Exploring Prefabricated Wood Component Use and Adoption in Texas

Exploring Prefabricated Wood Component Use and Adoption in Texas

This article is part of a series discussing the current research activities of the Affordable Housing Research and Technology Division within the Office of Policy Development and Research.

The Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) funds building technology research into prefabricated wood components such as roof trusses, wall panels, and floor trusses to enhance the production and supply of affordable housing. Although prefabricated wood components have enjoyed widespread adoption throughout the United States, certain states remain slow to use the technology, requiring research to identify local barriers to adoption. Since February 2025, PD&R has been funding an 18-month project with Clemson University to survey builders, contractors, and other industry professionals in the field to better understand the barriers to adoption in the state of Texas as well as fund a demonstration project of homes built with prefabricated wood components to illustrate the cost and time savings associated with the technology for affordable housing construction. This article describes the scope of the research project, its objectives, the status of the project, and next steps.

Background

Construction methods can enhance or hinder housing affordability. Traditional construction methods often use labor-intensive techniques and formwork that escalate costs and extend construction timelines. Offsite construction allows for prefabricated building components (such as wood components) to be built offsite, then assembled onsite. Because workers produce components faster offsite, and the preassembled components speed onsite assembly, an offsite construction method can result in lower labor costs than traditional construction methods. These efficiencies can shorten timelines as well, increasing a builder's annual capacity for housing production. Adopting prefabricated wood components such as roof trusses, wall panels, and floor trusses for housing construction within a low-adoption area can help states address housing affordability because developers can increase both their production capabilities and the supply of affordable housing. 

This project continues two research interests for PD&R's Affordable Housing Research and Technology Division. Prefabricated wood components have been a continued technology of interest within PD&R's research into the development and adoption of housing innovation technologies. In 2006, PD&R studied the diffusion of housing innovations within the residential home building industry and found that panelization is one of the housing innovations that has been used increasingly over time. The study of overcoming barriers to innovation has also been a research focus for PD&R. In the 2005 study Overcoming Barriers to Innovation in the Home Building Industry, researchers identified emerging, mature, and graduate (5%, 20%, and <20% market penetration, respectively) stages of innovation, and methods to advance innovations to more mature stages. The study highlighted the use of demonstrations for housing innovation technology like those used in this project as one method to reduce barriers to adoption of innovative technology. 

Objectives and Scope of the Research Project

The research project examines local barriers to market adoption of prefabricated wood components and consists of several parts. First, the Clemson research team will conduct a literature review to assist with the design of interview questions. Second, they will interview regional decisionmakers (including members of the local home builders association) to understand the market-specific construction behaviors of builders within the state that are barriers to the use of prefabricated wood components in building affordable homes. Third, as part of this research partnership, the Structural Building Components Association will host a build series event that includes two separate demonstration projects of homes built with prefabricated wood components. The event will demonstrate building with prefabricated wood components, using its speed of assembly to highlight cost and time savings tied to these offsite construction methods. Fourth, Clemson researchers will conduct a pre-event survey with builders and framers to capture baseline perceptions, interest, intentions, and understanding of the use of these offsite construction methods. Then, after attending the build series event, Clemson will conduct a postevent survey with those builders and framers to further understand their perceptions, intentions to adopt, and change of intentions as well as the impact of the event on the builder and framer attendees. Finally, the researchers will pair the survey data collected from the event with focus groups created from survey responses to develop a market response strategy for the adoption of prefabricated wood components in the low-adoption area that will include webinar series and policy adoption plans as well as the possibility of future build series events. 

Status of Research Project 

As of the quarter ending June 30, 2025, Clemson researchers had completed their literature review to inform the design of the interview questions. After meeting with similar HUD-funded researchers conducting interviews in the same space, Clemson began interviewing regional decisionmakers. The researchers completed seven interviews with manufacturers, suppliers, and builders. Clemson will conduct two additional interviews with builders that do not use prefabricated wood. The team has begun its qualitative analysis of the completed interviews.

The upcoming survey has been piloted with other Clemson research faculty and has been sent to several interview participants for feedback. The build series event has been postponed to fall 2025 so that the event sponsor, SBCA, can focus on its participation in another HUD building technology project, the Innovative Housing Showcase on the National Mall. Currently, one of the build series events is planned for the Houston, Texas area.

Next Steps

Clemson University will continue survey development and conduct its pre-event survey once it identifies the key stakeholders who will participate in the build event. Postponing the build events to fall 2025 means that the postevent survey, quantitative analysis, and focus groups will take place after the build events in Texas are completed.