Inevitable Modular, High-Quality Homes Built Faster and Cheaper with Cuby
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Dec 16, 2025 Aleks Gampel, COO and co-founder of Cuby, discusses innovative approaches to tackle the housing crisis. He highlights the use of mobile microfactories that produce home components locally, drastically reducing costs and carbon emissions. Aleks explains the failures of past prefab models and the inefficiencies of centralized gigafactories. He shares insights on creating unskilled local jobs and how Cuby's design aims for resilience and affordability. With plans for expanding into multifamily housing, he envisions a transformative future for construction.
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Regulation And Labor Are The Core Shortage Drivers
- Two core drivers of the shortage are heavy regulation and a collapsing skilled construction workforce.
- Labor accounts for a majority of build cost, so reducing skilled labor is the primary lever to lower housing cost.
Waste Reduction And Resilience Lower Emissions
- Construction waste is massive (about four tons per single-family home) and a large source of embodied carbon.
- Cuby reduces ~95% of onsite waste and designs for high R-values and storm resilience to cut operational emissions and insurance exposure.
Why Centralized Gigafactories Fail
- Industrialized construction has three main forms: volumetric modular, parts-based prefab, and 3D printing, each with limits.
- Centralized gigafactories fail because shipping bulky buildings long distances is costly, logistically impractical, and requires enormous capex.