Modular construction is part of a family of building techniques known as Offsite Construction. Offsite construction refers to the manufacturing, planning, design, fabrication, and assembly of building elements at a location other than their final installed location to support the rapid speed of, and efficient construction of a permanent structure. All Art of Construction projects will utilize some form of Offsite Construction, which we refer to as "System Built."

 

Now, why is System Built preferable to on-site, stick-built construction?

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Essentially, the way construction works has been fragmented dramatically, down to the the point where no project has any unified collaborative approach to how a design gets built. Too often in our industry, an architect will draw up a fancy design with little to no planning for how it will actually come to life. "After all, that's the GC's job," they'll say. Then inevitably, when a GC goes to build one of these fancy designs, something doesn't go as planned. But rather than collaborate with the original designer to fix that problem, the GC will then pass off that problem to a subcontractor to figure it out for them. And if the subcontractor fails, it's on them.

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This long, disorganized game of "Pass the Buck" is the unfortunate reality of far too many construction projects around the world, and particularly in America. When you think of the stereotypical messy construction project - way over budget, way longer than expected, everybody pointing figures at each other - this problem is the main culrpit. 

 

"One mind from conceiving a project, through to delivering and operating a project."

 

As Steve Burrows tells us, the key to fixing this is to return to projects being built with One Mind, the Mind of the "Master Architect" or "Master Builder." In Steve's vision, the "Master Architect" occurs when everyone involved in the actual building of a building is collaborating on the design upfront. After all, the greatest buildings invented in history were all built this way. The level of precision in something like the Great Pyramids, for example, means that the design and actual build of them were completely linked up in the planning stages. There was no guessing involved, no fancy drawings that some engineer was expected to do actual the math on later, no passing the buck off to some poor limestone-carrying subcontractor. 

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And so, with our projects, we are indeed making a return to the idea of the Master Architect. Our Executive Director Matt McMullen designs each home in constant communication and collaboration with our modular, panelization and prefab partners to ensure he knows exactly how it will be built, how much it will cost, and how long it will take.

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Revolutionary, right? All things considered, such a simple concept as ACTUALLY PLANNING every step of how a building gets built shouldn't be revolutionary - and yet here are. And so, if you want your next home built faster and more efficiently, while also taking part in a legendary transformation currently happening in the building industry towards the likes of the Master Builder / Architect who build the Great Pyramids, contact us.

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We may just be able to make some magic happen.