Innovation in Home Building

In 2004, the NAHB Research Center partnered with Virginia Tech University to produce one of the most significant research reports on innovation in the home building industry ever. The work was funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH).

Through this study and the decades of industry knowledge we brought to the mix, researchers on this team were able to identify many of the barriers to innovation in home building that make it unique compared to others in the United States. These characteristics include:

• Dominance of small firms
• Lack of industry integration
• Poor flow of information among industry players
• High cost of deployment
• Diverse, local building codes

Due to these and other contributing factors, it often takes upwards of 25 years for a new product or idea to penetrate the home building industry. With consumer demand for higher performance and better quality in their homes escalating annually, the home building industry cannot afford this kind of lag in progress. The NAHB Research Center, with industry and government alliances, can help change the tide of innovation in this industry.

The Research Center is uniquely poised to help government agencies continue their efforts to break down barriers to innovation, thereby creating better, more affordable homes for our country. Let us partner with you to further identify and eliminate barriers to innovation – contact us for more information.