A New Answer to the Construction Labor Shortage: VUILD’s “NESTING” Begins Supplying House Kits That Can Be Built Like a Plastic Model

“NESTING,” the digital home-building service provided by VUILD Inc., has released a house kit that uses digital fabrication technology to let homeowners take the lead in everything from design to construction. Starting with the first detached house of about 75 m², completed just two months after construction began, NESTING proposes a new way of building homes that addresses challenges facing the construction industry, such as labor shortages and soaring construction costs.

The newly released NESTING “House Kit” is a homeowner-led approach to building a home using digital fabrication technology*. By shifting the conventional idea that “a house is something you buy (or rent)” to “a house is something you build yourselves,” we are tackling the labor shortages and soaring construction costs facing the construction industry, and advancing toward our vision: “Toward a society where living and making go hand in hand.”

*Digital fabrication: Reading data such as 3D CAD files into 3D printers or wood processing machines to create objects. It makes it easy to produce even complex shapes that are difficult to make with conventional manufacturing technologies.

photo by Tomoyuki Kusunose

⚫️ Background of the release

The construction industry faces serious labor shortages and soaring construction costs. Carpenters are aging year by year, and the number of carpenters has halved over the past 20 years to fewer than 300,000. It is said that by 2040 this will halve again to fewer than 150,000. The rising labor costs caused by this shortage, combined with the recent surge in material prices, are driving construction costs up.

Source: Actual figures from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications “Population Census”; forecasts based on materials published by Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. Compiled by VUILD.

If this continues, a future may come in which only the wealthy can build houses, or in which houses cannot be built even if you pay. We believe that home-building with “NESTING,” in which homeowners take the lead from design to construction, can solve this social issue of the future. To that end, we have turned houses into kits using digital fabrication technology*.

⚫️ What is a house kit?

We believe that a way of building homes in which even inexperienced people take part in construction can help solve the labor shortage in the construction industry. So we developed a house kit that even people with no home-building experience can assemble.

The kit is fabricated using “ShopBot,” a digital wood processing machine. This makes it possible to produce complex joints, pilot holes for screws, and numbering that indicates the assembly order easily and with high precision. Each component is designed to be broken down into sizes a person can carry, so heavy machinery such as cranes is not required. On site, you simply assemble the components while checking the numbers and screw holes*, so even inexperienced people can build quickly and accurately.

▲ Components with identification numbers and screw-hole guides

Even though it is a house kit, it is not fully standardized. Only the basic shape of the building is fixed as a kit; the size, floor plan, and interior and exterior materials can be customized by the homeowners themselves using the NESTING app.

*The house kit also includes foundation components, insulation, finishing materials and more.

▲ Plans can be studied in the app by manipulating the grid.

(1) Design
Through the dedicated app and workshops with our design staff, you refine your ideal living environment.

(2) Parts fabrication
After the design is completed, VUILD procures the sawn lumber and uses ShopBot to process the wood and manufacture the parts that will become the walls and ceilings.

▲ Components that make up the processed wall parts, laid out

(3) Foundation work

This kit does not involve pouring concrete as in a typical house foundation. Instead, it uses a DIY-friendly pile method, and you drive the piles yourselves with power tools.

(4) Structural framing

The members processed in step 2 are assembled on top of the driven piles. Each part weighs 10 kg or less, making it easy to carry. You start with the floor, then erect the columns on top and assemble the roof.

(5) Interior work

Once the wooden structure is complete, you insert insulation between the members, install walls and fittings, and paint.

Walls and ceilings are installed as prefabricated parts, so construction is easy.

(6) Electrical, plumbing and drainage work

Specialized work such as electrical, water supply and drainage is carried out by professionals. You can hire contractors you know, or we can arrange them for you.

⚫️ The joy and value of co-building
We call it “co-build” when homeowners use the house kit to build their home together with family and friends. “Co-build” is a coined term that evokes building joyfully with family and friends, like a festival. Unlike “self-build,” which suggests building alone, steadily and over a long time, taking co-building as a premise is also intended to shorten the construction period.

In fact, the first NESTING house was completed just two months after construction began.

In co-build home-building, we envision a process in which a house is built with participation on four or five weekends. VUILD supports each stage so that home-building can proceed safely and correctly.

▲ For the first house, completed on Naoshima, Kagawa, the homeowner’s friends gathered from all over Japan and completed the structural framing in two days.

photo by Tomoyuki Kusunose

photo by Tomoyuki Kusunose

⚫️ Next steps

We have already received inquiries from all over Japan, from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south. Because climatic conditions such as snowfall vary greatly by region in Japan, we are developing structures that will allow comfortable and safe homes to be built nationwide.
We are also working on rebuilding homes in areas affected by the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake. For details, please see the note article here (https://note.com/kokiakiyoshi/n/n2e9811d5234c).

We are also accepting new building requests and all kinds of inquiries.

Please contact us via the NESTING website (https://nesting.me/).

◆ VUILD company profile

Representative: Koki Akiyoshi (CEO)

Founded: November 21, 2017

Headquarters: unico 1F-A, 3-4 Nisshincho, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa

Business: Architectural design, development and manufacturing of wood products, sales of CNC routers, digital talent development, business development support, IT service development

Corporate URL: https://vuild.co.jp/

Corporate note: https://note.com/vuild

Corporate Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vuild_official/

VUILD Corporate X: https://twitter.com/VUILDinc

EMARF service site: https://emarf.co/

Nesting service site: https://nesting.me/

ShopBot Japan service site: https://shopbot.vuild.co.jp/

Vuild Place Lab service site: https://placelab.vuild.co.jp/

Vuild Architects service site: https://architects.vuild.co.jp/