Build Time

Executive Doctrine: 1.0 Labor-Hour per Square Foot

Open Source Ecology defines its housing performance target as approximately 1.0 all-in labor-hour per finished square foot (LH/ft²), measured as the total human labor required to deliver a finished, inspected, code-compliant home. This target is not achieved through productivity gains or labor optimization, but through system design that structurally eliminates entire categories of labor present in conventional construction, including trade handoffs, inspection friction, rework, coordination overhead, and training drag. OSE accomplishes this by treating housing as a modular, pre-approved, information-complete system in which multi-trade modules are built once, fully finished, and assembled via self-sequencing geometry, fixed interfaces, and CAD-for-swarm standards. Labor is permitted only where physical assembly is unavoidable (Important - see (example)); all other labor is replaced with design, standardization, and encoded process trust. Achieving ~1.0 LH/ft² is therefore a systems-engineering outcome enabled by unified design authority, open documentation, and integrated training-production workflows, rather than a claim of superior effort, skill, or management.

Build Time to 1.0 Labor-Hour per Square Foot

Source [1]

This page defines how Open Source Ecology (OSE) can credibly achieve approximately 1.0 all-in labor-hour per finished square foot (LH/ft²) for housing construction. This is not a productivity claim but a systems-design outcome based on structural elimination of labor categories.

Canonical Metric Definition

OSE uses a single, non-negotiable metric:

All-in Labor Hours per Finished Square Foot (LH/ft²)

This includes every human labor hour required to deliver a finished, inspected, code-compliant house, excluding land acquisition.

Included:

• On-site and off-site fabrication
• Logistics and material handling
• Staging and setup
• Coordination and supervision
• Inspections and rework
• Training inefficiency
• Tooling setup
• Punch lists and callbacks

Any metric that excludes these categories is not acceptable for system planning.

Industry Baseline

Conventional housing typically exhibits the following labor distribution:

Category	Typical LH/ft²
Direct build labor	~0.85
Trade handoffs and waiting	0.40–0.60
Inspection friction	0.20–0.30
Rework and errors	0.30–0.50
Coordination and supervision	0.30–0.50
Logistics and staging	0.20–0.30
Training and variability	0.20–0.30
Total	~2.5–3.0

OSE’s objective is to remove approximately 1.5–2.0 LH/ft² by eliminating entire labor categories rather than compressing them.

Principle: Labor Is Eliminated, Not Optimized

OSE does not pursue 1.0 LH/ft² through:

• Increased effort
• Better management
• Higher skill
• Motivation
• Lean terminology

OSE achieves 1.0 LH/ft² by making entire classes of labor disappear structurally.

Elimination Strategy

Eliminate Trade Boundaries

Target reduction: 0.4–0.6 LH/ft²

Rule: No build step may require waiting for another trade.

Mechanism:

• Multi-trade modules (structure, wiring, boxes, air sealing combined)
• No rough-in versus finish phases
• No return visits

OSE action: Walls, floors, roofs, wet cores, and power centers are treated as atomic modules that are completed once, fully.

If a worker must return later, the design has failed.

Eliminate Inspection Labor

Target reduction: 0.2–0.3 LH/ft²

Inspections compensate for low process trust.

Mechanism:

• Fixed module designs
• Fixed fastener schedules
• Fixed routing paths
• Process verification instead of outcome investigation

OSE action: Modules are pre-approved. Inspectors verify that the approved process was followed, supported by time-lapse and AI-assisted quality control artifacts.

This model is legally established in modular construction.

Eliminate Rework

Target reduction: 0.3–0.5 LH/ft²

Rework is caused by ambiguity and field decisions.

Mechanism:

• No field interpretation
• No dimensional freedom
• No undocumented decisions

OSE action: CAD-for-swarm is a first-class production output. Every module includes:

• Defined ports
• Datum references
• Tolerance envelopes

If CAD does not exist, the module does not exist.

Eliminate Coordination Overhead

Target reduction: 0.3–0.5 LH/ft²

Coordination exists due to human-dependent sequencing.

Mechanism:

• Self-sequencing modules
• Geometry-enforced order
• Error-proofing

OSE action: Assembly order is encoded in geometry. Modules cannot be installed incorrectly. If explanation is required, the system has failed.

Eliminate Training Drag

Target reduction: 0.2–0.3 LH/ft²

Training drag is driven by variance, not skill.

Mechanism:

• Short, repeatable task units
• Binary quality checks
• Visual instruction dominance

OSE action: Tasks are designed for 15–30 minute execution windows. Workers execute protocols rather than learning trades.

Physics-Limited Residual Labor

After eliminations, remaining labor approaches the physical floor:

Category	LH/ft²
Physical assembly	0.75–0.85
Logistics (irreducible)	~0.10
Oversight	~0.05
Residual friction	~0.05
Total	~0.95–1.05

This is achievable without heavy robotics.

Why OSE Can Achieve This

Commercial builders cannot reach this threshold due to:

• Fragmented incentives
• Trade silos
• IP enclosure
• Adversarial contracting
• Liability partitioning

OSE can achieve this because:

• Unified design authority
• Open CAD and documentation
• Integrated training and production
• Elimination of trade monopolies

This is an institutional architecture advantage, not a technology advantage.

Required Precursor Deliverables

OSE must build the following before house-level optimization:

1. Canonical module library
2. CAD-for-swarm standards
3. Time-lapse and AI quality control pipeline
4. Module-level labor benchmarks
5. Inspection pre-approval agreements

Only after these exist can house-level labor collapse toward 1.0 LH/ft².

Bottom Line

Achieving 1.0 LH/ft² is feasible and defensible. It is not optimistic and not a productivity claim. It is the outcome of correct system design.

OSE succeeds by refusing to allow labor to exist where information should exist instead.