Survey Says: Accelerating Builder Interest in Modular Home

In late July 2021, Home Innovation conducted a survey of 348 home builders, repeating a question on offsite housing that we asked in similar surveys in August 2019 and September 2020:

“Considering only the new homes your company builds, how often do you anticipate using the following construction practices in FIVE YEARS compared to the past year.”

Respondents were allowed to choose from responses including: do not plan to use; use less than; use the same; and use more often. The chart below summarizes the percentage of builders choosing “more often” in each of the three yearly surveys.

Source: Home Innovation Research Labs Survey of U.S. Home Builders, July 2021

It’s no secret that materials and labor availability and cost are driving much of the change in the building industry today, and managing these issues is high on builders’ priority lists. Offsite housing solutions are one possible answer to these problems, and this series of builder surveys seems to show resoundingly that the market is ready to adopt them. The findings of this series of surveys, along with Home Innovation’s Builder Practices Survey, indicate the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated market acceptance of many of these practices.

The July 2021 survey found that builder intention to increase roof truss usage continues at the top – signaling to truss manufacturers that now may be a great time to expand capacity to meet an anticipated increase in demand. Interest in turn-key framing services rose to the #2 spot in our 2021 survey, undoubtedly a beneficiary of the instability in the supply chain and the construction labor shortage. Interest in pre-cut framing packages and wall panelization followed in the #3 and #4 positions – slightly down from last year in intent-to-adopt, but still up considerably from 2019.

In terms of accelerating interest, turnkey framing, while not necessarily confined to offsite production, seemed to get the biggest boost in the past year. This was followed by precast concrete panels – not so shocking considering the relative stability concrete prices compared to lumber and wood panels. Modular building also saw an increase in interest since last year despite showing a market share decline over the past decade among new single-family homes our Builder Practices Reports and the U.S. Census Characteristics of New Housing data.

For offsite housing solutions to take deeper root, as these studies suggest they can, there must be additional production capacity built to meet and exceed the growth rate of U.S. housing production.

In the coming few weeks, we’ll address the findings of two other questions in this survey:

• What are the primary reasons holding builders back from switching to offsite building practices?

• What are the biggest changes they are implementing in their businesses at the current time?

Home Innovation uses a mix of qualitative and quantitative research to help our clients keep track of market trends, take advantage of new opportunities, and stay ahead of competitors. Contact us to discuss how we can help your company get and stay ahead.

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