Builders as sources of construction innovation

Innovation in the construction industry occurs to a much greater extent than is usually recognized, and the sources of these innovations are more likely to be people working on-site rather than manufacturers or research laboratories. Thirty-four innovations to a single technology, the stressed-skin panel, are examined; and it is found that the vast majority of these innovations were developed by builders rather than manufacturers. In addition, these builder innovations were significantly different from those produced by the manufacturers. The builders' innovations explicitly integrate the panel into the total building system; the manufacturers' innovations are confined to the panels themselves. A third finding is that manufacturers commercialized few of the builders' innovations—particularly avoiding those that involved connection of the panels to other systems—despite their potential for substantial improvement in the performance of the panel overall. The implications of these results is that users of technologies can be important sources of technological innovations and improvements, and the design of products can explicitly accommodate the need for changes and innovations on-site.