Homes Aren't Getting Cheaper — or Easier to Secure
This year, the median household income for homebuyers surged to $107,000, up from $88,000 last year, according to the National Association of Realtors. Meanwhile, the number of homes for sale in the U.S. has plummeted to a record low, showing little sign of recovery.
Some may argue that rising prices, combined with a plummeting supply of homes, might drive families to seek greener, more sustainable housing options. Research indicates that single-family suburbs significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions while also limiting affordable housing options.
Innovative startups like BotBuilt are advocating for a solution: leveraging technology to reduce costs and address the challenges of homebuilding.
Founded in 2020 by Brent Wadas, Colin Devine, and robotics engineer Barrett Ames, BotBuilt aims to develop a robotic system that translates building plans into machine commands, automating a crucial element of home construction.
What motivated the co-founders to enter the homebuilding sector? Barrett Ames shares that it stemmed from personal experience. While pursuing his graduate studies at Duke University, he and his wife purchased a fixer-upper near campus, engaging friends and family to renovate the house. This hands-on experience educated Ames about the common challenges and patterns within the construction industry.
“The housing market is grappling with a significant shortage, and builders recognize the urgent need to ramp up production to compensate for years of underbuilding,” Ames explained in an email interview. “With rising interest rates, many homeowners are hesitant to sell, which in turn amplifies the demand for new housing developments.”
BotBuilt’s system doesn’t construct homes from scratch; it focuses specifically on automating the framing process. Their robotics technology assembles critical framing components, such as wall panels and trusses, with a system that reportedly costs about $1 per hour to operate. Notably, the system can be easily reprogrammed to create a variety of frame designs rapidly.
“The adaptability of our robotic systems is a significant advantage,” Ames noted. “Previous robotic attempts in construction have generally relied on rigid automation, which works well for repetitive tasks like car manufacturing. But this approach falls short in construction, where design variety is key.”
By automating the framing process, Ames believes the efficiency of homebuilding can improve dramatically while costs decrease. Traditionally, framing expenses range from $7 to $16 per square foot, inclusive of labor costs that can reach $10. While the framing process typically takes about a month, unpredictable factors like inclement weather and labor shortages can cause delays. In fact, the National Association of Home Builders reported that over 55% of single-family homebuilders faced skilled labor shortages in various trades, including framing, back in 2021.
BotBuilt primarily serves homebuilders—not by selling the frame-building systems outright but by operating robotic-equipped factories to supply framing components to construction clients.
“The timing of framing affects all subsequent trades in the construction process and can significantly impact a developer’s budget,” Ames explained. “Most framing components are still produced using manual methods. BotBuilt empowers builders to boost their production capacity and profit margins by utilizing accessible, high-quality robotic labor.”
BotBuilt does face competition in the robotic homebuilding sector from companies like Randek, Weinmann, and House of Design, as well as Diamond Age and Mighty Homes, both of which have developed systems for printing and assembling components like interiors and roof structures.
Currently, BotBuilt has constructed only nine homes, with revenues around $75,000. However, Ames anticipates rapid growth in 2024, including plans to begin shipping robot-built trusses while scaling operations.
“Manual wall panel and truss operations typically run at gross margins of 30-40%, but our level of automation can significantly exceed that while still providing builders with considerable cost savings,” Ames stated. He estimates that BotBuilt generates approximately $15,000 in revenue per house built with wall panels. “We already have ten builders lined up with over 2,000 homes and apartment units in our backlog, and we will fulfill these orders as swiftly as possible with our initial two factories.”
To facilitate growth, BotBuilt has successfully raised $12.4 million in a seed funding round. Previous investors include Ambassador Supply, Y Combinator, Owens Corning, and Shadow Ventures. Part of this funding, which values BotBuilt at $35 million post-money, will assist in expanding its team in Durham, North Carolina, from 13 to about 20 employees.
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