Chinese construction firm Lida Group made waves earlier this year with the announcement of an innovative new building system designed to revolutionize the process of manufacturing and assembling prefabricated homes. Through an innovative panelized construction method and streamlined on-site assembly process, Lida Group says their new system can produce highly energy efficient prefab homes at an unprecedented speed while maintaining quality and greatly reducing costs compared to traditional on-site construction.

At a product launch event held in April, Lida Group unveiled the key aspects of their new panelized building technology and provided demonstrations of how it works. Their system utilizes an innovative structural panel made from layers of oriented strand board and rigid foam insulation sandwiched together. These large structural wall, floor and roof panels are manufactured in a highly controlled factory setting where precision machinery cuts, forms and assembles the panels with unmatched accuracy.

Once manufactured, the structural insulated panels, or SIPs, are transported directly to the construction site. Due to their standardized interlocking joints and rigid construction, the panels are designed for fast assembly without the use of tools or mortar. Through a special lifting mechanism, the pre-cut panels are installed layer by layer to quickly enclose the structure. Electrical wiring, plumbing and HVAC systems are also pre-installed at the factory and simply connected together on-site.

Within just a few days, an entire house can be fully enclosed, weather tight and ready for interior finishing work using Lida Group’s system. Compared to traditional wood frame construction methods where each component is cut and assembled piece by piece on location, the panelized method allows a home to come together in a fraction of the time with far less labor requirements and construction waste. Once exterior panel installation is complete, interior finishing such as drywall, floors, fixtures and trim can progress much more efficiently without weather delays.

Prefab But Not Prefabricated

While the term “prefabricated” is often associated with modular homes constructed entirely off-site, Lida Group says their system provides all the speed and efficiency benefits of prefabrication without compromising build quality or customizability. Unlike a standard modular home which is built as completely assembled modules, Lida Group’s unique structural insulated panel technology allows for full on-site customization and expansion possibilities.

The large structural wall, floor and roof panels are site-specific designs produced according to the architectural plans for each individual project. This ensures that things like custom exterior features, interior room layouts and hierarchical additions can all be fully incorporated without limitations. Once the basic enclosure is assembled from the custom pre-cut panels, builders have a solid structural skeleton to work within without restrictions imposed by transporting entire modules.

By leveraging the precision, quality control and waste-reduction of a factory assembly line combined with the customizability of on-site construction, Lida Group believes their new system achieves the best of both worlds. Home buyers get a home with all the character, personality and adaptable design of a true custom build, but with the tremendous time and cost savings enabled through off-site prefabrication. Prefab, but not prefabricated – that’s the marketing pitch behind Lida Group’s innovative new building technology.

High Performance, Factory Built Walls, Floors and Roofs

A core advantage of the structural insulated panel design is the creation of a continuous insulating envelope that seals the home and significantly boosts energy efficiency. Made from rigid foam insulated sandwiched between two layers of oriented strand board, the SIP panels provide an airtight, super insulated building shell that outperforms traditional wood frame walls.

At the product launch event, Lida Group engineers explained how the SIP panels are manufactured under tight quality control to achieve optimal insulation values several times better than standard wooden stud walls. Precise CNC machinery cuts and bonds the panels while also reinforcing them to meet structural requirements without additional supports needed. On-site, the panels click tightly into place to form a complete thermal barrier free of air gaps, drafts or thermal bridges.

Combined with triple-pane windows, high-performance roofing and advanced air sealing at panel edges, the structural insulated envelope enables extremely low air leakage and exemplary insulation performance. Lida Group testing reveals their panelized home design can achieve an impressive 60% reduction in annual heating and cooling needs compared to a standard code-built home of the same size. For homeowners, that translates directly to major long-term savings on utility bills and carbon footprint.

According to Lida Group, the energy savings, durability and maintenance benefits of the SIP panel construction also translate to direct financial gains. They estimate that through reduced utility costs an average household can recoup the additional upfront costs of the high performance building envelope within 7-10 years. Beyond that, a longer lifespan with less exposure to weather damage promises lower replacement costs decades into the future compared to traditional framing materials like wood. These long-term value and sustainability benefits factor heavily into Lida Group’s business proposition.

Rapid Scale Manufacturing

One of the most compelling aspects of Lida Group’s breakthrough system is its potential for mass-scale production of prefabricated housing units. By designing standardized building designs that utilize the same panel sizes, connections and building methods, entire subdivisions or multi-building developments can be produced on assembly line principles much like automotive manufacturing.

At their new factory, a continuous line of CNC machines, resin bonders, cutters and automated assembly equipment is devoted to churning out roof, wall and floor panels for multiple house orders all at once. Unlike modular home companies constrained by transportation limits on module size, Lida Group maintains that their panelized system is truly scalable to serve regional and national housing markets.

As the factory line ramps up, panel production capacity scales exponentially. Lida Group forecasts that within 5 years they can produce enough home panels for over 10,000 houses annually from a single facility. Mass production of the common building components means huge cost reductions through economies of scale – estimated savings of 15-30% per home depending on order volume. Those savings are passed directly to home buyers in the form of more affordable pricing.

Site supervisors are also trained in the standardized assembly process so large crews can efficiently raise entire neighborhoods worth of homes simultaneously. Where traditional home building typically progresses one house at a time over many months, Lida Group believes their system enables “neighborhoods in days” through rapid sequential site construction powered by off-site manufacturing. Time is money in construction, so faster turnaround means big competitive advantages.

In conclusion, Lida Group’s groundbreaking new panelized building system represents a major innovation in the application of prefabricated, factory-built housing on a mass scale. By leveraging state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques combined with simple customizable on-site assembly, their breakthrough technology promises to greatly accelerate housing production while improving quality, energy efficiency, lifecycle costs and sustainability in the process. Through continuous manufacturing principles applied to residential building, Lida Group aims to truly revolutionize how we produce affordable homes for communities worldwide. Only time will tell if their vision succeeds in scaling to serve the fast-growing global need for efficient, eco-friendly housing. But the early reception around their forward-thinking system design has been overwhelmingly positive, pointing to a bright future ahead for factory-built construction powered by Lida Group’s advances in panelized building tech.

Contact us, please click here!