As ICG looks at how to quantify the benefits of this way of building, it poses many questions. Probably the most important is, “What exactly is industrialized construction, anyway?” There’s a lot of ways to build a building and a lot of stakeholders involved in that process. Industrialized construction can sometimes mean different things to different people.

“For me, industrialized construction is the application of proven manufacturing methods, systems, processes, and culture to create things in the built environment,” says Melissa McEwen, co-founder and principal at ICG. While few would argue with leaning into proven methods, especially on multi-million-dollar projects, the implications of her statement are wide reaching. “For a lot of people, that’s a pretty big fundamental change in how we do business in the traditional AEC industry. So, it's more than just how we build. It's more than just where we build. It actually changes all the systems - procurement, project management, estimating, financial management, and design.”

The insight offered by ICG is well-earned. Their team of principals has more than 25 years of consulting experience each. Their bench is filled with industry veterans who have worked for general contractors, engineering firms, and modular builders, among others. It’s a group of experts who pride themselves on getting into the nerdy details of everything they do. Which is why the ICMA is so comprehensive.

“Our Industrialized Construction Maturity Assessment is a robust assessment tool that has six disciplines and covers 70 topics,” says Coleton Callender, mechanical engineer and product manager with ICG.

After all the data is analyzed, the ICG team collaborates with companies to review findings and provide recommendations. For companies meeting set performance criteria, a medallion is awarded based on an organization’s performance. Bronze medallions indicate a company has met the minimum scoring criteria and has scored in the top 40% of ICG’s industry database. Silver recognizes the top 15% and Gold the top 5%. A platinum medallion is awarded to companies in the top 1% of the ICMA database.

As the name suggests, the goal of the ICMA and Medallion Program is to help businesses mature in this arena and be able to experience the very real business benefits that come with that maturity. ICG wants to see each company improve – elevating the performance of the industry along the way. According to Sally Mizell, co-founder and principal of ICG, this transforms not just the organization, but the world of construction. As these techniques proliferate, it becomes easier to meet building demand, labor challenges, and sustainability goals.

The ICMA isn’t just a look at blending of conventional building techniques with cutting-edge manufacturing techniques. It’s about adopting practices that support continuous improvement. Elevated efficiency, quality, safety, and speed are all on the table for those willing to make the investment.

“The moment of industrialized construction means that we have this opportunity to do what has been happening in manufacturing forever, which is to have assessments and scorecards, so we know where we're at,” says Masci. “I was in the Navy. We were constantly being assessed for battle readiness. And so now that we have these systems that are coming into place and we can more productize things, it's a good time to level set again. And so that's really what the Industrialized Construction Maturity Assessment is about.”