Apr 23 2026 Innovation Within

BRINGING ITS ENGINEERING DISCPLINE INTO A NEW MARKET

Rival Lab, Rival Holdings

Industrialized construction is transitioning from vision to operating reality. Advanced automation and robotic micro-factories are beginning to enter homebuilding. Amid that shift, Rival Holdings established Rival Lab as a place to test and learn in real-world conditions.

Rival Lab was established as a dedicated innovation arm, led by Jerod Hevel, VP of Innovation and Strategy, and Brad Crawford, CEO. From the start, it was designed as a living laboratory-testing emerging automation in operating conditions and learning what it demands of people, workflow, and day-to-day execution.

An early initiative was an investment in and partnership with Automated Architecture (AUAR), a company developing robotic micro-factories for timber-based housing. In 2024, Rival served as the exclusive deployment partner for AUAR's first U.S. rollout, bringing micro-factories into the Midwest and into Rival's operating environment.

Crawford explains, "To shape the future of homebuilding, we must operate automation ourselves-long enough to master what succeeds, what fails, and what it truly takes to deliver reliably at scale."