Off-site and modular building
© CAN STOCK PHOTO / ND3000
The construction industry is at a tipping point
By Jacob D’Albora
Special to Florida Construction News
“The tipping points that magical moment when an
idea, trend or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips
and spreads like a wild fire.” (Malcolm Gladwell)
The construction industry is notoriously known as
one of the slowest industries to accept change and
evolve with recent technology. Even looking outside of
a monitor screen, the industry is still resistant to assis-
tance from technology in progressing manual labor
which has always been the foundation of building build-
ings. This is about to change.
The construction industry is at a tipping point. What
is this tipping point? What is the revolution that is
about to spread across the built world?
Off-site construction. The process of planning, design-
ing and fabricating building elements at a site other than
the final location, creating a more rapid and efficient
construction of a permanent structure.
The key is this tipping point is not happening be-
cause the industry has finally accepted progressive
ideas and found a willingness to try the new method-
ologies. This tipping point, or what Gladwell refers to
as that magical moment, will be forced out of an act of
urgency and survival by three main factors:
• Labor force
• Rising construction costs
• Global warming
Labor force
The current labor pools have almost dried up and the
cause is directly correlated to the push for all high
school students to go to college and earn a degree. As
noble as that sounds, the act has been a detriment not
just to the construction and other industries but to the
young adults that were pushed that direction. Numer-
ous studies show the debt that student loans accrue
and the burden these individuals live with. Sometimes
for the rest of their life.
“As many as 40 per cent of borrowers could default
on their student loans by 2023.” (H. Hoffower from the
Business Insider.)
——————— Continued on page 4
Shumaker’s construction lawyers represent clients across the construction
industry: general contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, owners, develop-
ers, architects, engineers, construction managers, and sureties.
www.shumaker.com Florida Construction News — OCTOBER 2019 – 3