The housing industry is replete with builders who learned the craft from their father and their father’s father. This template has been successful for centuries and has resulted in providing homes across the country. Today, however, there isn’t enough housing available to meet demand, there aren’t ways to integrate quickly developing technology, and there isn’t enough labor to make it all happen.
While there is no quick answer, companies like Katerra, a HIVE Top 5 Innovator, are reimagining the age-old process of building homes. Katerra launched less than three years ago and now has more than 1,000 employees that have built a business model to act as the supply chain, the contractor, the architect, and the assembly team on a project.
The company’s fast growth proves there is something to the new structure, which was based on ideas from individuals who had never been employed in the housing industry before.
In this short video, Craig Curtis, president of Katerra Architecture, speaks to the company’s transformation and where it’s headed.
Katerra’s big play was hiring from outside of housing, which put people in a position to ask, “Why are things done this way?” This challenge is setting Katerra apart. Not only are its new hires forced to learn the housing industry, but they’re also bringing their knowledge from other industries, from which they can apply new solutions and identify new opportunities. Katerra’s model of hiring for potential rather than industry experience is one that likely will benefit housing going forward.
Mark your calendars for the 2018 HIVE conference, Nov. 28 to 29, in Austin, Texas, to meet this year’s HIVE Top 5 Innovators.
This story appears as it was originally published on our sister site, www.hiveforhousing.com.
