By: Raymond Levitt

Raymond Levitt — Mon, 08 Jul 2024 19:02:22 +0000

The only countries where capital intensive modularization has succeeded over the long term is in countries like Sweden and the UK, where governments have long procured a steady supply of social housing continuously over long periods of time. In countries like the USA, Canada and others, where housing demand is primarily market driven and thus subject to severe swings across economic cycles, capital-intensive approaches to modularization and vertical integration like what Katerra attempted have eventually failed due to the challenge of keeping a CapEx-heavy factory and all parts of an integrated value chain operating anywhere near capacity. This happened in the ill-fated Operation Breakthrough launched by George Romney as Head of HUD under President Nixon in the late 1960s, and we have seen it happen again more recently for Katerra, Veev, Entekra and others.

Comments on: Repeatability at scale the key to success for modular construction

By: Raymond Levitt