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Architects wouldn't specify Katerra's products
Cheap imported materials
When Katerra was first founded, it was a supply chain and logistics company. It sourced low-cost materials from China and elsewhere and offered them to builders in the US more cheaply than competitors did.
Why designers stay with known products
Established building products come with extensive semi-official testing, documented in ICC or IAPMO code reports that give designers third-party verification of the performance to expect. They carry warranties, and their makers put great effort into catalogs, free design software, and free engineering assistance.
A designer who specifies a slightly cheaper product gains little, while a product that fails drags engineers, architects, and builders into the lawsuits that follow.
The prefab pivot
In prefab, Katerra used factory methods and sourced its own materials, in the hope of outcompeting other builders.
Why do code reports matter so much to designers?
ICC Evaluation Service, a nonprofit affiliated with the International Code Council, publishes reports showing that a product meets the requirements of the building code. IAPMO's evaluation service does the same kind of work. Building officials routinely accept these reports as evidence of compliance for products the code does not describe in detail. A product without one often has to be argued through with each local building department separately.
How does factory-built housing actually get assembled?
Wall panels, roof trusses, or entire room-sized modules are built indoors on an assembly line, then trucked to the site. Repeated tasks let workers use jigs and fixtures, and weather does not stop the work. Site crews then set the pieces onto a prepared foundation and connect them. Mail-order kit homes sold by Sears from 1908 to 1940 were an early version of the same idea.
Why do building failures pull in so many defendants?
Construction defect suits typically name every party that touched the building, because the cause is rarely clear until experts have examined it. That list can include the architect, the engineer, the general contractor, the subcontractors, and the product maker. Design professionals are held to a professional standard of care, which means a product choice can be questioned long after the building is finished. Defect claims in many states can be filed years after a building is completed.
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