Housing Innovation Alliance Sees Opportunities with CMs
Originally published by the following source: SBC Magazine — June 10, 2020
by TJ Jerke
“Because of who know you and what you know, there are many potential opportunities,” says Betsy Scott, Executive Director of Program & Engagement for the Housing Innovation Alliance (HIA), with regard to its collaborative relationship with SBCA.
SBCA began a closer relationship with the HIA in 2017, which has led to new opportunities for component manufacturers and the housing industry. Recently, HIA launched its Production Housing Heat Map, a digital map that helps builders identify and partner with companies providing off-site building solutions. SBCA was a key partner in providing information of component manufacturers around the country.
“The partnerships between organizations is a really good way for us to combine our different communities and different skillsets and areas of expertise to do some really cool things,” Betsy says.
HIA, originally established in 2008 as the Best Practices Research Alliance, is a collaborative think tank that brings organizations and companies together to foster relationships and ideas that address housing industry challenges. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, HIA’s goal is to ensure that high-quality, high-value housing is sustainable for the housing industry and attainable for customers.
SBCA first established its relationship with HIA after SBCA Executive Director Kirk Grundahl was invited to speak at a roundtable event organized by HIA. The roundtable brought together some of the largest companies in homebuilding industry and was a turning point for HIA, as it soon began its focus on production housing industry and offsite construction, Betsy says.
“Our mission is to help our members gain knowledge and power to grow their businesses inside their business culture and inside their customer base,” Kirk says. “Communicating with other stakeholders and providing a positive collaboration will ultimately help us fulfill our mission, and help grow and make the homebuilding industry stronger as a result.”
SBCA and HIA continue discussions on ways to collaborate with one another.