Why the Housing Industry Is Long Overdue for Disruption

Architect and building science expert Sam Rashkin takes a look at how perfecting high-performance home building isn’t enough to survive in the next building era.

Virtually every major industry has experienced or is in the process of experiencing disruption. Think retail, personal transportation, automobiles, computing, music, photography, media … and the list goes on.

Housing in the United States has been able to sit on the sidelines with its first-cost dominated business model and uniquely disaggregated industry but not for much longer. That’s because there are five crises driving four disruptions that will transform an industry that is totally resistant to change.

The five crises Rashkin lays out will cause substantial builder pain in terms of burden, cost, or lost opportunity. This means builders must be hyper-conscious of all of them as they make decisions about their building business. 

At the end of the day, high-performance is not enough to survive. Not nearly enough. Will you be ready?

The Housing 2.0 program is made possible by the generous support of building industry leaders, including  Mitsubishi Electric,  ZIP System,  Panasonic, and  Schneider Electric.