top of page

Sears, an unlikely founding father for Modern Methods of Construction

Writer's picture: james Broadheadjames Broadhead

Sears entered the mass offsite industry in 1906 to increase their customers by adding additional value to materials offered at their building supply company. The concept was simple, with customers picking a home from the catalogue that made from components that Sears shipped via rail in a flat pack form to the customer who would then assemble the building based on the provided plans. Sears later introduced mortgages as an additional product offering, which ultimately became their demise when the stock market crashed in 1929.


Today the term Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) has been well covered in academia around the world and yet it is still a confusing topic. Globally there is not one single definition for what is it included in MMC. All forms Offsite construction are considered MMC however not all forms of MMC are considered Offsite Construction (Goddier and Gibb, 2007).


I personally like the simplicity offered by Goddier and Gibb (2007) with the definition:


“The manufacture and pre-assembly of components, elements or modules before installation at their final location”

To give clarity to on the definition of MMC the UK has adopted a definition framework (Fig. 1) that is made up of seven categories with the aim to simplify the language and offer an common set of terms. It is interesting that the common theme is productivity improvements for the built environment both on and off the construction site.



Figure 1. MMC Definition Framework


Most contractors today are using some form of MMC within their projects but may not be recognizing that to be the case.




63 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comentarios


bottom of page