Had to choose between a bricklaying robot or hiring an extra crew last spring

Our contractor offered me a deal on a semi-auto bricklaying machine for a big wall job back in April. I went with hiring two more guys instead because the robot cost $18,000 upfront and I wasn't sure about setup time. The crew got the wall done in 10 days with good quality, but I keep wondering if the robot would have paid off on longer projects. Has anyone here tried one of those machines for residential work?

2 comments

2 Comments

maxhart11d ago

Everything about building is getting pushed toward automation but the real bottleneck is always the unexpected stuff. That robot would have sat idle when you hit a weird corner or had to work around windows and pipes. Stick with people who can think on their feet, that's what separates a finished wall from a pile of headaches.

the_sarah11d ago

yeah @maxhart you hit it exactly with "people who can think on their feet." i actually just heard someone from a construction crew talk about this exact thing. they were telling me they tried out one of those drywall robots on a job and it looked great in the demo but as soon as they hit a bay window with weird angles the thing just sat there flashing error codes. the guy on the radio said his crew finished the whole wall by hand faster than they could get the robot to recalibrate. it's like everyone forgets houses aren't built in a factory they're built in the real world with all kinds of surprises built in. that line about a finished wall vs a pile of headaches is exactly right because the real skill is just making stuff work when it doesn't go perfect.