The construction industry is facing a dual challenge: explosive growth driven by data center construction, projected to reach $409.43 billion by 2031, coupled with escalating resource strain, including labor shortages, rising material costs, and faster construction timelines. The imperative to produce more with less—and to do so faster than ever before—is accelerating the adoption of offsite manufacturing methodologies across general contractors and trades. This has resulted in significant attention on fabshop workflow optimization across the construction industry. Meanwhile, a dedicated marketplace for prefabricated components remains largely untapped. This is why we’re excited to share our recent investment in BuildFactory, the offsite construction marketplace. We encourage potential buyers to engage now, as the system is ready. If you’re interested, you can access BuildFactory here.
While traditional construction remains at large the preferred way of building, the industry has long recognized the need for more efficient project delivery. The early adoption of prefab elements in modern construction has come in the form not only of prefabricated homes, but also other elements like precast concrete, cross-laminated timber (CLT) and prefabricated steel structures to name a few. And while current applications have expanded to mechanical, electrical and piping, a critical challenge persists: the lack of standardization for components and limited awareness of available fabrication shops that can reliably supply these components, especially during high demand periods or in case of supplier issues. This fundamental uncertainty often leads to caution when choosing between traditional and offsite construction methods.
At Building Ventures, the industrialization of construction remains one of our core market theses. We believe that “reimagining” the traditional world of construction to operate more like a manufacturing process, what Building Ventures calls “constructuring,” can eliminate much of the inefficiency and wastefulness that leads to the chronic conditions of budget overruns and delivery delays. That belief remains just as true, and just as critical, today.
Furthermore the benefits of leveraging offsite practices aligns with Building Ventures vision of the future in two key ways:
- Lower carbon emissions: Offsite/prefab methods drive precise manufacturing and standardization, minimizing waste and promoting material reuse. BuildFactory accelerates the adoption of these practices by connecting supply and demand, and crucially, empowers general contractors (GCs) and Trades by identifying implementation opportunities, particularly in areas with limited supplier networks.
- Improve working conditions: Shifting construction processes to a factory environment dramatically improves safety and accelerates industrialization. Moreover, establishing a comprehensive network of fabrication shops enables standardization and elevates working conditions, leading to increased productivity.
While the exact scale of offsite and prefabricated construction adoption is still unclear, a compelling sign of its market readiness is that 54% of the top 50 ENR General Contractors possess their own fabrication shops or prefab business units, according to my own research. These operations produce a wide range of components, from volumetric modules to complex MEP systems like chillers, HVAC, and boilers to name a few. However, as mentioned before the industry struggles with standardization and adoption. This not only hinders adoption but also prevents efficient sourcing and cost optimization. This is why we believe that establishing a dedicated marketplace for offsite construction is essential to unlocking its full potential.
BuildFactory aims to address the mismatch between GCs’ fluctuating demand for fabrication shops and the shops’ underutilized capacity. The team will solve this by becoming the connected ecosystem of prefab. BuildFactory is strategically launching the marketplace including custom products with plans to roll out a logistics tracker later on, giving customers real-time visibility of their orders from the shop floor to the delivery site. By establishing this ecosystem, BuildFactory aims to foster industry wide standardization and accelerate prefab adoption by highlighting opportunities earlier in the construction process. These advancements promise significant gains in procurement optimization and carbon footprint reduction.
Founder Britton Langdon is a seasoned entrepreneur with unique “earned secret” knowledge, gained from seven years of operational experience in piping manufacturing and mechanical trades. This practical expertise led him to found MSuite, a successful MEP Fabshop software platform that raised $4 million in seed funding in 2020 and was subsequently acquired by Stanley Black & Decker in 2022. His experience with MSuite exposed him to the vast number of fabrication shops that exist today in the US and to the significant supply and demand challenges surrounding custom prefab, a problem he is now directly addressing.
Furthermore, his journey as a founder provided him with an invaluable and multifaceted expertise. This included not only the strategic acumen and practical knowledge required to successfully bring innovative products to market, but also the crucial leadership abilities to build high performing internal teams from the ground up and the operational foresight to scale quickly and efficiently in a dynamic business environment.
The Building Ventures team has known Britton since 2018 from prior interactions related to his previous venture MSuite. My own connection with Britton dates back to 2022, when I was part of the Stanley Black & Decker team that prepared the acquisition materials for this company. After the acquisition, I had the chance to collaborate with him on internal initiatives. At the time, I was truly impressed with his deep industry passion and extensive grasp of the ecosystem.
When the Building Ventures team reconnected with Britton during his early work on BuildFactory, we were all excited by this new opportunity and what this meant for the industry. We were also certain that Britton was the right person not only to launch this marketplace, but also to help shift our industry. Britton’s willingness to openly discuss the hard won lessons from his prior endeavor and how those experiences would directly shape his approach going forward resonated with our team of company builders. His clarity in identifying a path to create an entirely new market category in the industry alongside his evident self reflection, left a strong and positive impression on the team.
For all of these reasons, we are excited to be part of BuildFactory’s $3.4 million pre-seed round joined by Modern Companies, InnoVenture, and Gallo Mechanical. We have already witnessed genuine excitement by many of our general contractor partners upon learning about BuildFactory, and we’re excited for what’s to come. This fresh capital will ignite faster product development and broader industry adoption, creating powerful new workflows. This will directly boost the adoption of offsite construction and genuinely move the needle on industrializing construction, and we are eager to support the BuildFactory team as they launch their product and bring on their first customers #forabetterbuiltworld. Let’s GO!
Learn more about BuildFactory here.
