During the era of social distancing and highly skilled labor shortage, to better serve the health interests of the community, traditional construction methods must change. Contractors must find new ways to work.

How can architects, engineers and designers help their builders and general contractors to succeed in the era of shortage of highly skilled labor? To the greatest extent possible, specify architectural products, which are custom, fabricated 100% offsite (custom prefabricated), and delivered to the jobsite ready-to-be-installed. Offsite fabrication of architectural products allows the builder/general contractor to use fewer and less-skilled workers on the Jobsite. For example, with ornamental railing, 1 person can complete a job that may have required 2 or 3 highly skilled people to accomplish with traditional construction methods.

After taking the course, you should be able to explain the differences and advantages of architectural railing products built onsite versus those fabricated 100% offsite and you will see how these principles can influence other product choices you make for your projects.