GC Turns to CFS Prefabrication to Solve Local Labor Shortage

All photos courtesy of Arize Prefab, Phoenix, Arizona

Greg Goss, a general contractor for Ameris Construction in Phoenix, Arizona, has seen the availability of skilled labor in his marketplace dwindle. To do something about it, Goss formed a manufacturing company to build walls, floors and trusses off site. He named it Arize Prefab.

“We do a lot of multifamily product,” Goss says of Ameris Construction. “We built the first true net zero energy apartment complex in the nation in Scottsdale, Arizona. We have this niche — under 100-unit structures — where we do a lot of work.”

Greg Goss, president of Arize Prefab

‘No Way We Can Continue Down the Wood Path’

Goss says the Valley of the Sun today is 3,000 framers short of the labor needed to fulfill the area’s projects. The shortage of qualified labor in Arizona forced Goss to do something different.

“I just decided that because of the trade labor shortage, the rising cost of lumber, and so many other risk factors associated with traditional wood framing, there’s no way we can continue down the wood path and make it as a general contractor,” Goss says.

Goss formed Arize Prefab in 2021.

“We’re asking our development partners to come on board on the front side — doing design assist — to help steer the design of the systems within the budgets we can put out,” Goss says.  “We’re going to convert everything we have from wood to steel. Then, we’re going to fabricate assemblies and erect them.”

Arize Prefab is building component manufacturing, Goss says. The company fabricates cold-formed steel walls, floor systems and trusses. 

“Our bread and butter is multi-story, load-bearing and non-loadbearing product.,” Goss says. “We do high-density, multifamily component products — apartments, condos, hotels, dormitories, any place where we have identical wall scenarios and spans less than 20 feet.”

Arize Prefab roll forms steel studs with technology from Arkitech, a Turkish company.

‘A Couple of Builders with Prefab Technology’

Goss prides himself and Arize Prefab in being a bottom-up entrepreneur.

 “Most people in this industrialized construction space are top-down entrepreneurs. We’re the opposite,” Goss says. “We’re a couple of builders with prefab technology and converting everything from wood to steel. We are increasing efficiency where we know it makes a difference.”

Goss says owners and developers are eagerly agreeing to fabricated steel components for their projects, especially when they come in to tour his steel prefabrication facility.

“We still have projects in the backlog that were wood framed,” Goss says. “But most of what we have now is converting over to our cold-formed steel platform.”

The Arize Prefab website says converting a traditionally framed wood project to prefabricated cold-formed steel can reduce the total erection timeline by up to 70%, a staggering figure in an industry where time is money.

Goss says he is roll-forming his own studs using a light steel framing machine he purchased from Arkitech, Ankara, Turkey. The new Arkitech roll former gives Arize Prefab the ability to roll steel studs between 2 1/2 to 8 inches, and roll steel from 20 gauge and up to 16 gauge. Goss says he can produce studs with a flange as deep as 2 1/4 inches.

At the moment, Goss is subletting space for his factory from another, larger fabricator, Offsite Integrated Structures. He is also using OIS’s labor to help fulfill his initial orders.

“We have an arrangement whereby we are fabricating their cold-formed steel wall assemblies,” Goss says. “Then, we use their shop labor to fabricate my product when sell either myself as a GC or to other third party GCs.”

Arize Prefab is currently rolling product for Skye on 6th, a 26-story multifamily project in downtown Phoenix from national design-build firm Clayco. And more projects are in the works.

Goss says he has a part-time Building Information Modeler on staff, and he also outsources some BIM design work.

CFS stud prefabrication reduces the time to frame by 60% to 70% on Phoenix projects, Goss says.

‘I Put $450,000 on His Bottom Line’

The Arize Prefab website says that prefabrication can reduce onsite labor by 70%, and Goss has the figures to prove it.

“As a general contractor in the Valley of the Sun, I know that with a stick-framed project we would need, say, 25 guys to frame a two-story or three-story building,” Goss says. “But when we fabricate panels and erect them on site, we see a reduction in the time needed to frame by a minimum 60%, if not not 70%. So, we’re going to change the market.”

“I don’t know that in every market we could do the same numbers, but in our marketplace it takes longer today to frame than it did 10 years ago because the trade labor is so unskilled,” Goss says. “So, we’re excited about the opportunity to be able to change the face of what’s going on.”

Goss says he just won the bid for a 76-unit townhome project in Mesa, Arizona. He is converting it from wood to CFS framing, and prefabrication will shave at least three months off the project’s overall build cycle. 

“The carry on his debt is $150,000 a month,” Goss says. “There’s $450,000 that I put on his bottom line.”

Goss says the savings in builders risk insurance will add even more to the bottom line, since the project will feature noncombustible steel.

And for helping him think through his business, Goss says he owes a lot to Travis Vap, president of South Valley Drywall, Inc. and South Valley Prefab, an SFIA member based in Littleton, Colorado.

“Travis has been a huge inspiration,” Goss says. “He gave me a complete tour of his shop and spent time explaining their processes to me.”

Goss is also looking forward to becoming a member of the Steel Framing Industry Association (SFIA).

“Look, I’m a general contractor. I have to switch hats from building to manufacturing,” Goss says. “SFIA is going to be huge for advocacy, engineering, publications and networking.”

Additional Resources

• 9 Ways Construction Firms Are Dealing with the Labor Shortage
• Purr-Fect Steel-Framed, Exterior Panels Speed Construction of Catbird
• CFS Prefab 101: What is It All About?