10 years ago I purchased a Maronda homes in a yet to be developed housing addition. I was able to watch a lot of homes be built using there construction method of pre-built walls/floors/roof lifted via crane. It does seem like a great idea, speeding up onsite building, and preventing the wood from being left in the elements. These benefits appear to come at a cost.
a) The largest benefit seems to come when building a similar building each time, any changes make it hard for the crew to assemble.
b) The site has to be cleared of trees and rather open to allow access of the crane.
I have since moved to a hot housing market in New England, and see many lots leveled and replaced with new homes. All of them are stick built on site, and this doesn't appear to be an issue. The number of days for an experienced crew to stick build a house is short, and many of these homes are very custom. The site/house is normally optimized to get the largest sale value, not the easiest built. The other interesting this is it is generally impossible, or not cost effective to use a crane to lift parts on many of these lots. Even if having pre-built sections is a cost savings, it would be such a small difference it wouldn't be worth it with the possible risk of quality of the pre-built items and/or timing of construction. Home building is a complicated process and many companies seem to be providing solutions without looking at a total solution.
a) The largest benefit seems to come when building a similar building each time, any changes make it hard for the crew to assemble.
b) The site has to be cleared of trees and rather open to allow access of the crane.
I have since moved to a hot housing market in New England, and see many lots leveled and replaced with new homes. All of them are stick built on site, and this doesn't appear to be an issue. The number of days for an experienced crew to stick build a house is short, and many of these homes are very custom. The site/house is normally optimized to get the largest sale value, not the easiest built. The other interesting this is it is generally impossible, or not cost effective to use a crane to lift parts on many of these lots. Even if having pre-built sections is a cost savings, it would be such a small difference it wouldn't be worth it with the possible risk of quality of the pre-built items and/or timing of construction. Home building is a complicated process and many companies seem to be providing solutions without looking at a total solution.