Slow Down. Build Better. Fight the Herd Urge.

Fresh Eyes on Modular Construction By Jorie Wisnefski

I recently sat down with Andrew Seelye of G-Pod, who’s been following my Fresh Eyes articles, to talk about what he’s learned from being in the modular industry. We agree that people and industries get too comfortable doing things the way they’ve always been done—a drum I’ve clearly been beating for years. 

He told me stories about entering his company not truly understanding the architecture or engineering side of the business, but he quickly realized that, like any other business, people chase the money. 

I couldn’t stop thinking about sheep, and we all know what happens to sheep in this metaphor. 

People follow along, moving in the same direction, because that’s the direction everyone else is going.

Construction is an industry with a lot of momentum and with good reason. Codes, materials, labor, schedules, supply chains, costs, and experience all shape the way we build. When a system has worked reasonably well for a long time, changing it isn’t easy.

But, as I’ve said before, “we’ve always done it this way” isn’t the same as “this is the best way.”

Andrew was not claiming to have figured out the future of construction.

But he is willing to slow down to figure it out.

Instead of immediately trying a new approach and applying it everywhere, he’s using a relatively small Villa as a laboratory.

He built it and is measuring it to see what works.

And what doesn’t.

So he can change it, make it better, and do it all again.

This requires patience, something construction doesn’t always have much room for.

There is so much financial pressure to get to the finished product, declare success, and move on to the next project.

But a laboratory is different.

Mistakes are information, not failures.

The Villa is a place where ideas around building performance, materials, and comfort can be tested in the real world before trying to scale them.

This is an important piece in changing an industry because it’s a way to learn whether an idea really works.

We would never know about things like the comfort of a structure without having lived inside of it first which is exactly what Andrew is doing with the Villa. 

So much of what makes high performance buildings successful isn’t visible. This is where Passive House designs shine.

You can see beautiful architecture and materials with your eyes. You can see the finished space.

But, as Andrew pointed out, you can’t inherently see thermal performance. You can’t see air quality or the way a building manages heat. Or how much energy it takes to maintain a comfortable environment.

You experience those things as comfort.

The temperature is consistent, and the building performs without its occupants having to compensate for the way it was designed.

Some of the most important parts of the building can’t be photographed.

That also complicates decisions about materials and construction systems.

A material might make structural or manufacturing sense but create challenges somewhere else. Metal, for example, can solve certain structural problems while creating thermal considerations that affect a high performance building.

As we build, we have to ask how all these pieces work together.

This isn’t about a total renovation for construction.

It’s about questioning the parts that don’t make sense anymore while protecting the things that do.

I have a friend who builds single family homes in Chicago. Despite having to pack up his family and move every few years, Paul Petersen builds a house, lives in it, and learns firsthand what works and what doesn’t. He makes improvements along the way, then sells the house and carries those lessons into the next one. It reminds me a lot of Andrew’s modular living laboratory.

People still want beautiful spaces and comfort, but they also want buildings that function well.

Guests want a good experience. Residents want a healthy, comfortable place to live. Owners still have budgets, and builders still have schedules.

And the planet has a stake in how much energy and material we use to create all of it.

Fresh Eyes on Modular Construction By Jorie Wisnefski

In an industry with so much momentum, I found Andrew and Paul’s approach refreshing—slowing down long enough to learn how to move forward differently.

Neither thinks they have the perfect answer, but they are willing to stop following the herd and try something different. Instead of just talking about it, they build something, measure it, learn from it, and try again until they find a better way to build.