Every week Capt. James T Kirk of the Starship Enterprise explored a new world in the Star Trek TV show and every week he and his crew had to learn to adapt to the strange new world they had entered.
Today, the offsite construction industry is just like the strange worlds Capt. Kirk entered. At every turn of the steering wheel, we hear about some new product, innovation or procedure that will change the way we build homes in the future.
These new offsite construction worlds have names we didn’t know existed 20 years ago. The worlds of BIM, Climate Change, Affordable Housing, Hemp and so on and so on with new ones entering our vision every week.
And it’s now a mix-and-match construction universe. One factory will be using BIM with SIP and Hemp while another may simply want to stay in the old world of sticks, steel and glass.
When Capt. Kirk left Earth to begin exploring these new worlds, the only thing he knew was that change is inevitable and if he didn’t adapt to what he encountered, he would perish.
That is what is happening today in our industry. We’ve moved away from most single-family modular factories built 20 years ago and every single factory is trying to carve out a niche market before the other kids find out what they’re doing.
Starting with the old-style modular factories, we know see them moving away from supplying the single home builder simply because there aren’t as many as there was 20 years ago. Today, some have become known for their multi-family projects of 60-150 modules each. Others are enjoying building hotels and commercial projects instead of single-family.
Affordable and homeless housing is another choice many older factories have chosen to pursue.
And let’s not forget the new kids on the block that not only are exploring new worlds but also grabbing new methods of building. Boxabl and Autovol are two of these pioneers that steered their ships in new directions.
But there are also the factories that explored to the point of finding no way home. Katerra is still a topic of epic failure being taught at business schools everywhere.
Getting Ready to Launch
Many housing and commercial construction entrepreneurs had an idea of where they wanted to explore before they opened their factories. They sat down with a couple of like-minded businesspeople and decided that wanted to build a factory to solve the problems encountered in affordable housing.
I call this “Capt. Kirk checks the ship for problems” before he leaves the space station. His preparation based on his past experience probably saved countless lives when he actually departed for one of those strange new worlds.
That is exactly what you must do. Become an expert in what you are planning. You can rationalize anything to yourself. But once you step outside and begin to learn what others have already done before you, which ones failed and why and are they still in business and suddenly, reality should hit you head on. Become the expert in what you are planning.
I can’t tell you how many business owners had a rock-solid business plan which they used to get investors and shortly after the factory opened, they threw out their business plan and then tried to explore other worlds simply because they did not become the expert in what they wanted to do in the first place.
Preparing for Major Changes
Just like the crew of the Enterprise checked all the supplies needed for their journey, you must take inventory of what you will need before you get started.
A factory owner in the Pacific Northwest told me he planned everything for his new factory. Inventory was in place. Production lines ready. People were trained and he was ready to go full bore ahead.
His first order was for 36 modules and everything was working well but a little slower than he had anticipated but that was OK. Then halfway through the production, the order for 54 modules that was to go to the line after the first order, was canceled by the developer.
Building 4 modules a week meant he only had 9 weeks of production to complete before he had to shut down his factory. There were no other orders even close to being ready for the production line.
He is no longer in the housing business.
Being a Good Navigator
Did you notice that everything was recorded on the Starship Enterprises log?
That is one of the most essential things every factory owner needs to do. Record everything. Document, document, document.
Without a record of things that have gone in the past, you are destined to repeat some of those mistakes in the future. Analyze everything.
Exploring a niche market for your product is a never-ending job. For example, you’ve decided to go after the multifamily affordable housing market with standardized modules. What you designed with the people for their first project may not work for the next projects. You’ve got to be the one to explore all the options for your factory.
You’ve got to become the Capt. Kirk of your factory. If he wasn’t on the bridge, he was in engineering or sick bay checking up on how things were going. This means you should be talking to your customers. You should be aware of what is happening in engineering and on the production line.
Since every factory today is exploring its own niche market, you’ve got to be the one that manages by walking around. If you’ve got problems, fix them! If you’ve had a successful event, celebrate it with everyone! Learn what everyone is doing but don’t micro-manage as that is the best way to lose your best people.
“Give me Warp Speed Three, Mr Sulu”
“Aye, Aye, Captain!”
Gary Fleisher is the Editor in Chief of Modular Home Source and Offsite Builder. Email at [email protected]
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