Welcome to episode 30 of Offshoot. My guest today is Damien Farrell, founder of West Modular, a construction company that manufactures modular apartment buildings from a 210,000 square foot facility in Tijuana, Mexico. At maximum output, West Modular can produce 1,500-2,000 apartments annually and build them in half the time of conventional construction.
Damien brings over $500MM in completed developments to the conversation, including three major hotels—Dream Hollywood ($125M), Thompson Hollywood ($154M), and Tommie Hollywood ($114M)—plus a hospitality portfolio that grew to 20 venues across three states before being acquired by Las Vegas-based Hakkasan Group. His experience and frustration with cost overruns, delays, and change orders on those projects, combined with his experience entitling and permitting over $1B in projects, drove him to discover and commit to what he calls “the future of construction.”
What makes this conversation really compelling is Damien’s deep understanding of both the technical and financial challenges plaguing development today. While you can argue that this is a better mousetrap—the product itself addresses a myriad of external challenges, outside of the module, that make housing unaffordable and projects difficult to fund.
Listen in as we cover topics that include:
How BIM software and cloud collaboration (BIM 360) are revolutionizing construction by getting consultants to work together in real-time, eliminating costly coordination issues that plague conventional builds.
How steel-based modular can reach 12 stories (versus wood’s five-story limitation), which makes it ideal for the increased density created by California’s upzoning initiatives.
How West Modular’s 29-workstation assembly line breaks buildings down into individual part numbers, just like automotive manufacturing.
How full-time factory-based quality assurance and quality control management provides quality to superior to site-built construction
Why conventional construction’s change orders, delays, labor shortages, and development timelines cascade to increase cost and projects risk, while modular’s compressed timeline reduces interest carry and some significant building risks.
The critical importance of maintaining your team and network relationships through both successes and failures in entrepreneurship.
Why attention to detail, follow-up systems, and disciplined time management separate successful young entrepreneurs from those who confuse activity with achievement.
And… How adversity and getting knocked down creates the resilience necessary for long-term entrepreneurial success.
This episode is a bit of a masterclass on how technology, manufacturing principles, and strategic execution can and will revolutionize our industry and its outdated practices.
