This opinion column was submitted by Aaron West, chief strategy officer of Reno-based NVO Construction.

Even though the residential market is slowing nationally, it would be foolhardy to believe the demand for housing will decline any time soon in Northern Nevada. More importantly, we can’t let the cooling national real estate market divert our attention from the critical need to provide good housing that’s affordable for the working families of our region.

Innovative construction technology will make a significant difference in our quest to meet the area’s growing housing needs. In the recent superheated market, the median price of an existing home in the Reno-Sparks area exploded by more than 47 percent in just two years — from $407,000 in July 2020 to $600,000 in July 2022. Very few family incomes kept pace with that torrid increase in housing prices. Every month, more and more families saw their dreams of home ownership slip away.

At the same time, the need for housing remains strong. The Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada, which focuses on the availability of housing as one of the crucial elements of our economic future, estimates that 6,000 new housing units are needed every year to meet the needs of our vibrant, growing region.

Three factors — the costs of land, labor and materials — continue to put pressure on the price of new homes, and the issues often are complex. Framing, for instance, accounts for about 18 to 20 percent of the cost of most construction projects. Yet the consultants of McKinsey & Co. find the productivity of U.S. framing crews has been falling by about 3.5 percent a year, mostly because tens of thousands of the most highly skilled and experienced workers are reaching retirement age. Their replacements — when replacements can be found — need more time to do the same job. As a result, costs rise.

Innovation and automation, however, are allowing builders to turn the tide on rising costs.

Leading builders in Northern Nevada are turning to factory-built framing components —roof and floor trusses as well as wall panels — to improve efficiency, control costs and meet the need for housing that’s affordable for working families.

When framing work is brought inside a clean and safe factory environment, teams of workers can build 24 hours a day, seven days a week in any type of weather to create wall, floor and roof framing components. These workers — both men and women — need not have any framing or construction experience, only a desire to work and learn. The use of state-of-the-art computerized systems and automated equipment ensures precision and quality, while reducing waste and improving safety, both in the factory and on the jobsite. When high-quality manufactured framing components are delivered to the job site, crews can assemble them quickly. In fact, the use of factory-made components allows construction of 2.5 to 3 houses in the time that one home is framed with traditional methods.

We face a complex set of challenges as we seek to provide affordable housing to meet the needs of the growing population of Northern Nevada. Committed community leadership, visionary public officials and many hours of work by executives of business, trade and professional organizations all will be necessary as we move forward.

But the most important factor of all? Innovative thinking that brings today’s technological tools into play to solve the problems of today and tomorrow.

Aaron West, a longtime leader of the construction industry in Northern Nevada, is chief strategy officer of Reno-based NVO Construction.

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