Microfactories and building at scale

Increase capacity by changing who can make a home

The proposal separates structural manufacture from site assembly. Local workshops produce repeatable components; trained teams assemble the kits; specialist trades complete the homes. This brings CNC, joinery and manufacturing skills into housebuilding and lowers the entry barrier for structural assembly.

The capacity gain comes from adding qualified producers and running work in parallel. It must ultimately be measured in completed homes, alongside workshop output. The related capacity to build article considers the workforce and training pipeline.

What a microfactory needs

A CNC router is one part of the facility. WikiHouse’s guide also provides for material storage, block assembly, finished-block storage, waste handling and loading. Its approximately 40m² assembly area is not the size of an entire production facility.

The proposal should therefore procure a working layout and throughput plan, rather than assume that every 40m² workshop can produce complete kits. Access, handling, dry storage, dust extraction, machine safety, staffing and delivery space all need provision. Existing workshops can contribute where their equipment, capacity and quality systems suit structural work.

Source: WikiHouse Manufacturing Guide: factory setup and workflow.

How long does it take to cut the reference house?

Appendix VI schedules approximately 520 sheets of 18mm structural OSB3 or plywood for 198 Skylark blocks. WikiHouse reports manufacturers achieving overall production rates of 20–40 minutes per sheet. Multiplying those inputs gives approximately 173–347 machine-hours. This estimates structural-kit production from sheets, not manufacture of every material in a finished house.

Source: WikiHouse Manufacturing Guide: machine settings and reported production rates.

Machine time is not a delivery promise

The table is an illustration of parallel capacity. A supplier’s programme must allow for its actual sheet mix, setup and tooling, handling, maintenance, quality checks, rejects and downtime, without double-counting activities already included in its measured production rate. More machines need sufficient operators, assembly capacity and storage to keep them productive.

A generic fourteen-day kit promise cannot be inferred from these inputs for one machine on eight-hour shifts. Longer operating hours or several machines may shorten elapsed time, but need an explicit supplier programme. Labour estimates expressed as person-days must also be kept separate from calendar days: five people working for ten days provide fifty person-days.

Run workshops and sites in parallel

Once the design and production files are released, material procurement and kit manufacture can proceed alongside suitable site preparation. Within the workshop, block assembly can overlap subsequent cutting. Across the programme, different suppliers can serve different sites at the same time.

The site sequence then includes foundations and services, chassis erection, weatherproofing, installations, fit-out, testing and commissioning. Fast erection is one stage of that sequence. The opportunity is to move precision work off site and coordinate repeatable stages, reducing reliance on a single site crew doing everything in succession.

Build out at scale without moving the bottleneck

A network can expand by qualifying additional workshops, increasing shifts and adding machines. Capacity is only useful when matching foundations, transport, assembly, utility connections and finishing teams are ready. Releasing a kit into storage does not itself add an occupied home.

The pilot should record sheets and accepted blocks per shift; machine and labour hours per kit; material yield and rework; and elapsed time from design release to handover. Those observations establish dependable supplier capacity, whole-home productivity and the cost of scaling. Infrastructure funding and delivery remain necessary: see the pilot scheme and funding section.