A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Property Play newsletter with Diana Olick. Property Play covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, from individuals to venture capitalists, private equity funds, family offices, institutional investors and large public companies. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox. French construction products conglomerate Saint-Gobain began its business more than 350 years ago by manufacturing the mirrors for the Palace of Versailles. She is now interested in the windows of American homes – windows, walls, ceilings and other building materials. The company has invested nearly $7 billion in the North American market over the past three years, making it the largest investment by the global company. While a previous strategy focused on growth through acquisition, the company is now investing in organic growth, expanding its existing manufacturing facilities and investing in others. It has more than 18,000 employees in North America at more than 160 locations, and its market sales in 2024 (the latest available) were $10.5 billion. “We are doubling our investments in North America because the fundamentals in North America are very strong,” Mark Rayfield, Saint-Gobain CEO for North America, told Property Play. “We are underbuilt in the residential area. Nearly 4 million homes need to be built in the United States to catch up with population growth, and there are a lot of renovations to be done in the commercial area.” Saint-Gobain focuses on speed and affordability in construction through its materials, assemblies and other tools, according to Rayfield. He highlighted the company’s “One Precision” assembly system. It replaces traditional “stick-built” framing with factory-made wall, floor and roof panels. The system speeds up home construction by moving the majority of the work to a controlled indoor environment, enabling parallel processing where panels are manufactured in the factory while site preparation takes place simultaneously. The company claims this can reduce construction cycle times by 30 to 50 percent. It also eliminates typical on-site delays caused by weather, labor shortages and complex business coordination. “If you’re building a house, or if you’re a small house builder, you’re building 10 to 15 houses a year. If you were to use this solution, you could build three times as many houses, because the biggest time commitment is structuring and waterproofing the house,” Rayfield said. Saint-Gobain’s decision to produce in the United States in states like Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and New York protects it from tariffs that hit many of the country’s big home builders. Rayfield describes the company’s strategy as “local for local”, but admits that labor continues to be a significant challenge. “We think we need to support training more people in construction and manufacturing, so we’re doing a lot of work there, but there are always headwinds,” he said. Last fall, CertainTeed, a subsidiary of Saint-Gobain, completed a significant expansion of its Palatka, Fla., operations, making it the largest drywall manufacturing plant in the world. The expanded plant will produce the full line of CertainTeed gypsum board products locally in the southeastern United States, with the goal of ensuring supply chain reliability. Boasting both a deep-water port and rail access, the site provides an efficient distribution center for the rapidly growing regional market, according to a release. Saint-Gobain has a long-standing commitment to sustainable materials and building more climate-resilient homes. Even as U.S. political discourse shifts away from climate-related goals, Rayfield says there is still an incentive to build efficiently because there is no cost difference when using a prefabricated system. All components are meant to work together seamlessly. It’s just a matter of putting the systems together and training contractors on how to build them. And while sustainability may no longer be fashionable politically, resilience is far from it, especially as weather events intensify due to climate change. “We need to build homes in California that are better prepared for fires, homes in the Southeast that can withstand hurricanes and flooding, homes in New England that can withstand freezing rain and heavy rain, and businesses that are resistant to hail,” Rayfield said. But it remains committed to using sustainable materials, recycled content and less energy in construction and manufacturing. This includes recirculating heatstroke and using electric and carbon-free energy. “We know we need to make products that are affordable to the customer, and when we can do that with a lower carbon footprint, we do that,” he said. “And resilience is key to what we need to do going forward.”