What follows is a guided introduction to the Center for Offsite Construction’s view of how the building industry must change. Together, these essays explain why North American construction remains trapped in an Engineer-to-Order (ETO) model, and why a transition to Configure-to-Order (CTO) is now necessary if we hope to deliver housing with greater speed, affordability, and reliability.

We recommend that new readers begin with From ETO to CTO. That essay provides the central framework for the entire section: it explains the difference between bespoke project delivery and marketplace-based product delivery, and why that distinction matters for cost, time, labor, and scale. The essays that follow then unpack the implications of that shift.

Read in sequence, the section moves from first principles to practical consequence.

These essays begin by defining the industry transition, then explain the role of modular interfaces, institutional coordination, and organized system design. From there, they explore how a CTO marketplace changes the structure of choice, the nature of installation, the role of the architect, the conditions for sustainability, and the larger evolution of the building industry.

Although each essay can stand on its own, this section is designed to work best as a progression of thought. Our aim is to help readers (especially those new to offsite construction) understand not only what the CfOC is building, but why these ideas belong together.

Recommended Reading Order

• From ETO to CTO
• What Modularity Really Means
• Mated Physical & Social Technologies
• Scaling Without Size
• Overconnectivity
• Degrees of Freedom
• Design for Manufacture, Assembly, and Installation
• Reclaiming Means and Methods
• Clean, Waste-free, Cheap, & Well-built
• Rewiring the System