In a scene from the movie “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Freddie Mercury walks in late to a rehearsal to find Brian May leading the rest of Queen in the stomp-stomp-clap beat that will become the mother of all rock anthems, “We Will Rock You.”

Freddie listens for a moment, then asks him, “Will you please tell me why you’re not playing any instruments?”

“I want to give the audience a song that they can perform,” says Brian.

I think we need something similar for the climate.

I saw this post come up in my LinkedIn feed a couple days ago about the flooding in Slovenia …

The future is happening here and now. The largest natural disaster happened this weekend in Slovenia. More than 2/3 of the country was flooded and cut off the rest of the country: hundreds of houses were flooded, about 100 bridges were damaged, basic infrastructure was damaged – roads, electricity, water, communication, gas, rail, public transport, 4 deaths…. The costs of redevelopment will be enormous

The post is heartbreaking.

And so damned typical.

And frustrating.

Frustrating because, when I see stories like this, I always end up asking myself: What can I DO?

The post tries to answer that question:

What next? We all have to rethink our actions and values. We have to take responsibility to take serious #climatemitigation and #climateadaptation actions – the public and the private sector. Just nice words and reports about sustainability will not be enough.

While I empathize – and agree (a line from Rilke comes to mind: “You must change your life”) – I’m left wanting something … specific.

Specific like an everyday metric. E.g.:

• Want to be fit? Walk 10,000 steps every day. 
• Want your kids to love books? Read to them for 15 minutes every day. 
• Want to be healthy? Eat five fruits and vegetables every day.
• Want to help the climate? Make one panel’s worth of extra energy every day.

I just made up that last one.

I really have no idea what the answer should be, but I think there’s a metric we can create, and if we can create it, solar-powered homes can be a kind of catalyst for positive change.

By the way, I’m using a data point that a typical single solar panel in the United States generates about 2 kilowatt-hours per day. Don’t hold me to the math, but the idea is that if everyone generates one solar panel’s worth of extra energy, that energy can flow to other places and create a virtuous cycle.

Once you have a metric, and a smart, connected home-energy dashboard, you can start to compare your home energy surplus to others, and perhaps compete for bragging rights or even real money.

In other words, everyone gets to perform the song.

Cheers,

Jeff

Jeff Williams is Momo’s chief marketing officer.

Photo by Bill Mead on Unsplash.

In the old-school approach to building, one single-family home requires the work of many different hands. 

Forty-four of them, to be exact.

A study from the National Association of Homebuilders determined that 70 percent of builders use somewhere between 11 and 30 subcontractors when constructing stick-built homes. On average, 22 different subcontractors are used in the process.

As any homebuilder can attest, big numbers can sometimes lead to big headaches. Here are just a few.

No really, help wanted

Just finding 44 hands can be a hard task right now.

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) recently projected that the construction industry will need to attract over half a million new workers on top of its usual hiring pace to meet the demands of labor in 2023.

Meanwhile, Billd’s 2023 National Subcontractor Market Report found that subcontractors expect the labor shortage to be the greatest threat to their business this year.

Numbers like these can keep a contractor up at night. No laborers mean no labor, and no chance of hitting project deadlines.

Just who, exactly, is in charge here?

With so many hands involved, the chain of accountability gets murky and the buck gets passed a little too easily. Figuring out who’s responsible for what, and checking that it all came out right, can get complicated.

This leads to quality control failures, construction code adherence mishaps, and further disappointments of the deadline variety.

Show me your spreadsheet, and I’ll show you mine

Builders know construction skills are one thing, project management prowess something else entirely.

Each group of subcontractors has its own schedule, work processes, documentation procedures, and requirements, making project oversight…complicated.

Miscommunication or lack of clarity can lead to errors, delays, and rework. Coordinating trades, scheduling deliveries, and resolving conflicts can become a time-consuming endeavor and throw the whole build off schedule.

Builders just want to build homes, not tabs in Excel.  

It’s level if you squint

With so many subcontractors and laborers working on a single home, there’s no guarantee of consistent skill levels, work practices, and standards. That means a higher risk of inconsistencies in workmanship.

We can’t think of a single homeowner who puts uneven finishes, incompatible installation techniques, and compromised structural integrity at the top of their must-have list.

That was last week’s budget

You knew we’d mention money. Each subcontracting entity typically has its own rates, contract terms, and additional administrative requirements, which can add up and strain the project’s budget.

And let’s not get into the overruns of unexpected delays and rework caused by the other items on this list.

When relying on numerous laborers and subcontractors, stick-built homebuilding can fall prey to these and other external factors beyond a contractor’s control. Delays caused by weather conditions or material shortages can have a cascading effect on the entire construction process, potentially leading to significant project setbacks.

But the industry is evolving.

Re-engineering the building process

In response, contractors are turning in bigger numbers to other ways of building, like panelization.

In panelized construction, structural home elements are fabricated off-site in a controlled environment. Walls, floor, and roofs are assembled into two-dimensional panels, then transported to the job site.

That’s where many of the benefits of panelization really kick in. The build process can often be knocked out by much smaller crews of laborers, at a much faster pace.

In some cases, a crew of four people can go from lot to lockup in three weeks. Some additional experts like electricians and plumbers will still be needed, but even their work will be streamlined.  

The panels are precision-cut in a factory setting, which eliminates the inconsistencies common in traditional homebuilding.

With fewer hands, spreadsheets, and reworks required, contractors can make their capital work much harder than before.

And owners can get a home they don’t need to squint at to admire. All in record time.  

Cheers,

Mike

Mike McAllister is head of story for Momo Homes.