On the Road with Seasafe: Inside the Offsite Build Center – Key Insights for Homebuyers

Thinking about some takeaways from. From today and just a few. Few notes I had of why we're doing it and what we're trying to achieve. So number one, it's a traditional mindset. Instruction guys are always. Well, we've always done it this way.

Right.

What are your thoughts on that?

Well, certainly waking up what you're doing, not really having to put too much mental energy into it, is always a reason why people just get caught running on that same wheel constantly. You don't have to exert too much energy. You don't have to worry about failing. You just kind of get up and just do what you know. Doesn't mean it's better. Just comfortable.

Yeah. The second one was just thinking about the fragmentation in the industry. So many subcontractors. You know, probably during the course of a build, you have 40 different crews.

Really? Is it that many?

Yeah. Wow. Like 40 different people. You think about, you got the piling guy that you got the concrete guy, you got the survey guy, you have the lot guy, trust guy. Some of them are back and forth multiple times.

Right.

You think about a framer. He's there at the ground, he's there at the second floor, he's there at the third floor. He's back doing punch out after all the mechanical trades are there. So he's there five separate times.

I just think about how much potential it is for one trade to cause disruption to the other trades. Just with simple things. My truck broke down, the generators broke down. Any of that kind of stuff. Just so many people and so much communication and hoping things go.

Yeah.

According to plan.

Yeah. Not only is it a bunch of different people, it's a bunch of people that aren't working together but have to rely on each other and. But they can't see each other's schedule. So if one guy. It's not like they're communicating with each other. It's up to the builder to do all that stuff. So bring that all in. 250 people putting together at home in 14 days in the module system.

Oh, right.

Yeah. Solves for that. Yeah.

You can just see how that just runs quite smoothly there in the. In the build center.

No doubt. And then the next one was the lack of standardization. So thinking about different methods, how many different methods does a tile guy use to do plywood? How many different ways does a framer stand up a wall? You know, guys finish different systems in different way ways. And just thinking about there's no clear process and there's no manual out there in the field guys are just doing whatever makes sense that day. You know, they're using different ladders and different applications. They might not have the right ladder. They might be stacking paint buckets to get on top of something. It's frustrating. It's hard to. Hard to. It's like herding cats.

Yeah, I can imagine it would be. I mean, I just. Even from the products that they're using and the, like you said, the way that they're putting it in or the way they're doing it, just between one crew or the other crew or I don't know, from one job site to the next, how. Just things change.

Yeah. So next was just like training people. Like, how do you, how do you train people in a job site when it's 95 degrees out and there's music blaring and it's dirty, it's raining and it's, there's. It's hard to train in the field.

Yeah, I can't imagine. I mean, I just know in our market, with everything that's, that's taking place in the demand that's going to be on so many of the different trades, I don't know where they're all going to come from. I mean, it's just going to be the, I'm guessing supply and demand that the, that the prices are going to go way high in the traditional build model just based on who the skilled contractors are that are available and there's not enough of them to really satisfy the demand. Yeah, there wasn't previously agree.

You know, we had a labor shortage before all this. And you know, I think of all the guys that are out there on Craigslist that don't have any license insurance, all the other stuff that are kind of fly by night guys. Is that who you want rebuilding your, you know, your dream home? Right. Here's. Here's one for you. Waiting on inspectors.

Yeah, I mean, you're really not moving forward until you get the okay from them. And we know that's. That is something that is, I don't know, I mean, to some degree it's the same problem. There's so many places they have to be and they have to verify people's different methods, that they're doing it in so many different ways that I can see how they get totally bogged down and just behind in different ways.

Okay. And not to mention some of these, inspecting some of these municipalities inspection. I know of a couple that are doing two days a week, some three days a week. It's actually rare there's only a handful that you can get inspections Monday through Friday.

So even more limited.

Yeah. And then you think about how many holidays you have that they're taking off that, you know, trades aren't taking off, they're not taking off Columbus Day, they're not taking off a lot of these, a lot of these federal holidays that the municipalities are closed and just won't come out doing an inspection. If you have all of your inspections for all of your interior D ahead of time, you're taking out all those delays.

So what you're saying, and I think this is true, that so many of the delays, you know, are inevitable because you've got to wait for the inspector and then on top of it with the modular building process is allowing you to do is eliminate that potential log jammer, that potential bottleneck, if you will. Because all of that's getting inspected, improved and before it even comes on site.

Right? Yeah, it's QC check. They have a third party inspector in the build center. Seeing all the stuff, you know, which kind of leads to the next point is the overall, overall duration. It's, it's crazy to think that you can be 75 more efficient. That's huge.

Yeah, that, I mean, yeah, that's real substantial. I mean whether you're waiting for your home to be built to get back into your home and you're staying with somebody else. I mean there's costs associated not being in your house.

Well, even, even, even when you're building it, you have builder's risk, which is an expensive insurance. You're paying flood insurance if you're, if you're taking bank money. So you're paying all this other overhead without use. So having it done in 75% less time, it knocks down a lot of that overhead cost.

Yeah, you're right. I mean taxes are still accruing and all those carrying costs associated with it.

I think the last point was sustainability and I think people would be interested to know that building in it in the off site center, it's 30% less waste. You can see on a job site. I know you go around job sites a lot of times we'll spend eight to $10,000 hauling off multiple 30 yard dumpsters. You know, sometimes up to 10, 1030 yard dumpsters. And because there's no use for it and there's no room on the site to do anything with it. So on site building is, is, there's a lot of waste. It's just inevitable. I don't care. When I worked for Pol, same thing. But to see at the build center where they're using the cutoffs from the trusses as blocking in the walls. I mean, they're using almost all the parts. I mean, they, they're, they, they're, they're, they're using as much waste, they're generating as much waste to do 10 homes as we do one home. Yeah, it's crazy.

Well, I think about also when you're talking about the waste that comes. I don't even think that. Take the, just all of the different subcontractors on the job site and just the. You know, I hate to say it, but some are very messy leaving, whether it's cups or water bottles or wrappers of food and all those sorts of things that are just flying all over the job site and around.

The trash cyclone.

Yes, the trash cyclone around the neighborhood. So if you can eliminate that, because you're eliminating so many people from all of that mo. Back and forth with their vehicles, in and out, with doors opening, stuff falling out of it, you know, in addition to that actual waste of the building materials itself, it's, there's a big impact to it. Yeah, no doubt.

And that really loops in the sustainability that we're talking about. Being waste and all these homes being zero energy ready. Not an upgrade like it, like it typically is, but it's just part of the standard process that just goes along with.