New home lot supply drops to cycle lows
The groundwork is already being laid by the next generation of homebuilders. Clayton Homes, Entekra, Katerra, and ICON are big players disrupting the homebuilding process. Dvele, another budding company, recently raised $14 million to build single-family homes. After touring Dvele’s production facility in California we provide an overview of this emerging player in the industry.
Dvele’s current portfolio leans luxury with a modern aesthetic. The fully modular homes arrive pre-wired for electric, plumbing, fire sprinklers, and HVAC and are assembled on-site. From approved permit to completion, Dvele’s total construction of a home takes about six months (as short as three), six to ten weeks of which are factory time, and tend to be priced similarly to those traditionally built.
Source: Dvele.com, Hoyde product rendering.
Dvele’s building science is driven by its attention to quality, durability, health, and wellness in order to perfect the home. This focus adds value to the home both through what you can see but also what you can’t. The homes enjoy the quality control of being built inside and are engineered to withstand not only earthquakes but also the vibration of the roads during shipping.
Dvele believes owning a home does not mean compromises. The company wants its buyers to expect the highest level of quality with eco-benefits:
Dvele’s customer focus is exemplified during the building process, at the delivery of the home, and potentially for life. The company is creating an effortless consumer experience. Some notable consumer trends include:
Dvele’s building process relies heavily on manual labor, but the team is looking to phase in automation. Over the last few years, the company has been working with robotics engineers deconstructing the homebuilding process and training computers. The executive team is scheduled to tour Japan and Europe, two regions in the world where experts are already using automation in homebuilding successfully, to learn best practices and look for ways to improve what is already being done. Shifting to full automation is still a bit out, but is in-line with the firm’s longer-term growth plans.
Dvele and other homebuilders making a move in the space face a slight headwind of overcoming preconceived notions of modular/prefab housing. The stigma around modular homes, however, is gradually easing as the world becomes more tech-centric and the benefits of factory-built homes are realized.