Can Factory-Built Homes Help Solve The Housing Crisis? 

LOL it is not the building, it is the land zoning and public hearing that limits us.

Depends on the real estate, but in California, land & city planning is the issue, not construction.

"The company says, it can reduce the cost of construction from 20 to 40%" The question is, will they pass those savings to consumers?

As a carpenter, I think this is super cool and exciting. I would miss building and framing on site, and being outside, but construction has been done the exact same way for decades. It's time for some innovation

Its not just the building cost, but the land cost and the value of the land is something this report doesn't address. One of the reasons why construction is so expensive is taxes, surveys and 7 more surveys that look into the same thing.

There’s no better combination than “Housing crisis” And “Bay area”

As a 30 year-old living with a parent, I would be so happy if I could afford my own little place.

It's the building regulations, not actual houses.

In the Bay Area the housing shortage isn't caused by construction costs. The problem is lack of available land and local laws that discourage the building of high density homes. In most California cities a resident costs more in services than they pay in taxes. A business is the other way around. As a result, most cities bend over backwards to attract commercial development and make building homes as difficult as they can get away with.

"$800k construction cost to house family in San Francisco!" what material they use? in my town you can build a luxury house at that price.

The land is the largest cost in housing, solve that and this building method will be relevant...

Interesting that they don't bring up the overcharging of housing today.

2:31 no the biggest issue really is the "not in my backyard" policy!

Housing healthcare and education have completely Gone so insanely expensive They’re literally status symbols

lol they aren't lying. These things go up overnight! The only issue is that they still aren't being affordable lol. They are often going for just as high as anything else conventionally built.

And then the rich would swoop in and bought them all for their investments

Near 1 million for a wooden home? What kind of smoke you guys inhale in America?

Well you can begin with filling the 17 million vacant homes. that are currently just deteriorating.

When you pay 40k for building permits for a little duplex you’ll start realizing why housing is so expensive everything the government touches it ruins

There's no housing shortage in the middle of the country like St. Louis.

Shortage no : overpriced yes

My dad had a modular home built. It was a solid house and we really liked it. That was back in 05. Not many people heard of that back then

“Construction is one of the most inefficient Industries”. That can’t be any truer. Good luck finding reliable/honest tradesman. They are a rare breed!!

I’ve had the chance to tour a couple of the factory’s these manufactured and modular homes are built in here in Texas. I can tell you that they are very well built homes and there isn’t a lot of waste during the building process.

Me, Russian: did Americans just invented our commieblocks?

So much of this caused by the cities and counties rules and laws they have passed on themselves

This title should be “Can factory built homes fix the California housing problem?”

Part of the issue with housing in California is the supreme NIMBYs going on.

This sounds like blue collar jobs will be gone and the homes will still be extremely over priced....

I live near one of these factory OS apartment buildings. They may be market rate for the Bay Area.... but it’s still 2300 for a studio. If we are going to have affordable housing we need to have rents in reach for minimum wage workers.

So they expect us to believe that these prefab companies will drastically cut mfg costs and pass 100% of those gains down to the customer? How would you like that bridge in brooklyn mailed to you 🙃

ppl need to start realizing it's our gov & super rich causing these problems, not some enemies which is purely divert our attentions to the truth.

="Millennials aren't getting into the business" It's not a lack of wanting to, we don't get hired. Sorry, you old folks tend to want to hire other old folks. Trade schools cost about double what they did in the 80s after you calculate inflation.

The minute houses became income stream investments was the minute they became unaffordable to those looking to just live in them.

Is there going to be quality checks or just people trying to sell houses in bulk?

Zoning is a major problem also in most US Cities since WW2. It needs to change or all we have is neverending suburbs that are extremely car dependent. I love to drive, but as someone living in Houston now I miss living in Toronto Canada and being able to hop on the subway and not worry about parking or the expense. It was so convenient!

It's absolutely ridiculous how many homes remain empty buy we're talking about building new homes instead of utilizing the ones that are already built. WTF is wrong with this country?

I have been in this industry for 40 years. The problem is at all levels. Starting with the regulatory agencies and it just snowballs from there. Not to mention the end of the trades and the trade school and apprenticeship programs. Making the design idiot proof is a real thing. Most housing is still built the way it was 50 years ago. Liability and risk is holding back much inovation back.

Homes prices go up and down and wages stay the same. Good paying jobs are a thing of the past. You can thank globalisation

I grew up around Baltimore, which is by most measures a relatively affordable city... 80% of the row-houses there were derelict and abandoned, and I never saw one sell for less than a quarter of a million... vacant lots typically went for even more...

Cost of materials is 1% of the housing problem. If they dropped a bunch of these pre-fabs in the middle of Silicon Valley, do you think the housing prices are going down?

Gonna be affordable until it start trending...

How about renewing abandoned homes/buildings? Wouldn’t that be an idea in the more busy areas? I’ve always felt weird hearing about housing issues/housing shortage and I look around and see a ton of empty buildings and houses that are pretty much left to rot... IDK, just a thought 😅

Get A Google house cheaper, since they monitor everything in the house then sell that data.

We should try and fix the problem instead of trying to work around it

It doesn't matter how cheap it can be built... The owner is still going to charge as much as the market will bear. I.E. even if it costs half as much to build as the conventional building next door, apartments in both building will rent for the same money. All this really means is a higher profit margin for the developer investing the money and taking the risk

This is so encouraging. I'm really interested in this!

This has been a crisis way before covid arrived. Ive had to live with others because i cant afford a simple apartment by myself. Lower price and payments, lower the credit qualification.

The video is longer than the time it’s been uploaded. Literally everyone here has commented before finishing the Gideon

It wont stop until the powerful let go of their greed. Lumber is so expensive now. Because of trade.

Something on the order of the Post WW-II "Lustron Homes" designs, although larger (3 BR 2 BA and 4 BR 3 BA, etc.), might be a timely solution to the current situation in many areas. Or they could be standard designs like Sears, Roebuck used to sell, pre-measured and cut lumber that was delivered on a truck (or trucks), all you had to do was site preparation.

There is a company in Texas that's been constructing prefab houses for years. Grant Imahara did a 6 part RU-vid series on The Verge channel about it 2 years ago. Building prefabs using assembly line construction isn't new. They are still trying to inflate the construction costs though.

The problem isn't the construction cost, it's the price of the land

Builds more affordable housing. Immediately bought up by real estate speculators. Resold a dozen times, jacking the prices up 10x. Rentals become untenable. Meanwhile, there's a large percentage of vacant properties because they're unrentable, and folks being evicted due to unemployment.

Very interesting. Could be a game changer. I will have to study this more. Their website is a bit lite. I was expecting to be able to go in and build out my own house and select features but it wasn't anything like that, unfortunate.

3D printed homes offer a unique solution to this problem. I've visited a handful of 3D printed buildings and seen the progress up close filming what I see. It certainly hasn't been slowing down.

Reminders me of “The stacks” from ready player one

I hope this works, looking forward to seeing how things have progressed 5 years from now

My experience with prefab housing is that a factory is faster producing, but the site to install it is slower to build and that may stop the production at the factory.

Owning a home gives purpose to life ask any homeless person or even home owners.

The US is literally in crisis as we speak. Its a tragedy.

Why are so many houses in the USA made of wood? It's bizarre especially in states that are most prone to hurricanes and tornadoes.

We have to get people back into the workforce. Homelessness is a symptom not a problem. The problem is people who aren’t making any money.

I used to work at a construction cleanup company and it’s amazing how much materials are wasted

We DEFINITELY need this. Not just here in the US either.

There are 29 empty homes per homeless person in the US.

Me: Sees title, knows the answer is "no."

These kind of houses are very popular in latín América. Affordable, nice, easy to built...win win situation.

Any stock recommendations in this sector? 🤔🤓

You also forgot that homeowners don't want to up-zone their areas because it brings down home values.... Apple and Google applied for permits to build housing themselves and were turned down because residents were worried that it was going to affect home prices. If home supply is restricted, then the value of their home goes up...

We just had a modular home built and it is a beautiful and an extremely well built house. Many people think of a double or single wide when you say “modular” or “factory built” home but it is not. Our home is all brick and close to 3000 sq ft. Factory built homes are over built and so much stronger than the old stick built. I will never understand why we still have stick built houses. What an inefficient waste.

I'm currently studying for my real estate exam in houston. This is what I would love to sell! I also like the shipping container 💡

the lack of foundations these lego houses has along with an earthquake prone area gives me all kinds of anxiety, and i dont even live there.

Something that’s always been a dream for me and my dad is to buy shipping containers and build a house with them on our property to the north. I think this is awesome, specially if I could get some land on the outskirts of the cities

The construction industry has trouble finding workers? Bruh, every time I look for construction jobs they're always asking for someone with +5 years of carpentry, framing, plumbing, and electrician experience. Its really annoying especially when I try to filter my results to only entry level construction jobs but I still get hit with those narrow requirements. Then on top of that if you don't already own a pick up truck then they'll probably look elsewhere.

the problem with those timber blocks they pose a safety hazard for fires so if one goes the rest will, as for concrete highrise it may be more but fireproof and stronger against the elements.

The housing problem is very complex due to the varying reasons for homelessness. Some examples being mental health, substance abuse, low income vs home prices and even some people refusing to work citing their hatred for societal norms. Regardless of the reason, if the only focus is on housing and not placing them in or building desirable communities with accountability, pride of ownership and safety as top priorities, the resuls will be more high crime unsightly areas. For rental properties to succeed, they too need to be in desirable areas with strong enforceable standards. Understandably, rental tenants don’t have that same pride of ownership and risk of investment as home purchasers but this can be offset with desireable communities that includes strict rental policies. Without it, the crime and mayhem will drive out good residents and lowers property values that eventually becomes urban decay. Cities are full of examples of this happening where the difference between urban housing and successful communities was pride of ownership/residency, and accountability.

This won’t fix homelessness. They need mental help.

Love my modular home, tight and sturdy, steel frame no termites.

I looked to have a pre-fab built in/around Los Angeles. The project and land could be rationalized but the resulting property tax bill was STAGGERING. People live in dilapidated crap shacks afraid to remodel their kitchen for fear of a +30% property tax reevaluation.

i think the vacant homes can fill the shortage . crazy idea i know

I worked in modular construction for six years. The biggest struggle is getting clients. Architects and owners need to get on board because this is the way forward.

I would love a prefab home honestly. Hell, I’d even love to work in a prefab factory, working on homes.

I think 3e printed concrete houses are a great option as well.

I am so tired of everything being labeled "crisis."

We need this company to go public in the markets ASAP

The more cost efficient way is to prefab panels and slabs with CLT, transport one on top of each other, to be finally assembled on site. Modular building waste material having double roof/floor assembly when they seat one on top of each other. You can also transport more weight with assembly panels than with a final empty module.

it’s the state property taxes that keep people out as well.

yeah more wood, drywall houses which is instant destroyed in a mild wind.

For me it's not really a problem of luck of housing. It is about ho affortable it is. I live in Poland and every new neighberhood I see seems to created for directors, and big buisness owners. They just don't think about people who make the lawest salary. You either live in cheap old apartament or in villa that costs too much. But let's be honest a lot of people just what some space when they can chill after work, sleep and have some privacy.

Wow! With the quality of the technology they are using, this is truly next level. I wish the traditional housing industry would hurry up and catch up!

Great idea!!! Please, send some home down here in Costa Rica!!! A little house costs $125000...

There is only so much land in nice cities like new york and los angeles the only way to solve this problem is to make less desirable cities more desirable through some kind of government funded development and have people use the all the land that is sitting vacant

I can make a villa of 300k that of bricks and cement in my country

Actually it's not a housing shortage issue. There should be a tax on vacant units or vacant properties as they did in Canada. There should also be a higher tax on housing where there's rodent or roach infestation that hasn't been eradicated within 3 months. By the 4th month that place should just be condemned and the tenants relocated to a habitat able environment on the owner's dime. Those funds should then be diverted to affordable housing subsidies based on income. Also there should NOT be an entire building dedicated to "low income housing". That's what creates bad conditions, drug dealing, gangs, crime, shootings, murder, vermin infestation, male urine in elevators etc unless it's building for veterans ONLY etc. It should be a 20% of all new buildings should be towards low income residents that way these residents need to respect the environment they're in as they will be required to keep up with the basic standards that residents at the higher income brackets live at. None of the residents should know which units are low income nor which residents are low income. This way if any complaints come in due to "bad behavior" it's not because these specific residents are being targeted but actually due to their actual behavior being a problem for All residents. After the 5th complaint has been verified, the resident is then placed on a 1 month probationary period. If any new complaints arise, they are then evicted + restraining order filed so the resident if returns to unit for any reason after vacating, they will be imprisoned for minimum 5 years. The unit will be vacant, cleaned, repaired or fumigated if at all necessary, and a new low income renter can move in to the their place and start a fresh new life. I think if things are structured this way then there will be better opportunities for all. Still with that said these building permits and fees are pretty intense but sadly required to make sure buildings pass proper inspection to be habitable for the long haul. No one is really going to truly get over the collapse of those Surfside condos.

I wonder how much consideration is made for sound proofing between units.

California: *passes crushing regulations that cripple home developers* **Housing crisis soars** California: *surprised pikachu*

Sure, could factory built homes solve the housing issues? Let's ask ourselves that...it's not like there's a bunch of countries in eastern Europe who've solved this issue almost half a century ago.

Great video. I’m curious if modular housing can add vertical layers after the end of construction, I.e. if a developer wants to add some floors a few years down the line. And thanks for mentioning approval/zoning process!

Planning wise, there's a lot more to it than just "cutting loose the land". There's all the infrastructure needed to support those housing units. Water, sewer, electricity, trash collection, and all the ugly bits that make civilization function. The biggest mess is transportation. If you really want to do something revolutionary in the United States then build those units without parking minimums, and build them as transit oriented development, and supply them with real, high quality, high availability mass transit.