Overcoming Barriers to Bringing Off-Site Construction to Scale

The concept of using off-site construction techniques as a tool to boost the cost-effectiveness and productivity of the housing delivery system has been recurring in the industry for decades. Many efforts have sought to demonstrate how off-site construction promises to be a silver bullet, solely able to address all cost- and productivity-related challenges in housing development. Writing from a policy-driven perspective focused on regulatory and financing systems, we aim to shift the conversation toward increasing understanding how off-site construction techniques can be incorporated within the existing housing delivery system.

To that end, this white paper explores 1) where the use of off-site construction techniques can boost the creation of subsidized housing and create cost savings for market-rate developers, which can help expand the supply of homes and ultimately enable homeowners and tenants to benefit from these benefits by lowering their housing costs, and 2) what kinds of changes to the regulatory and financing systems could scale the use of off-site construction. We also identify the challenges that have long been constraining efforts to bring off-site construction techniques to scale and ways to overcome those challenges.