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I sat in a presentation last year by a guy who talked about the future of housing, especially factory built housing. The entire building materials industry is changing rapidly.

These newer factory built companies are as he described, “digital companies who build houses” A lot of them aren’t construction guys but tech guys who think they see a better way.

There’s a new company in Baltimore, Blueprint Robotics. It’s amazing how they use robotic technologies to build the housing components that are basically snap together in the field. I’ve only been in their factory a couple times and may still be under a non-disclosure so I wont’ say more than is publicly known but it’s really cool.

There are other companies that manufacture bricks. Sounds kind of boring. Bricks are obviously heavy so transportation is a huge expense. What if the bricks were cultured from a bacteria and built in a trailer on site at a housing complex? It’s actually happening.

I’m on an advisory council for a building material installation training organization. We’re re-writing the training manual. One of my edit suggestions said that we need to include X, Y and Z, brand new building envelope technologies that are regional and moving nationwide fast. The industry can’t keep up with the speed of technology. The challenge is getting builders to adopt. Many are used to doing what they do and frankly, too busy to take the time to learn new techniques and products.

Those are the guys who are going to get left behind as the trade speeds by them like Dale Earnhardt. (Yea, I used an old legend because there are no drivers who are total household names right now)