House of Design enters into acquisition agreement with Go West Robotics 

House of Design LLC announced Monday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Go West Robotics Inc. The upcoming acquisition follows recent House of Design announcements around intent to expand and increase its physical presence and innovative product and service offerings.

Go West Robotics has collaborated with House of Design since 2019 as an independent contractor, according to Monday’s announcement, and it is intimately familiar with House of Design’s systems and technology.  

“With their deep knowledge base and continuous support over the last three years, acquiring Go West was an easy decision,” said Todd Mansfield, House of Design’s president and chief operating officer, in a statement. “As we continue to develop best-in-class automation solutions for the construction sector, expanding our team and robotics expertise for the benefit of our customers is absolutely necessary.” 

The acquisition will strengthen House of Design’s robotic engineering and software systems capabilities, accelerate product innovation and extend its leading market position through greater software offerings and capabilities. Go West develops software for robots across a wide array of industries such as industrial automation, manufacturing, retail and consumer robotics. 

“Go West’s expertise will help us expand the software platform that supports our automated truss and panel production systems,” House of Design told the Idaho Business Review (IBR) in an email message. “The software translates design files into sequenced build data for the robotics. Their expertise will help us refine software reporting, analytics and system optimization.” 

House of Design, based in Nampa, is a leader in providing automated solutions for the building components and offsite construction industries. The company was acquired last year by Thomas H. Lee Partners L.P. in a move that would “strengthen House of Design’s existing capabilities” while providing “capital and resources for future growth investments.” In March, House of Design announced its plans to move its headquarters and technology center into the 73,000-square-foot former Macy’s store in Nampa  

All Go West employees (nine full time, one part time) will move under the House of Design umbrella, House of Design told IBR, and Go West’s contractors will remain contractors for House of Design. This will bring House of Design’s staff up to 140 full-time employees. There will be no redundancies among employees with the acquisition. 

House of Design added in the email, “It is hard to fill current openings and recruit software engineers and developers to Idaho. All Go West positions will support and complement House of Design’s current employee base.” 

Go West was founded in 2013 by Gerry Ens and Tuong Anh Ens. The Boise-based company touts a highly skilled team of engineers, developers and project managers focused on high-value robotics software.  

“The entire Go West team is looking forward to the obvious synergies this acquisition will unleash,” Alex Irwin, Go West’s CEO, said in a statement. “The close working relationship we’ve developed with House of Design, along with our unique set of software engineering talents, ensures that we can immediately accelerate their product innovation efforts.” 

Upon closing of the transaction, Irwin will join House of Design as vice president of Business Transformation, and Go West’s chief technology officer, Gerry Ens, will become House of Design’s CTO, responsible for all engineering. The transaction is expected to close in June 2022. Additional terms of the transaction were not disclosed, the announcement stated. The agreement has been signed, House of Design explained, and the closing in June will allow time for Go West to wrap up existing client commitments and further logistic and integration planning.   

“House of Design is on the forefront of robotic automation, continuously pushing the envelope with their state-of-the-art software,” said Gerry Ens in a statement. “Go West’s deep expertise in robotic product development and large-scale software systems is a perfect match for House of Design’s new product offerings and rapid growth.”