“People are looking for an alternative way to build,” Ken Semler, president-elect of the Modular Home Builders Association says. “The old way is just getting too hard.” It may be time for modular housing construction to finally take off, driven by a worsening shortage of construction workers and a growing housing affordability crisis. “In the United States, we’re under-supplied and housing needs to be more affordable. I think this is definitely part of the solution,” says Ryan Marshall, CEO of PulteGroup. Off-site manufacturing can reduce the amount of time it takes to frame a home by 75%, he says, and the factory’s use of robotic saws and nailers helps build homes more precisely. Modular also helps the company do more with fewer workers. Could your next home be made on an assembly line? Read more on modular homes at the link in bio. Photographs by Evan Angelastro (@evan_angelastro) for TIME.