Factors Affecting the Capital Cost of Prefabrication—A Case Study of China

Hong Xue,Shoujian Zhang,Zezhou Wu,Yikun Su

doi:10.3390/su9091512

Abstract

As a sustainable construction method, prefabrication has become popular in many nations. However, there are many challenges for prefabrication, especially in terms of cost. Previous studies have revealed that higher capital cost was the most important barrier to the implementation of prefabrication. Thus, the objective of this study is to explore and evaluate the critical factors affecting the capital cost of prefabrication and examine how cost management may be affected by the “experience”, “corporate responsibility”, and “participant function” as a fix independent factors. To achieve the research objective, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 experts for the development of the questionnaire. Then, a questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the significance of 49 factors related to prefabrication capital cost. The survey results revealed that “Specification and standards for prefabricated building design”, “Related experience of manager”, and “Rationality of precast component split” were the most critical factors. In addition, “experience”, “corporate responsibility”, and “participant function” had significant impact on the evaluation of capital cost factors. The findings can facilitate developing a benchmark framework for exploring the factors affecting the capital cost of prefabrication in China.

Highlights

Traditional on-site construction, as a common method, has been criticized because of its inherent drawbacks, such as long construction time [1,2], low productivity [3], external weather constraints [4], waste of resource, environmental pollution [5], poor safety, etc
The research objectives of this study are to explore the causes of incremental capital cost of prefabrication systematically; rank the relative significance of the factors; propose process-oriented and object-oriented cost management strategies; and examine how cost management is affected by the “experience”, “corporate responsibility”, and “participant function” as fix independent factors
This study aims to explore the factors affecting the incremental capital cost of prefabrication, evaluate the relative significance of the factors, propose process-oriented and object-oriented cost management strategies for promoting prefabrication development [16,33], and examine how cost management is affected by the “experience”, “corporate responsibility”, and “participant function” as fix independent factors

Summary

Introduction

Traditional on-site construction, as a common method, has been criticized because of its inherent drawbacks, such as long construction time [1,2], low productivity [3], external weather constraints [4], waste of resource, environmental pollution [5], poor safety, etc. Prefabrication has been introduction as a major mode for promoting environment and sustainability performance in the construction industry [6]. Prefabrication as a sustainable method that offers great benefits, such as reduction in waste [9], time, labor [10], cost, health and safety risks [11], and environmental pollution; and improvement in profits, predictability, and life performance [12], has become popular in many nations. The Chinese government has expected the precast ratio (by volume) in construction industry to reach 30% by 2020

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Conclusion