Why Homes Should Be Built Like Cookies: A Batch at a Time
🍪 Nobody bakes just one cookie.
We make a batch—because it’s faster, cheaper, and well… it just makes sense. The fixed cost of preheating the oven, mixing the dough, and cleaning up remains about the same whether you make one cookie or thirty. The logical move is to maximize the output from a single production run.
But when it comes to housing, we are forced into a sequential, start-stop process that kills efficiency.
Right now, in traditional stick-built construction—even on a 30-lot subdivision—houses are built individually, piece by piece, lot by lot. The system forces every unit to be treated as a separate, isolated production run where the gains of scale are lost to the limitations of the site.
This traditional, sequential method drives costs up and speed down:
Fixed Costs are Repeated: While groundwork might be shared, each unit pays the full, non-negotiable cost of its own specialized site inspection phase, multiple stop-and-start approvals, and separate piecemeal material deliveries.
While rough-in inspections (plumbing, electrical) often happen in batches, the final, crucial inspections for occupancy and the individual fees attached to them are typically applied per-unit and cannot be batch-processed.
Labor is Fragmented: Specialized crews (framing, roofing, electrical) pack up and leave site once their phase is done, only to wait until the next house is ready—like heating the oven again and again for a single tray. This leads to wasted downtime and reduced productivity across the entire subdivision.
Traditional construction is a sequential process. Work stops until an inspection is approved, creating delays and administrative restarts. (Prefab construction, in contrast, handles much of the permitting and inspection process concurrently in a factory setting.
Materials are Purchased Just-in-Time: Supplies are ordered piecemeal based on highly variable site timelines, driving prices up significantly—like paying extra for chocolate chips by the spoonful instead of by the bag.
While a large builder might order lumber in bulk, the delivery, handling, and staging of all materials (drywall, fixtures, trim, etc.) are managed individually for each house on a sprawling site, leading to fragmented logistics and higher costs compared to a single factory warehouse feeding an assembly line.
In short, this is the slowest, most fragmented, and most expensive way to "bake" a community.
And the result is clear: homes priced far beyond affordability and timelines that stretch for years.
Cookies, Not Crumbs: The Case for Scale
When you bake in batches, everything changes. The core effort—the fixed cost of preheating the oven or mixing the dough—is amortized (spread out) across many units. The logical outcome is lower cost and faster output.
This fundamental principle of efficiency is the non-negotiable solution to the housing crisis. Build 10, 20, or 30 homes simultaneously, and the economics of development flip entirely, allowing us to hit critical price targets by supporting:
Shared Costs: Site prep, utility trenching, permits, and large-scale inspections get shared across every single unit, immediately lowering the foundational price of each home.
Continuous Flow: Crews stay working in the factory or a coordinated site sequence, eliminating idle time and ensuring a continuous workflow. This constant momentum is a massive boost to overall project efficiency.
Bulk Purchasing Power: Materials are bought in enormous volume, often for multiple projects—this is bags of chocolate chips at a time, not spoonfuls—slashing per-unit material costs and locking in prices against market volatility.
Schedule Reliability: Construction timelines shrink from years to mere months, accelerating supply and virtually eliminating weather-related delays and cost creep caused by extended labor.
This is the power of economies of scale in housing, and it’s like baking by the dozen—radically shrinking the per-unit cost and time.
What Building at Scale Unlocks
Economies of scale don’t just change the price tag; they change the social fabric and financial stability of a community (and ultimately, a nation).
Community and Cohesion: A neighborhood built in months instead of years means families move in simultaneously, creating an instant social ecosystem. The community functions as a strong, immediate support network, not just a collection of isolated homes. This rapid density is proven to enhance community cohesion, which contributes directly to better mental health outcomes, lowers stress, and establishes natural social support systems. The resulting stability means higher workforce retention and productivity for local employers, and lower costs for public services due to reduced reliance on crisis intervention.
Certainty and Stability: Bulk construction locks in schedule and cost up front, protecting buyers from endless price creep and reducing financial risk. This certainty leads to greater financial stability and a more active local economy through increased consumer confidence. Furthermore, a stable supply of homes attracts labor and businesses, supporting sustained economic growth for the region.
Diversity and Choice: With multiple homes delivered at once, developers can intentionally mix sizes, layouts, and price points—starter homes, family homes, seniors’ homes—to ensure whole, healthy ecosystems take shape. This economic diversity attracts a broader talent pool, increases workforce stability, and supports local schools and businesses.
Signaling Real Progress: When you see 30 homes rise at once, it signals real investment and commitment. This momentum can boost morale, attract further investment, and is a strong indicator of local government efficiency and responsiveness.
From Recipe to Reality
Economies of scale are not abstract concepts. They are the measurable difference between slow-drip development that never leaves the bowl and trays that fill the whole kitchen with warmth and stability.
It’s not a question of possibility. It’s a question of pace and priorities. We already have the blueprint. The real choice is whether we keep trickling out homes under an obsolete system—or adapt to faster methods, smarter systems, and stronger communities.
So here’s my question:
What single aspect of traditional home building do you think creates the greatest inefficiency (the biggest "single cookie" cost)?
Share your perspective in the comments below!
