Even after decades in this industry, I still find myself shaking my head
at the quoting process most offsite factories use. Recently, my business
partner and I were involved in trying to get three factories to quote on a
project. It should’ve been simple: we handed over the same complete specs to
each. What we got back was anything but clear — and that’s being polite.
One factory replied within a day, one took a week, and one landed
somewhere in between. All three sent us quotes. Only one of them actually
addressed the specifications we provided. The others seemed to rely almost
entirely on their preloaded standard templates, with minimal effort to adapt
them to our project.
It was like asking three bakers for a wedding cake and getting back one
wedding cake, one birthday cake, and one loaf of bread with frosting on it.
Then came the real time drain: trying to compare them.
Apples, Oranges, and Mystery Meat
Hours upon hours went into lining up each quote side by side, translating
vague line items and deciphering what was included, excluded, or just assumed.
Freight? One included it. One didn’t. One bundled it under “miscellaneous.”
Taxes? Same mess. Set and installation? Two mentioned it but only one priced
it. And nobody seemed to define their post-production charges the same way.
The kicker? One quote came in almost 20% higher than the other two, and
even after decades in this business, we couldn’t figure out why. If my partner
and I can’t untangle this, how in the world is a developer or builder supposed
to?
So what do they do? Most likely, they stick with the one factory they’ve
worked with before—the one that at least confuses them the least.
That might feel safe, but it can easily cost them money and flexibility down
the road.
The Missing Link: Architects Who Don’t Speak “Factory”
Adding to the chaos is what I call the elephant in the room: the
Architect. Most architects hired to design these projects have little to no
knowledge of what the factory can actually produce. Their drawings often ignore
the limits of the production line, leaving factories to either over-engineer
the quote or omit critical pieces entirely. Both options lead to incomplete or
misleading pricing.
This misalignment between design intent and manufacturing capability is
one of the biggest reasons factory quotes come back as vague jigsaw puzzles
instead of clear offers.
Why This Matters: Trust and Transparency
In an industry trying to win over developers, municipalities, and
financiers, this is more than an annoyance—it’s a credibility problem. If
factories can’t clearly show what they’re quoting, how can they expect anyone
to trust their numbers?
Developers want to know two things:
1. What am I getting?
2. What will it cost me, soup
to nuts?
Right now, too many quotes only answer half of those questions, and
usually in fine print.
Fixing the System: Five Ideas
Here’s how the industry could start pulling itself out of this mess:
1. Create a Universal Quote Template Imagine if every factory used a common
framework that broke down every project into the same categories—structure,
finishes, MEP systems, site setup, freight, taxes, and contingencies. Each
factory could still plug in its own numbers, but at least the structure would
be consistent.
2. Require Clear Inclusions and Exclusions Quotes should have a
mandatory section that spells out what is not included.
If freight isn’t included, say it. If sales tax varies by state, note it. If
installation is only “assisted set,” explain that.
3. Build Customer-Facing Configurators Factories should invest in
customer-friendly quoting software that pulls in their standard options but
allows for project-specific specs. It shouldn’t take a trained engineer to
figure out what a wall costs or whether it comes pre-wired.
4. Get the Architect and Factory Talking Early Too many projects
treat design and production as separate silos. Get the factory involved in the
schematic design phase. Educate architects on modular design principles so
their drawings are buildable and quote-friendly.
5. Add a “Quote Translator” Role Some factories are starting to assign
dedicated staff to review outgoing quotes for clarity and completeness. That
simple quality-control step could save hours of confusion downstream and reduce
the number of change orders later.
The Bottom Line
The offsite construction industry sells itself on speed, predictability,
and cost control. But when a developer gets three wildly different quotes for
the same project, that promise crumbles. If veterans like us struggle to decode
them, newcomers don’t stand a chance.
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