[mschuster91]

> If houses were to move to a prefab model with e.g. plastic construction and standardised room sizes and plumbing and electrical connections between the rooms most of these skilled workers would find themselves redundant...

Still, the prefab blocks have to be built by adequately skilled workers - gas, water and electricity at least will always require a certified worker simply due to the inherent risks of fire, explosions, water leaks and electric shocks.

[dazc]

This is true but a lot of labour intensive processes can be done off-site in a more controlled environment.

For instance, partial pre-assembly of mechanical/electrical fittings through to modular kitchen/bathrooms with almost everything done before it gets to site.

Of course you'll always need people to put all of these elements together but the numbers needed becomes less and less.

The certified worker who signs everything off used to do almost everything himself, we are now moving to a situation where this is almost all he does.