How Taylor Morrison tracks one division’s offsite component gains

Battling soft margins, dicey demand and chronic labor shortages, can homebuilders leverage a pivot to factory-built components as an offset to build more efficiently and scale with fewer workers?This is a question that Taylor Morrison’s Austin division began asking just before the onset of the COVID pandemic. Over the last several years, the builder found that, despite the higher upfront sticker price of offsite components, the savings from faster cycle times, better trade coordination and operational efficiencies helped offset the upfront cost. During a session at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference in late July, Alex Northam, Purchasing Director for Taylor Morrison’s Austin Division, and Sean Shields, Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Structural Building Components Association, unpacked how the builder evaluated the costs, efficiencies and labor implications of using offsite components. Why the builder began betting on offsite components The Austin division’s use of offsite components began in 2020. Before, the builder constructed homes entirely through conventional stick framing. That changed just before the onset of COVID, when Taylor Morrison acquired William Lyon Ho...