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Highlighting the thinkers and their ideas driving the evolution of Offsite Construction. 
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“We’re Still Homeway — Only Bigger, Stronger, and Built for the Nation”: A Conversation with Bob Schieler

Gary Fleisher on December 7, 2025

When a modular company announces new partners and fresh capital, the industry’s first reaction is usually, “So… what really changed?” In Homeway’s case, the answer is everything that matters and nothing that shouldn’t. The Schieler family is still leading the company, the name is still Homeway Commercial, and the product range is as wide as ever — but now they’ve added a powerhouse housing developer and a solid investment group to fuel a steady pipeline, national expansion, and a level of sustainability most factories only dream about.

To clear the air and share what this new chapter truly means for builders, developers, and GCs across the country, I sat down with Bob Schieler for a candid conversation about the “new but still very familiar” Homeway.

Bob Schieler, VP of Sales, Homeway Commercial

Modcoach:

Bob, when people hear that Homeway entered into a partnership with a housing developer and a new investment group, the first question they ask is, “What does this actually mean?” So let’s start there. What changed — and what didn’t?

Bob Schieler:

What didn’t change is probably the best place to begin. We’re still Homeway Commercial. The Schielers are still here, still involved every day, still managing the company the way builders, developers, and GCs have known us for years. Our name isn’t changing. Our values aren’t changing. And we’re still building everything we’ve always built — single-family developments, townhomes, apartments, hotels, dorms — the whole spectrum of modular construction.

What did change is the level of support behind us. We partnered with a strong housing developer and a solid investment group, which gives us something most modular factories struggle to maintain: a sustainable pipeline and the resources to grow at a whole new level.

Modcoach:

A lot of factories claim they’re “recapitalized” — then they go right back to trying to find 100% of their own work with the same struggles as before. You’re saying this is different?

Bob:

Exactly. This isn’t like we got a cash infusion and crossed our fingers. What we have now is a permanent, strategic partnership. Instead of waking up every morning hoping the phone rings, we wake up with real, ongoing opportunities already in motion.

We have work coming to the factory because of our new partners, and we have the independence to continue selling to builders, developers, general contractors, and owners across the country. We’re not locked into building only for our partner’s projects. In fact, we’re pursuing outside sales aggressively because we want to keep doing what Homeway does best: serving the broader market.

CLICK HERE for the Complete Story Behind Homeway Commercials’ Holiday Inn Express build

Modcoach:

That’s something I wanted to dig into. People will wonder: Is the new Homeway just focused on the developer you partnered with? Or are you still open to outside clients nationwide?

Bob:

We’re absolutely open — and actively selling nationwide. Our goal now is to do both: support our partner’s pipeline and expand our footprint by working with developers, GCs, architects, builders, and owners from coast to coast.

If you’re a builder or developer looking for a long-term modular partner, we want to talk. We’re not “internal-only.” We’re not boxed into one region or one client. We’re Homeway — and that means we’re here to build for the entire country.

CLICK HERE to take a 3D tour of the Homeway Commercial Factory

Modcoach:

So this expansion isn’t narrowing your focus. If anything, it’s widening it.

Bob:

Exactly. The best way to put it is:
We’re the same Homeway — we just have more horsepower under the hood.

We have the capital, the partners, the pipeline, and the production capacity to take on more work than we ever could before. And we’re building the same wide range of projects: single-family communities, multifamily, hospitality, student housing — you name it.

Modcoach:

Let’s address another common industry question: Are the Schielers still running the show?

Bob:

Yes. The Schielers are still here. We’re involved in every decision. We’re managing operations. We’re guiding the strategy. Anyone who’s worked with us before will recognize the same leadership and the same family commitment. The partnership didn’t replace us — it empowered us.

Modcoach:

Builders and developers want stability. They want predictability. They want to know the factory they partner with will be around next year — and five years after that. How does the new structure provide that?

Bob:

I won’t sugarcoat it: most factories are forced into a feast-or-famine cycle. We lived that reality like everyone else. The partnership ends that cycle for us.

We now have a reliable pipeline through our developer partner and the financial strength of our investor group. That stability allows us to grow capacity, invest in technology, hire strategically, and deliver at a scale that helps everyone: us, our partners, and every builder or developer who works with us.

Modcoach:

For someone hearing this for the first time, how would you summarize what the “new” Homeway really is?

Bob:

Simple:

  1. Same name
  2. Same Schieler family leadership
  3. Same product range — from homes to hotels to multifamily
  4. Same national service area
  5. But now with the backing, pipeline, and support to grow like never before

We didn’t lose our identity. We strengthened it.

Modcoach:

Last question. What do you want builders, developers, and GCs across the country to know right now?

Bob:

That we’re ready. Ready to partner. Ready to build. Ready to take on projects of any scale. And ready to help bring modular solutions to markets that desperately need them.

Homeway has always been a trusted name in modular construction. Now we have the partnerships and resources to take that trust — and our clients’ projects — even further.

CONTACT Bob Schieler to share your next project or new home – [email protected]

Gen Z Isn’t Chasing “Living Large”—They’re Redefining the American Home

Gary Fleisher on December 5, 2025

A Research-Backed Look at What the Next Generation Wants from Housing—and Why Offsite Construction Is Perfectly Positioned to Deliver It

For decades, every generation entering the housing market has been sold the same dream: the big suburban home, the two-car garage, the vaulted ceilings, and the kitchen island large enough to land a small aircraft. That narrative shaped design, financing, zoning, and marketing approaches for nearly forty years because Gen X and Millennials largely bought into the idea that success meant “living large.”

Gen Z? Not even close.

This rising generation of homebuyers—born between 1997 and 2012—is stepping into the housing market with a completely different mindset, shaped by economic turbulence, historic inflation, climate anxiety, and a lifestyle that values experiences over possessions. And here is the critical truth the housing industry must absorb quickly: Gen Z does not want large, high-spec homes filled with luxury touches. They want affordable, efficient, flexible homes—and they feel no embarrassment about choosing them. To build for the future, the offsite construction industry must understand what is driving this shift and why it matters.

Gen Z Is Choosing Affordability Over Impressiveness

Research confirms the trend. Bank of America’s 2024 Homebuyer Insights Report shows that nearly three out of four Gen Z buyers prioritize affordability above home size or luxury finishes. Fannie Mae’s 2025 Housing Caretaker Study shows that Gen Z is more payment-sensitive than any generation in modern history.

This new mindset is not philosophical; it’s mathematical. Gen Z entered adulthood in the shadow of the Great Recession, navigated the financial uncertainty of a global pandemic, watched housing prices rise faster than wages, and grew up knowing that mortgage rates could double in a year. For them, housing is not a trophy. It is a monthly bill to be managed carefully. A big, impressive home no longer represents achievement. It represents vulnerability. That one shift alone turns decades of real estate assumptions upside down.

Gen Z Wants Practical Homes—Not Feature-Loaded Ones

Millennials famously chased their HGTV-inspired dream homes. Gen Z is approaching housing like seasoned realists. Zillow’s 2024 Consumer Housing Survey makes it clear that Gen Z buyers are less interested in expansive floorplans or luxury kitchens than previous generations. They gravitate toward smaller, well-designed homes that function intelligently and keep long-term costs predictable.

What inspires them is not a marble countertop but a home with durable materials, sensible layouts, smart mechanical systems, and monthly utility bills they can actually plan for. In other words, they want homes that work for them—not homes they must work overtime to maintain. That puts offsite builders squarely in their path.

They Prefer “Right-Sized” Homes Over “Dream Homes”

Gen Z has watched their parents and older siblings wrestle with oversized mortgages, rising utility bills, constant repairs, stretched commutes, and the stress that comes with owning more house than they can comfortably manage. In survey after survey from Redfin, NAHB, and Freddie Mac, Gen Z homebuyers consistently rank “manageable size” above “dream home features.”

They want homes they can afford to live in, not homes they must sacrifice everything to keep. This creates an opening for ADUs, modular cottages, compact single-family homes, micro-units, duplexes, townhomes, and factory-built communities designed around livability rather than square footage. Gen Z doesn’t aspire to own the biggest house on the block. They aspire to own the smartest one.

Sustainability Isn’t an Upgrade for Gen Z—it’s a Requirement

One of the most surprising findings across multiple 2024 and 2025 consumer studies is how strongly Gen Z prioritizes sustainability. The National Association of Realtors’ Sustainability & Housing Report notes that a majority of Gen Z buyers will choose a smaller home if it offers better efficiency and healthier indoor environments.

Gen Z sees sustainability as both a financial and ethical value. They look for airtight construction, efficient heating and cooling systems, ERVs, induction cooking, solar readiness, and a building approach that minimizes waste. Modular construction checks every one of those boxes. Factories reduce waste dramatically, build tighter envelopes, use predictable and efficient material systems, and standardize high-performance designs. For Gen Z, that isn’t a bonus—it’s the baseline.

Flexibility Matters More Than Footprint

Unlike previous generations, Gen Z is not basing their life around a single long-term housing decision. Their careers are more fluid, their personal lives more varied, and their definitions of “home” more adaptable. Remote work, side hustles, multigenerational living, and smaller household sizes mean they prefer homes that can evolve with them.

They want spaces that can shift between office, guest room, hobby room, or rental suite. They gravitate toward movable partitions, dual-purpose rooms, ADUs for income or family, and designs that can change function without major renovation. Millennials chased open concept. Gen Z wants flexible concept. And modular factories are uniquely suited to deliver that flexibility through smart floorplans and repeatable production models.

The Social Status Shift: Experiences Beat Appearances

One of the most dramatic generational changes is the collapse of the idea that “home size equals success.” Pew Research, Deloitte Global, and several cultural studies show that Gen Z’s identity is shaped not by possessions but by experiences, community, mobility, and financial independence.

A big house isn’t a status symbol to them—it’s a stress symbol. Their social currency comes from travel, creative pursuits, entrepreneurship, and living well within their means. They aren’t ashamed of smaller homes; they embrace them. A compact, efficient, beautifully designed modular home fits their worldview better than an overbuilt suburban showpiece ever could.

What This Means for the Offsite Construction Industry

Gen Z is entering the housing market right now. Their values—affordability, sustainability, efficiency, simplicity, and flexibility—are shaping demand across the country. For offsite construction professionals, this is a moment of opportunity.

Smaller homes will define the next decade of demand. High-performance design is no longer optional. Flexibility will outperform extravagance. Predictable cost and factory-level quality will matter more than ever. And perhaps most importantly, modular construction aligns almost perfectly with Gen Z’s worldview—cleaner production, smarter design, faster delivery, and homes that feel responsible rather than excessive.

Gen Z is not rejecting the American Dream.

They are rewriting it for a world that demands practicality, resilience, and sustainability.
And the offsite construction industry is in the best position to build it.

Why Quality Homes’ Customizable Bungalows Are Becoming Canada’s New “Forever Home” Standard

Gary Fleisher on December 3, 2025

More Canadians are choosing to age in place rather than move into retirement facilities. Here’s how Quality Homes’ customizable modular bungalows — like the popular Riverstone — are redefining the forever home for retirees.

QUALITY HOMES RIVERSTONE DESIGN

For decades, retirement in North America followed a familiar script: sell the family home, move into a retirement community, and settle into a downsized life with more rules than rewards. But today a different trend is taking hold — one that puts independence, dignity, and comfort back in the hands of homeowners.

“It’s a forever home built on your terms — not someone else’s timeline.”

Why Aging in Place Is Surging

Walk into any Quality Homes model center and you’ll notice a shift: fewer young families browsing builds and more empty nesters, newly retired couples, and folks who’ve spent decades dreaming about their ideal final home.

They’re not running from age — they’re preparing for it.

Aging in place offers what retirement facilities often can’t:

  • Control over your routines, space, and lifestyle
  • Emotional comfort of staying near friends and community
  • Financial sanity compared to $6,000–$12,000 monthly retirement fees
  • A home that grows with your changing needs, not against them

At its heart, aging in place is about dignity, familiarity, and the freedom to stay yourself.

Why Bungalows Are the New Retirement Home

The resurgence of the Canadian bungalow is no accident — it’s practicality meeting comfort.

Quality Homes’ modular bungalows provide:

One-floor living that removes risk and hassle

No stairs. No compromises. Everything you need is always a safe, level step away.

Wide hallways, accessible bathrooms, and mobility-friendly layouts

Quality Homes’ Whitestone Bungalow

These aren’t afterthoughts; they’re designed in from day one.

Future-ready options

Walk-in showers
Grab bars
Raised toilets
Accessible tubs
Main-floor laundry
Low-maintenance materials

Less space to maintain, more life to enjoy

Retirement should feel lighter — and so should your home.

The benefits of modular consistency and speed

Building indoors means fewer weather delays, fewer unknowns, and a clean, predictable build from layout to move-in.

“These aren’t old-fashioned bungalows. These are future-proof, modular-built sanctuaries intentionally shaped around comfort, and independence.”

Case Study: A Homeowners’ Forever Riverstone

One of the most compelling examples of this trend comes from two homeowners who knew exactly what they wanted — and what they no longer needed.

They chose the Riverstone, one of Quality Homes’ best-selling bungalow designs, and worked hand-in-hand with the design team to shape it around their future.

Their Customizations Included:

  • Bedrooms on opposite ends for privacy
  • A bright, open-concept kitchen/living space
  • Cathedral ceilings for airy volume
  • A generous covered porch
  • Built-in accessibility considerations for future needs

And thanks to modular efficiency, they were living in their new home in just five months — while stick-built projects in the same region faced months of delays.

“Better to plan our future on our terms, instead of waiting until our health forced an unplanned move.”

Their home wasn’t just built.
It was designed — thoughtfully, intentionally, beautifully — for every chapter ahead.

The Bigger Trend Behind the Story

The success of these bungalow models isn’t a fluke. It’s a demographic wave.

Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers are choosing:

  • Ownership over monthly fees
  • Privacy over communal living
  • Comfort over compromise
  • Homes that evolve with them, not ones they’ll need to leave

They want a house that never stops working for them.
A home that gives independence and identity.
A place worth waking up in — at 60, 70, 80, and beyond.

Quality Homes understands this better than most, and their bungalow lineup is proof.

Retirement Living Is Being Redefined — and Quality Homes Is Leading That Shift

Quality Homes – The Laurel Suite 

If there’s one message every future retiree should hear, it’s this:

Your home does not have to define your age.
The right home can redefine your future.

“Why This Matters”

  • Aging in place reduces financial pressure on retirees
  • Modular construction enables consistency and predictable timelines
  • Customizable bungalows solve long-term accessibility needs
  • Demand for senior-ready homes is becoming one of the fastest-growing segments in the offsite industry

With customizable modular bungalows designed for lifelong comfort, Quality Homes is offering homeowners the freedom to stay in control — and stay at home — for as long as they choose.

This isn’t just a trend.
It’s a new blueprint for retirement.
And Quality Homes is building it, one beautifully crafted bungalow at a time.

My Final Thoughts

In the end, what Quality Homes delivers is far more than a beautifully crafted bungalow. They offer something deeper—the promise of a life lived on your own terms, surrounded by comfort, dignity, and the small everyday freedoms that matter more as the years pass.

Whether it’s a Riverstone design tailored for aging in place or a fully customized plan built for the next chapter, Quality Homes proves that the right home doesn’t just shelter you; it supports you, adapts to you, and grows with you. For countless homeowners, that is the true definition of security. And for anyone dreaming of a forever home that blends thoughtful design with lasting peace of mind, Quality Homes continues to stand exactly where they always have—at the intersection of craftsmanship, compassion, and a future you can feel good about.

The Three Conversations Every Modular Owner Is Afraid to Have — But Must

Gary Fleisher on December 3, 2025

If you own a modular factory, you’re basically running a small city—except nobody listens, everything costs more than you expected, and the weather is never on your side. Most days you deal with a perfect storm of backorders, missing trim, angry developers, and one employee who always calls out on payday.

But the part factory owners dread the most?
Not OSHA.
Not drywall cracks.
Not even punch-list season.

It’s conversations.

Not the easy ones about paint colors or forklift upgrades.
I mean the real conversations—the ones everybody avoids until it’s either too late or too expensive to ignore.

After 20+ years in this industry, visiting factories big and small, family-run and VC-funded, I’ve discovered three conversations that every modular owner knows they need to have… yet hopes the universe will handle for them.

It won’t.
So let’s spell them out.

1. The Developer Conversation: “No.”

There is no word harder for a modular factory to say than no, especially when a developer is dangling a “100-unit project” like a shiny fishing lure. Developers are charming. They’re confident. Their PowerPoints sparkle. Their schedules are “aggressive but doable.” Their financing is “99% locked in.” Their drawings are “almost final except for a few details.”

And we fall for it—every time.

Factory owners nod politely, take the binder, promise to review it, and then lie awake at night wondering why the roof plan has four different pitches and no mechanical layout.

Here’s the truth nobody wants to say:
Most bad modular projects go bad on the front porch, not the factory floor.

That first conversation should sound like this:

“Your timeline won’t work, your drawings are missing important details, your financing needs more proof than a handshake, and we are not gambling the factory just because you’re excited.”

But owners rarely say that. We say things like:
“We’ll take a closer look.”

Translated: “We haven’t learned our lesson yet.”

Saying no isn’t just self-protection. It’s a competitive advantage.
Good developers respect boundaries.
Bad developers disappear.

Either outcome is a win.

2. The GM Conversation: “Are we actually running this place correctly?”

This one is a little delicate.

General Managers are the heroic duct tape of modular factories. They fix everything, know everyone, and can tell you instantly which employee is about to quit. Many rose through the ranks, starting as carpenters or set crew warriors. These folks know the business the way a farmer knows his crops.

But the industry has changed faster than some GMs have.

Automation. AI scheduling. Digital twins. Lean manufacturing.
It’s not 2005 anymore, even though some factories still run like it is.

Every factory eventually needs to have the conversation:

“Look, we love you. You’ve been amazing. But if we’re going to survive the next five years, we need new systems, tighter processes, and a willingness to change. Can you lead that? Because if not… we need to bring someone in who can.”

That conversation terrifies owners because it feels personal—and because it might trigger the dreaded GM pout, which causes production delays of its own.

But here’s the hard fact:
A factory can outgrow a GM long before anyone says it out loud.

The best GMs adapt.
The worst ones blame labor, suppliers, and the moon’s gravitational pull.

If your factory’s biggest bottleneck has an office, a desk, and your old photo on the wall, it’s time for this conversation.

3. The Profitability Conversation: “This isn’t working—and hasn’t for years.”

Modular factories love volume. Big backlogs. Big shipments. Big headlines.

But here’s a secret few want to admit:

You can’t make up for unprofitable processes with more volume.
You only go broke faster.

Every factory has one or two skeletons in the profitability closet:

  • A product line that hasn’t made money since flip phones
  • A developer who gets “special pricing” nobody can explain
  • A process so outdated that even OSHA says, “Really?”
  • A service department that loses $300 on every callback

This conversation sounds like:

“We’re cutting this product line.”
“We’re raising prices.”
“We’re redesigning the workflow.”
“We’re letting go of that client.”

And the reaction is always the same:
“Are you sure? They bring us a lot of volume.”

Yes. They bring volume the way thunderstorms bring water—plenty of it, but it floods your basement.

Factories that survive long-term are brutally honest about what makes money and what doesn’t. They don’t prop up zombie products or zombie clients because “it would be awkward to change now.”

Awkward is fine.
Bankruptcy is worse.

So Why Do Owners Avoid These Conversations?

Because modular construction is personal.
It’s emotional.
Every decision touches people.
And owners are human—they want harmony on the floor, peace in the office, and a backlog that doesn’t look like a pending disaster.

But avoiding these conversations is like ignoring a leak in the roof:
It doesn’t stay small.
It spreads, rots, and multiplies.

The industry is full of examples where silence costs more than speaking up:

  • Failed projects that should’ve been declined
  • GMs who stayed five years too long
  • Money-losing product lines protected by nostalgia
  • Developers who drained factories dry
  • Owners who realized the truth only after the lender pointed it out

Silence is expensive.
Delay is costly.
Avoidance is deadly.

My Final Thought: The Conversation You Avoid Today Becomes Tomorrow’s Crisis

But the surprising silver lining is this:

Once an owner finally has these conversations, the factory gets better immediately.
Lighter.
Clearer.
More focused.
More profitable.

Modular factories don’t crumble from one big mistake.
They crumble from a thousand small conversations that never happened.

So have them.
Say the uncomfortable thing.
Protect your factory.
And sleep better knowing you steered the ship instead of hoping the tide would fix itself.

Your employees will thank you.
Your balance sheet will thank you.
And one day, your banker might even smile at you again.

If you’d like to explore this further, connect with Bill today.

Bill Murray, Co-Founder of Offsite Innovators

How Modular Companies Can Break the Seven-Stage Cycle Before It Breaks Them

Gary Fleisher on November 29, 2025

After watching too many respected modular factories walk the Seven Stages of Slow Suffocation, you’d think someone would have invented a cure by now. But here we are—2025—and the pattern keeps claiming victims. Katerra isn’t the first, and it won’t be the last.

Half the factories that look “fine” today are mostly being held together with Excel spreadsheets, duct tape, and hope.

The good news?
The industry can break the cycle.
The bad news?
It requires doing a few things that modular owners hate more than paperwork.

Here’s how to stay off the insolvency list.

1. Stop Saying Yes to Projects That Can Kill You

The modular industry has a chronic disease: Yes-itis.

A big-name client comes calling, flashes a complex project, and suddenly the factory is agreeing to things it can’t actually afford to deliver. The press release always looks great, but the first invoice doesn’t.

Factories need a new rule:
If the cashflow model doesn’t work, the project doesn’t happen.

Yes, it’s hard to say no.
Yes, it feels like leaving money on the table.
But saying yes to the wrong project is how companies end up filing Notices of Intention while insisting they’re “just in a temporary crunch.”

You want to break the cycle?
Start with the bravery to walk away.

2. Cashflow First. Everything Else Second.

Modular factories don’t die from lack of work; they die from lack of cash.

The biggest myth in modular is that backlog equals safety. No—liquidity equals safety.

There are three cashflow rules modular companies must adopt:

  • Get deposits, not promises.
    “We’ll pay on delivery” should be a red flag, not a selling point.
  • Never accept payment terms longer than your supplier terms.
    If your client pays in 60 days and your supplier wants 30, congratulations—you’re the bank.
  • Model cashflow weekly, not monthly.
    Modular companies suffocate in the gaps.

Breaking the cycle starts with knowing exactly when the oxygen runs low—and fixing it before the alarms go off.

3. Manage Change Orders Like Your Life Depends on It

Because it does.

A modular project without change orders is like a Monday without coffee: impossible.

The problem is not the changes—it’s the tracking. When a factory doesn’t price, approve, document, and collect on changes properly, it bleeds to death by a thousand cuts.

Better rule:
No approved change order, no change.
And yes, that includes small ones. Especially small ones.

4. Banks Aren’t Your Enemy—Unless You Ignore Them

Banks don’t like surprises.
Lenders don’t like friction.
And both lose their patience the moment covenants get close to tripping.

The factories that avoid collapse are the ones that communicate early, even when the news is bad.

Call it a preemptive strike.
Call it a courtesy.
Call it survival.

Because when lenders trust management, they give breathing room. When they don’t, they accelerate the fall.

5. Fix What Really Runs Your Factory: The Front End

Most modular collapses have nothing to do with production.

They start months earlier—during quoting, estimating, scheduling, and engineering.
Get those wrong, and the production line becomes a very expensive theatre where you perform mistakes in real time.

Factories need to tighten:

  • estimating accuracy
  • contract reviews
  • design freeze discipline
  • project launch procedures

You break the cycle by getting the front of the business right—not by hoping the back can save you.

6. Understand That Growth Is Not a Strategy

Modular companies often assume that if they grow fast enough, the problems will magically shrink behind them.

History says otherwise.

Growth multiplies problems.
Growth magnifies mistakes.
Growth accelerates the suffocation.

Before adding capacity, headcount, or square footage, every modular company needs to answer one question honestly:

Is our current system profitable at today’s volume?
If the answer is no, doubling that volume won’t fix it.

7. Do the One Thing No Modular Factory Ever Wants to Do: Ask for Help

Consultants, advisors, turnaround experts, fractional CFOs, outside estimators—call them what you want. But factories that survive rough cycles aren’t too proud to bring in someone who’s already seen the warning signs.

No one ever regrets calling before the collapse.
Everyone regrets calling after.

Breaking the Cycle Begins With Admitting It Exists

The modular industry has a pattern.
A deadly one.
But it isn’t inevitable.

You break the Seven-Stage Cycle by being more disciplined, more selective, more honest—and more prepared—than the companies that followed the pattern before you.

If the industry keeps treating insolvencies like lightning strikes, we’ll keep getting hit.

But if we finally admit the storm is predictable…
We might actually learn how to avoid it.

Our ultimate goal at Offsite Innovators is to grow our industry…we need your help.

If you’d like to explore this further, connect with Bill today.

Bill Murray, Co-Founder of Offsite Innovators

The New Nerve Center of Offsite Construction

Gary Fleisher on November 24, 2025

Walk into almost any offsite factory in 2025 and you’ll see the same thing: talented people doing their best inside production processes that haven’t changed much since the 1990s. Stations that depend on tribal knowledge. Material flow based on habit rather than data. Cycle times that vary day to day depending on who showed up, what’s missing, and whether the last station remembered to label the bundle.

But the quiet truth is this: offsite construction is standing at the front door of a technological shift that will change everything—from how factories plan their production lines to how they measure success. That shift is being driven by a three-part engine: robotics, automation, and digital-twin technology.

And unlike the last thirty years of software promises and “factory of the future” sales pitches, this time the technology has caught up to the ambition.

Robotics: The New Skilled Labor

There’s no denying the skilled-labor shortage. Even the best-run factories can’t hire fast enough, train consistently, or guarantee productivity from shift to shift. Robotics is stepping into that gap.

Robotic arms are fastening sheathing. Automated saws cut components to tolerances humans can’t match on their best day. Material-handling robots are moving panels, trusses, cassettes, and even volumetric modules with predictable timing and repeatable accuracy.

But what robotics really does is stabilize the factory environment. It lets companies plan production without worrying that three key people called out sick or left for a higher-paying job.

Robots won’t replace the workforce—they’ll rebalance it. Humans will do the thinking, adjusting, solving, and inspecting. Robots will handle the heavy lifting, the repetitive work, and the tasks where mistakes cost real money.

Automation: The Quiet Multiplier

If robotics is the muscle, automation is the nervous system.

Automation links stations that were never connected. It eliminates downtime by forecasting it before it happens. It standardizes tasks across shifts. And it allows factories to operate at the speed of information rather than the speed of habit.

Automated fastening systems, integrated cutting centers, and smart conveying lines aren’t just shiny equipment—they’re the backbone of a predictable workflow. When everything talks to everything else, factories shift from “reactive” to “proactive.”

That single transition is worth millions in reduced rework, smoother inspections, faster throughput, and more accurate schedules for builders and developers—not to mention the sanity of the plant manager.

Digital Twins: The Brain Behind It All

Of all the innovations reshaping offsite construction, digital-twin modeling may be the most transformative.

A digital twin is a full virtual replica of the factory—its equipment, its workflow, its material movement, its cycle times, its delays, its inefficiencies, and even its failures. In other words, it’s a laboratory where factories can experiment without breaking anything, without shutting down a line, and without guessing.

Want to know how many robots to add? Modify the model.
Want to see how much downtime a redesigned workstation will eliminate? Run the simulation.
Want to test how a new product or module size will affect throughput? Let the twin predict the answer.

The digital twin becomes the management system—replacing gut instinct with real data and exposing inefficiencies before they become expensive problems.

Who Helps Factories Implement All This?

This is where knowledgeable partners matter.

Companies like 4Ward Solutions Group have stepped into the industry as advisors who understand both construction and manufacturing technology. They assist factories in:

  • Integrating robotics and smart automation
  • Designing production lines around efficiency instead of tradition
  • Implementing digital-twin and virtual-modeling systems
  • Training teams to operate in a data-driven environment
  • Aligning operations, people, processes, and technology

The value of advisors like 4Ward isn’t simply in their technical ability—it’s in their understanding of how factories actually run. They know the constraints, the personalities, the budget pressures, and the cultural resistance that can sabotage good ideas.

They help factories make the leap without losing the rhythm of daily production.

Just my Thoughts

Robotics, automation, and digital-twin technology are no longer visionary concepts or futuristic sales slides. They are practical tools solving everyday problems—speed, labor, accuracy, predictability, and cost control. Factories that embrace them will outperform, out-deliver, and outlast those that keep waiting for the “right time.”

Because in this industry, the right time rarely arrives on its own.
You create it.

If you’d like to explore this further, connect with Bill today.

Bill Murray, Co-Founder of Offsite Innovators

What My Father Taught Me About the Offsite Industry

Gary Fleisher on November 21, 2025

My father was a man of simple wisdom, the kind of person who could solve a business problem with a cup of coffee and a sentence that didn’t appear in any MBA textbook. Some fathers quote Churchill or Sun Tzu. Mine quoted wildlife.

He’d look at me over the dinner table, usually while slicing his meatloaf with the precision of a surgeon, and say:

“Rabbits and squirrels will always be prey.”

Now, when you’re twelve years old, this sounds less like business advice and more like the opening line of a National Geographic documentary. But as the years passed — and as I spent decades watching modular factories rise, fall, reopen, rebrand, collapse again, and blame it on the weather — his line started to make perfect sense.

And eventually I realized he wasn’t talking about animals.

He was talking about factory owners, developers, general managers, and sales reps.

Which honestly explains a lot.

So, in honor of my father — and the entire offsite construction ecosystem that behaves exactly like a forest filled with caffeine-addicted woodland creatures — here is your field guide to survival.

Bring binoculars.

The Rabbits: Fast, Cute, and Always About Five Minutes From Disaster

Ah yes, the rabbits — the most common species in the offsite forest. They hop into the industry full of optimism and high speed, certain they’ll revolutionize everything with their innovative floor plan, their “unique” marketing phrase, or their belief that builders love paying more for modules if you just explain it slowly.

Rabbits:

  • sign contracts before calculating costs
  • quote projects during full moons
  • panic whenever interest rates move
  • adopt new software every 90 days
  • make major decisions before breakfast

They don’t build reserves. They don’t build systems. They don’t build predictable quoting. They build excitement.

Rabbits are the folks who say, “We’re going to triple production this year” and then six months later whisper, “We’re taking a little break while we reorganize.”

Rabbits don’t die because the market kills them.
Rabbits die because they trip over their own enthusiasm.

I’ve met hundreds of them. I’ve eaten donuts in their conference rooms. They bounce around like they’re powered by solar panels and anxiety. They move fast but have no idea where they’re going.

Cute? Absolutely.
Predators? Not a chance.
Snack-sized? Definitely.

The Squirrels: Nervous Hoarders with Spreadsheets

Squirrels are more cautious than rabbits. They hide their acorns, protect their acorns, inventory their acorns, count their acorns every quarter, and then discuss at the annual meeting whether they might buy one more acorn if the economy stabilizes.

A squirrel factory:

  • hasn’t raised its base price since 2008
  • still uses the same employee handbook from 2005
  • thinks automation is “too risky”
  • believes growth is suspicious
  • views innovation the way a squirrel views a German Shepherd

Squirrels survive, but only because no one can find them long enough to kill them. They’ve mastered the art of being in business without standing out in business.

Squirrels attend conferences but sit in the back.
Squirrels listen to presentations about AI and robotics and mutter, “Not for us.”
Squirrels store cash but never deploy it.

They are competent. They are safe. They are consistent.

And Squirrels will absolutely be prey forever.

The Hawks: Specialists With Talons (and Real SOPs)

Now we’re finally getting somewhere.

Hawks are rare — which is why they thrive. They don’t try to build everything. They don’t chase every customer. They don’t reorganize their production line every Tuesday after watching a YouTube video about Toyota.

Hawks know who they are.

Maybe they’re the townhouse specialist.
Maybe they’re the ADU whisperer.
Maybe they’re the school-building savant.
Maybe they’ve mastered the art of building 14 different versions of the same 28×48 ranch without losing their mind.

Hawks fly higher than rabbits, meaning they can see trouble coming. They can also see opportunity forming before anyone else hears a rustle in the bushes.

Hawks do not panic.
Hawks do not hoard.
Hawks do not chase.

Hawks hunt.

Which means they are the natural predator of rabbits, squirrels, and — occasionally — undercapitalized bears.

The Wolves: Coordinated, Confident, and Capable of Actual Planning

If hawks are the specialists, wolves are the professional operators.

A wolf company doesn’t operate on hope, caffeine, or whatever inspirational quote was circulating on LinkedIn that week. Wolves operate on:

  • systems
  • training
  • leadership
  • process control
  • actual job costing
  • schedulers who enjoy color-coded spreadsheets

A wolf is a GM who knows exactly where every project stands, and when he doesn’t know, he actually asks — instead of hiding in his office until the crisis magically resolves itself.

I have walked into wolf factories. You can tell immediately.

No yelling.
No chaos.
No fires to put out.
No “Hank didn’t show up again, so we’re short.”

Wolves move in packs.
Sales, production, engineering, accounting, and leadership all move in the same direction.
You never see one wolf sprinting ahead while the rest claw at the ground trying to catch up.

The wolves are the ones who will quietly buy a struggling rabbit factory, keep the best employees, close the side door that’s been open since 2011, and turn the whole thing into a functional operation inside six months.

Wolves don’t brag.
They don’t make noise.
They don’t post in ALL CAPS on LinkedIn.

Wolves simply dominate.

The Bears: Enormous, Impressive, and Occasionally Unaware of Their Own Weight

Every few years, a massive new bear wanders into the modular forest wearing a hard hat, carrying a billion dollars, and announcing that they’re going to disrupt the entire industry by doing exactly what the industry has always done — but louder. Think Katerra, L&G, and Entekra.

Bears are impressive.
They attract headlines.
They attract investors.
They attract half the construction journalists on earth.

The problem is that bears also attract gravity.

And gravity has taken down more giant modular startups than any hawk or wolf ever has.

A bear can do enormous good.
A bear can also collapse in a spectacular pile of debt, ambition, and unused robotics.

The tricky part is that when a bear falls, it falls on everyone.

But that’s nature.
The woodland creatures scatter, and the survivors carry on with slightly more skepticism than before.

Where This Beautiful Woodland Disaster Leaves Us

My father didn’t say his line as a threat. He said it as a reminder:

If you behave like prey, you will live like prey.
If you behave like a predator, you will survive.

And that’s the offsite industry in a nutshell.

Some factories run like twitchy rabbits.
Some operate like nervous, hoarding squirrels.
Some soar like hawks.
Some coordinate like wolves.
Some lumber in like bears who haven’t read the instruction manual.

And somehow, all of them show up at industry conferences, sit at round tables, and nod politely while speakers talk about “transformation,” “innovation,” and “scaling responsibly.”

I sometimes wish a hawk, a squirrel, and a wolf would all sit on a panel and just explain their business models in wildlife terms. It might be the most honest session we’d ever have.

The Final Lesson in the Forest

After all these years, I can still hear my father’s voice whenever I talk to a factory, walk a production line, or get pulled into another discussion about why a startup needs $38 million before building its first prototype.

He’d say:

“Rabbits and squirrels will always be prey.”

He was right then.
He’s right now.
And if I had to guess, he’ll be right long after AI is managing factories, drones are delivering modules, and wolves are still shaking their heads at the rabbits who never learned.

The forest doesn’t lie. It just teaches.

We’ve Trained a Generation to Swing Hammers—Now Let’s Teach Them to Build Companies

Gary Fleisher on November 17, 2025

Watching my 14-year-old grandson — a Gen Alpha kid who somehow squeezes four lifetimes into one — has completely changed the way I look at the future of our industry. This is a young man who taught himself to weld in his garage, sketches plans and builds backyard structures for fun, repairs small engines for neighbors, runs a lawn care business he started at age 10, and still pulls off good grades in high school.

Not because someone told him to. Not because there’s a curriculum for it. But because he wants to understand how things work — and how to make them better.

And watching him led me to one question that our entire industry needs to start asking:

How do we bring more young people into construction and offsite manufacturing, not just as skilled workers… but as skilled entrepreneurs?

Because this is a different segment of labor — a desperately needed one. Factories need line workers, yes. But they also need doers who become thinkers, and thinkers who become founders. They need the next generation of subcontractors, installers, innovators, factory owners, and problem-solvers who look at inefficiency and say, “I can fix that.”

If we fail to develop that side of the workforce, we won’t just be short on talent — we’ll be short on leadership.

So let’s talk about how we grow that entrepreneurial spark from the ground up.

Here are my suggested “7 Steps to Entrepreneurship”

Step One: Build Ownership Thinking Early

You can’t learn ownership by watching someone else clock in. Ownership has to be experienced, and it should start long before a young person steps onto a jobsite.

Trade programs still teach people to work for a boss, not be one. Every construction tech program should build in a mini-business pitch, a pricing exercise, or a project that requires estimating, scheduling, and customer communication.

Entrepreneurship doesn’t begin with a loan application — it begins with a mindset. And the earlier we cultivate it, the stronger it grows.

Step Two: Apprentice in Business, Not Just a Trade

Traditional apprenticeships teach skills; entrepreneurial apprenticeships teach systems. Pair every apprentice with an owner, estimator, or operations lead once a month. Let them see the business side — the bids, the budgets, the surprises, the stress, the strategy.

If you want someone to eventually run a company, they need to understand far more than how to build the product. They need to understand how to keep the doors open.

Step Three: Create Micro-Entrepreneurship Opportunities

Gen Z and Gen Alpha don’t want to wait a decade for responsibility — they want it now, and they thrive when they get it.

Factories could create “Own Your Crew” starter programs. Trade schools could host small-business building competitions. Communities could support student-run micro-crews doing repairs, ADU prep work, yard structures, and real paid projects.

Small opportunities build real confidence — and confidence builds founders.

Step Four: Match Them With Mentors Who Have Scars

The best entrepreneurship teachers aren’t professors — they’re people who survived mistakes. Retired builders, former GMs, and veteran factory managers should be the backbone of a new mentorship movement.

If you’ve made payroll in a slow month or rebuilt a business after a bad year, you can teach more than any textbook ever will. And young people want real talk. They want the truth, not the brochure.

Step Five: Redefine Innovation for This Generation

Young people think innovation means robotics, AI, or 3D printing. Sure — those matter. But innovation in our industry also looks like shaving a day off a schedule, redesigning the flow in a factory, improving logistics, or managing installs smarter.

Show them that entrepreneurship in construction is often about improving a process — not inventing a gadget. When they understand that, they start looking for opportunity everywhere.

Step Six: Teach Tech With Purpose

The future entrepreneur in our industry will use AI as casually as a tape measure. BIM won’t be “specialized software.” CRMs won’t be “nice to have.”

If we want tomorrow’s builders to run successful companies, we must train them to think digitally. Not because tech replaces knowledge — but because tech multiplies it.

When a young builder understands both construction and digital tools, they become unstoppable.

Step Seven: Celebrate Young Founders Like Rock Stars

We highlight machines, robots, and giant factories — but not the 19-year-old who launched a small CAD studio or the 22-year-old who started a framing crew with two friends.

If we want more entrepreneurs, we need to show entrepreneurs. Every story of a young builder-founder is a spark. And sparks create momentum.

THE BIG PICTURE

We cannot solve the labor crisis by training workers alone. We also need to train owners, leaders, creators, problem-solvers, and risk-takers.

Factories will always need line workers. But the industry will collapse without the innovators who hire those workers, refine the processes, and build the companies that move offsite construction forward.

The future belongs to the young people who don’t just want jobs — they want ownership. They want autonomy. They want to build something that’s theirs.

Our job is to give them the blueprint — and then get out of their way.

Confessions Over Coffee: Two Factory Friends Discuss the Useless Conference Circuit

Gary Fleisher on November 15, 2025

I recently had lunch with a retired GM from one of the big modular factories—the kind that had more powernailers than employees and still called it progress. We met to catch up on life after his retirement, that sweet chapter where you finally stop pretending to care about production schedules.

He knew what I was up to—blogging my way into offsite industry infamy—so I asked what he’d been doing. With a twinkle in his eye, he confessed that after four years away, he missed it all so much he started attending small industry conferences… not to learn, mind you, but “so people don’t forget my name.”

It’s hard to argue with that. Nostalgia’s cheaper than therapy.

The Modern Conference: A Parade of PowerPoints and Politeness

We both agreed that, in theory, these gatherings are supposed to be the beating heart of the offsite and modular industry—grand platforms where professionals network, share knowledge, and discover new opportunities.

But somewhere between the third panel discussion and the fifth coffee refill, that noble mission dies quietly—smothered by buzzwords, vague insights, and PowerPoint slides that look suspiciously like last year’s.

Is it our age, we wondered (ha!), or has the content at these conferences become so flavorless it dissolves in memory before you even check out of the hotel? I’d say it’s a bit of both. Once upon a time, the sessions had substance. Now, you can learn more from a LinkedIn scroll or a late-night Google rabbit hole than from any keynote speaker with “synergy” in their title.

The Networking Mirage

The networking, however, remains pure gold. It’s the one part that still feels real. You can’t beat bumping into people who speak your language—“lead time,” “backlog,” “code approval”—and seeing the look of exhaustion that says, Yes, my factory’s on fire too.

photo – BuilderTrend

There’s comfort in that shared misery, the kind you just can’t get through a Zoom screen. The handshakes, the laughs, the whispered gossip about who’s expanding and who’s imploding—worth every penny of the overpriced conference badge.

The Great “Discovery” Myth

And then comes the part that’s supposed to make it all worthwhile: discovering new opportunities.

I don’t know what conferences the marketing teams are attending, but at the ones I go to, “new opportunities” usually means getting cornered by a tech startup selling factory management software that promises to “revolutionize” your production line—if only you’d give them your email.

It’s been years since I’ve seen something truly original on a conference stage. Most of what’s presented could be found in a three-minute Google search or, better yet, overheard at the hotel bar from someone who actually works in the field.

The Verdict: Necessary Nonsense

By the end of our two-hour lunch, we came to the same conclusion: conferences are, in essence, gloriously useless—but they beat sitting at home yelling at the media.

So here’s the wisdom of two old factory guys:

Pick the conference that best panders to your niche.

Pay your hundreds (or thousands) of dollars. Book the hotel room with decent Wi-Fi and questionable carpet. Sit through the sessions politely, collect the swag bag, and when you get home—forget every word that came from the stage.

Just remember the people you met. They’re the only part that matters.

Keep your eye on Offsite Innovators for news about an entirely different type of conference coming in early 2026. It will be worth every modest penny spent…