From their first experience in the home building industry, brothers Kris and Kurt Goodjohn knew the home building process needed updating and recognized an opportunity for innovation and automation. The brothers, who previously co-founded Canadian designer prefab company Karoleena in 2005, founded Dvele in December 2016 with Brandon Weiss. The company was founded with the goal of building homes faster and more consistently with an emphasis on sustainability, efficiency, and a healthy living experience for homeowners.
The company recently closed on a $15 million round of funding co-led by real estate investment company Crescent and window and door manufacturer Marvin. Dvele plans to use the investment to complete the implementation of its smart factory system in Loma Linda, California to create a fully scalable, robotic production line.
The data-driven, robotic manufacturing process of Dvele offers an alternative solution to the construction industry’s ongoing labor shortage. A recent report from the Home Builders Institute estimated the industry needs to add an additional 740,000 new construction workers per year to keep up with demand while outlining how the “severe shortage” of workers is impacting both housing supply and affordability. In a prefab setting, labor is in a controlled environment where no inclement weather can stop the building process, eliminating the seasonality of construction work. Prefab production also offers safety benefits and maximizes time and efficiency by developing repeatable, reliable processes for each stage of home production.
Through its data-driven operation, Dvele is able to standardize and sequence its parts while training staff for specific roles within “a reliable, automated building system without the need for niche, physical skills.”
“Automations are taking place wherever there is a repeated process (folding the steel for the frames, building the entire home frame, and building structural insulated panels), [but] skilled labor is still happening at their respective times,” says Kellan Hannah, director of growth at Dvele. “Walls, floors, and ceilings are always built the same way, so each trade knows what to expect at each stage of the process and each stage is completed in its entirety before it can be moved to the next stage. This one step completely eliminates one trade waiting for another to finish or one trade having to adjust their installation.”
The Dvele process begins with clients choosing from nearly two dozen versions of homes. Each option includes standardized components and modules to allow for repetition and production at scale. Once an order has been placed, the process begins with light-gauge steel frame production rather than wood framing. Hannah says the steel is automatically folded in a press and the studs have holes punched to promote easier installation for plumbing and electrical workers.
“We’ve created a digital twin of each home in building information modeling software Revit, and we have the entirety of the home mapped out in ERP platform Netsuite,” Hannah says. “With both of those pieces, we can quickly build any home as soon as it’s ordered.”
Once the skeleton of the home is completed, Dvele applies a liquid membrane to most of the home to prevent moisture and air leakage. Following this process, walls, floors, and ceilings can be installed, followed by windows, millwork, and finishings. The streamlined and automated process allows the entire home to be built in approximately 16 weeks, Hannah says.
In 2020, Dvele acquired Blu Homes, a Vallejo, California, prefab builder and launched a whole-home artificial intelligence system, DveleIQ, to be included as an integrated smart home platform in future homes. Each Dvele home is also self-powered with rooftop solar panels and a battery backup system, ensuring homeowners will have access to electricity and appliances in the event of power outages. In 2021, the company produced around 45 modules. By the end of this year, Dvele will be at a production pace of 250 modules per year and will complete roughly 120 modules in 2022.
Once Dvele’s automated production process is perfected, the company plans to continue scaling through regenerative housing communities across the United States. While Dvele’s path for growth is clear, there remain many hurdles and hesitations preventing offsite construction from more widespread adoption across the country.
“Wider industry options are critical [for the development of offsite construction]. When we adopt a universal level of safety needed for the occupants, climate-resiliency, and health-improving components, manufactured homes will be seen as a technology industry, not a labor-intensive [industry],” Hannah says. “Once country-level standards are set, much like how they are for cars, awareness will be the next critical piece. Seeing a variety of homes built around the country, ones that are repeatedly built on time and on budget will satisfy peoples’ and developers’ worry about building a new home.”
