Twobolt

I like this analogy.

Imagine that you finally decide to upgrade to fine luxury automobile like a Mercedes or Lexus. You visit with an automobile "general contractor, his designer or architect. They sketch out the new vehicle, you spend weeks emailing plans back and forth and reviewing 3D renderings online via "Gotomeeting". Finally you negotiate your trade in, get financing and sign the contract.

A week or so later, a crusher shows up. They take your old Lincoln out of the garage, crush it into a large metal cube and crane it into a dumpster.

Later that week, a variety of metal pieces are dropped next to the dumpster. Three workers in a huge Ford 350 pick up truck show up. They sit in the truck with the engine running for an hour, eating donuts and drinking coffee. Finally they come to the door and ask if the GC is inside your house. You say no, and they leave. You never see them again.

The next day a vacuum sealed, shrink-wrapped package of leather arrives via Fedex and 2 55 gallon drums of raw plastic blow molding compund show up on the lawn. Then the injection molder, sheet metal brake and portable hydraulic lift arrive.

A large wood box, 6 feet by 4 feet by 4 feet arrives, with "Do Not Open" printed all over it in the 30 EU languages. A worker shows up with a flat bed truck following and they crane a pile of aluminum and steel sheets next to the box. The crew covers the shiny, dry new metal with a tarp that looks like it was used for mortar practice at Ft. Bragg. It rains that night. Todays latet the rust stars forming.

You call your GC to discuss schedule and he promises that a large crew will arrive son. A week later they do and you are relieved. They spend all morning spreading the materials out, creating new piles. Five tires arrive. The crew goes for pizza and doesn't return.

The GC calls excitedly to tell you that the metal forming machine will arrive the next day. It does and a crew arrives to run it. Soon a huge amount of noise is coming from your front yard. It sounds like the boiler room scene from Titanic. Your neighbors call to ask when it will be over.

They work for three days and at sunset on the third day and you can see the front subframe coming together and smile. Your GC stops by at sunset, distributes a case of Miller Lite as the team opens the wooden box. They get it open and then spend a half an hour looking at it, reviewing paperwork and shaking their heads.

You watch with a feeling of doom as the GC trudges up to your door. You let him in and he explains that the over-seas engine and drive train supplier got the order wrong and sent two 4 cylinder engines instead of a V8. He mumbles something about taking 3 months to get the new one. You are disappointed and tell the GC that you are canceling the order.

Your spouse calls from work and asks how the "car" is coming. You tell her to meet you at the car dealership where you can order a car, built to your specifications and have it delivered in about 3 weeks.

Comment - We've been able to build and deliver modular homes since the Interstate highway system was completed in the US some 50 years ago. I just think the industry has been unwilling to give up their old ways. The new software allows consumers to walk around inside of a modular home with a builder, on line without the involvement of an architect. From final plans on a pc, a complete home can be sent out for bids. Factories can build to much tighter tolerances with predictable, qualified components to everyone's benefit.

And you know. If it's more profitable for homes to be designed online and the components to be built and delivered to a port in NJ by someone from another country working smarter, better, faster than competitors here, that's the American way. That's what the 'free market' is all about.

In addition to the other benefits, I feel that the potential improvement in accuracy is more than enough to get me to try one of these hammers at a local store or trade show.