ABSTRACT
Visiting a construction site reveals both the beauty of hands-on craftsmanship and its inefficiency. Given the low-tech nature of many trades involved in house construction, the latest technological developments that reshape many other industries are of little or no help. While developments in assembly-line robotics and qualified labor bring down the price of items that involve sophisticated designs, such as phones, computers, and cars, the construction of houses is still at the mercy of tradesmen working under stringent site and weather conditions. The critical size restrictions for the shipment of high-tech factory-assembled buildings, or building modules, are determined by trucking regulations and the transportation infrastructure. Prefabricated houses fall within these critical dimensions which indicate that the obstacle preventing affordable factory-built houses from being more wide-spread is not of a technical nature.
