. Previously, Glenn worked with the William Jefferson Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI), was founder and former Chairman and CEO of PeopleLink and was a founding partner of idealab. Glenn was named the Clean Tech CEO of the Year by Clean Tech Week; Environmental Entrepreneur of the Year by LA City Council/Faith2Green; and Greatest Person of the Day by Huffington Post.   Glenn speaks regularly about sustainable design, prefabrication, and social entrepreneurship at conferences and universities including TED, TEDx, Greenbuild, TechHome Summit, Sun Valley Institute, Sustainable Brands, VerdeXchange, UCLA, Brown, Columbia, USC, Pepperdine, and University of Texas (Austin).  Glenn holds two patents.