Marketplace Morning Report

Episode: "In Altadena, Attempting to Rebuild for Resilience"

Date: January 9, 2026
Host: David Brancaccio

Episode Overview

This episode centers on the innovations and challenges facing homeowners in Altadena, California, as they attempt to rebuild their homes after devastating urban wildfires. David Brancaccio draws on his own experience of losing a home in the fire, exploring whether emerging construction technologies, particularly cross-laminated timber (CLT), can offer more resilient and climate-friendly solutions for the future of single-family housing. The episode highlights not only the technical aspects and potential benefits of CLT but also the financial and practical barriers to adopting such innovations on a larger scale.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Why Rebuild the Old Way?

• David Brancaccio raises the central question:

  “Why do we build homes after 21st century fires like it’s the 19th century?” (00:01)

• After a year since the firestorms in Los Angeles, a critical concern is whether insurance is even obtainable for rebuilt homes and how new building methods could help.

2. Traditional vs. Innovative Construction

• Analogy Used:
  • Rebuilding a home is likened to reassembling a car from scratch, buying all the parts and hiring someone to put it together in your driveway (00:29).
• Daniel Lopez Perez (University of San Diego):

  “You’re back in the 19th century. You’re building one 2x4 at a time.” (00:48)

3. The Promise of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT)

• Daniel Lopez Perez describes CLT, a high-tech wooden panel system, as a potential game-changer for speeding up housing construction (00:57).

  “Our mission is to accelerate the production of housing, bringing technologies that are revolutionizing much larger buildings down to that individual house scale.” (00:57)

• Practical example:
  • A small house in San Diego was framed in 2.5 days by a three-person crew using CLT panels (01:09).

  “We optimize labor right where small general contractors building individual standalone houses are able to just build more units.” (01:31)

• Potential fivefold increase in speed for enclosing homes compared to traditional methods—critical after disaster recovery (01:40).

4. CLT Production Explained

• Matt Kramer (Mercer Mass Timber, Spokane):

  “We’ve planed all the wood. We’ve sorted it. We’re now ready to make it into a panel.” (01:59 - 02:08)

• Tour of the factory floor:
  • Thin boards of spruce are pressed and glued into large “wood sandwiches.” (02:11)
  • Panels are customized (door/window cutouts) and ready for crane installation on site, saving up to 20% on construction schedules (02:40).

  “We’re doing a lot of the front-end work off site in our manufacturing facility...” (02:40)

5. Fire Resilience and Sustainability

• After seeing his own property reduced to ash, Brancaccio asks if using CLT is wise. Lopez Perez’s counterpoint:

  “It’s like trying to burn a phone book.” (03:09) “It has this extraordinary resilience.” (03:15)

  • CLT is difficult to ignite and maintains structural integrity even after being charred (03:18).

6. Real-World Examples: CLT Homes

• Susan Jones (Atelier Jones, Seattle):
  • Built one of America’s first CLT homes for herself in 2014 (03:50).

  “This room...is made out of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 panels.” (03:50)

  • Designed a 126-unit CLT apartment building to house people sustainably and with reduced carbon footprint (04:22).

  “We’re talking about a replacement for our 19th century extraction economy...into a 21st century high tech wood material that can still provide the beautiful biophilic experience of living with wood.” (04:34)

7. Environmental and Economic Upsides

• CLT can be derived from sustainably farmed or small-diameter trees, helping manage forests and prevent wildfires, while also offering potential economic revitalization for rural areas (04:53).

8. The Barriers: Cost and Expertise

• Homeowner’s Reality (Brancaccio):

  “The vibe from some builders has been why can’t you just do it the old fashioned way? The panels themselves are nearly twice as expensive as two by fours in plywood.” (05:21)

  • While labor and drywall savings might offset costs, the upfront price remains a barrier for many (05:34).
• Their budget is “Volvo or Lexus level...but we don’t have Maserati level money.” (05:42)
• Ongoing commitment to building a resilient, affordable, single-story house despite challenges (05:58).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• David Brancaccio (00:01):

  “Why do we build homes after 21st century fires like it’s the 19th century?”

• Daniel Lopez Perez (00:48):

  “You’re back in the 19th century. You’re building one 2x4 at a time.”

• Daniel Lopez Perez (03:09):

  “It’s like trying to burn a phone book.”

• Susan Jones (04:34):

  “We’re talking about a replacement for our 19th century extraction economy from the forests into a 21st century high tech wood material that can still provide the beautiful biophilic experience of living with wood.”

• Homeowner (Brancaccio) (05:42):

  “We have pulled together a Volvo or Lexus level rebuilding budget, but we don’t have Maserati level money.”

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:01–00:25 – Framing the question: Why rebuild with old methods after modern wildfires?
• 00:29–01:09 – Analogy: Homebuilding vs. Car assembly; Introduction to CLT.
• 01:09–01:40 – Speed and labor advantages of CLT.
• 01:59–02:40 – Inside a CLT factory: Panel creation and efficiency explained.
• 03:09–03:18 – Fire-resilience of CLT compared to traditional wood.
• 03:50–04:34 – Seattle’s CLT homes: Beauty and sustainability.
• 04:53–05:18 – Forest management, environmental, and economic benefits of CLT.
• 05:21–05:58 – Financial and expertise barriers to innovation for homeowners.

Takeaway

This episode of Marketplace Morning Report lays bare the challenges and complexities of rebuilding after climate-fueled disasters. CLT emerges as a promising, resilient, and eco-friendly technology for single-family housing—but the transition to such methods remains hindered by higher costs, limited experience, and stubborn traditions. Through the lens of personal loss and community recovery, the podcast underscores both the hope and hurdles of 21st-century homebuilding.