David Brancaccio

It's how to build better homes at scale in a country with thousands of different local codes.

At ReFrame Systems in Andover, Massachusetts, the answer is to standardize the process instead of the house using software and small factories to adapt each build address by address.

Building homes like cars makes economic sense, but in the U.S., it breaks down fast.

Housing rules change from place to place, forcing the same home to be redesigned thousands of times.

ReFrame is trying to scale housing by spreading a network of small factories across the country, keeping labor local while standardizing everything else.

The philosophy goes beyond automation.

It's about structuring work by turning construction into a clear step-by-step process, almost paint by numbers.

By shifting the work into a controlled factory and guiding each step with software, ReFrame streamlines requirements so more people can do precision work without sacrificing quality.

The idea behind ReFrame's microfactories borrows from a model people already know.

Small distributed hubs, coordinated by software, designed to move fast.

It's an approach Pulido says he helped build long before housing was the focus.

Yeah, and I think it's the most important one.

I want to look at that picture of my old house just one more time, Jen.

Yeah, and what I see clearly now, it's not just a structure that needs replacement.

I see a place where life actually happened.

The house shaped how we lived, often in ways that we don't consciously choose.

I mean, at my age, it's a place that we'll grow old in.

I think it's our forever house when we rebuild again.

A place where my family can orbit each other and thrive without colliding with each other.

Where there's room to be together and, frankly, room to be quiet apart.