Brian Potter on what he has learned writing Construction Physics

1. Individual construction tasks have, on average, not gotten cheaper since at least the 1950s.
2. Bricks haven’t gotten cheaper since the mid-19th century, despite massive improvements in brickmaking technology.
3. Construction has a reputation for being slow to innovate, but innovations seem to spread in construction at roughly similar rates to other industries, like car manufacturing or agriculture.
4. Single family homes use less energy per square foot than multifamily apartments, likely because certain “fixed” energy costs like refrigerators and water heaters are spread across more living space.
5. Historically high US homebuilding rates were in large part driven by falling household size. If you control for this factor, the current low rates of US homebuilding looks less dire.

Noting that his numbering scheme has those as 9-13, though it will not let me edit to such.  Here is the full link.