With house builders in a constant combat to lower prices and gain homebuyers, reductions in construction costs is a must to stay ahead in the market.
"There isn't a big market share leader," said Dave Bulloch, president of Classic Communities, which is part of Trend Homes. "[Home builders] are in head to head in competition and are looking for a way to reduce cost and gain an edge in the industry."
The Del E. Webb School of Construction has made a milestone in reducing a house's construction and labor costs, which makes up 50 percent of a house's price tag.
Bulloch added that since there is so much competition in the housing industry, the savings would be passed on to the consumer and not pocketed by the builder.
"It always benefits the consumer when we reduce costs," Bulloch said. "We always strive to be as affordable as we can as a builder."
By examining the house-making process, the school of construction has been able to reduce construction time of a house foundation from 23 to 11 days, said Howard Bashford, associate professor of Del E. Web School of Construction.
Bulloch said how important it is to reduce the amount of time in building a house and that the reduction of time needed in building a foundation would cut the price of a home by 2 percent.
"Right now it takes 125 days to complete [an average] house," Bulloch said. "You know that saying, 'time is money.' It applies here very much."
While it may not seem like a significant difference, any and every advantage a homebuilder has in the market is good, Bashford said.
Pulte Homes, Engle Homes, Maracay Homes and Trend Homes are working with ASU, in order to build more affordable housing without compromising durability.
This study was funded by a three-year $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant was used to start AzPath, the Arizona Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing.
"The National Science Foundation is interested in helping American businesses to increase productivity by using new technology," Bashford said. "By increasing productivity you increase the wealth of the United States."
Bashford said by the time the grant is used up, which will be in February 2004, homebuilders will be able to reduce construction costs even more.
"We really think that cost could be reduced by easily 10 percent," Bashford said. "And even if costs just stay level and doesn't increase, that would be a reduction of costs because housing has been going up around 7 percent per year."
By reducing cost, more people would buy their homes and in turn, this would be more business for homebuilders, Bulloch said.
Bashford said the school would continue to look at new methods of reducing the time it takes to build a house. He said from the beginning of house-building time, few things have changed.
"If Moses were to come back and walk around on this earth, I think there is one industry he would still recognize — construction," Bashford said. "We want to change this."
Reach the reporter at susan.padilla@asu.edu.
