Quality Control for Offsite Construction: Review and Future Directions

Abstract

The quality of building products is vital for the safety of construction and building occupants. The application of off-site construction (OSC) has been increasing in the industry, one of the reasons being its potential for improving project quality. Yet, various quality problems have been reported, such as cracks and air pockets of prefabricated components, sleeve grouting noncompactness in key nodes, which hinders the development of the OSC sector. It is urgent to carry out quality control (QC) for OSC projects. Substantial research efforts have thus been devoted to these topics in recent decades, resulting in a certain amount of literature regarding QC for OSC. The objective of this study is to conduct a state-of-the-art review of QC for OSC projects to deeply understand its knowledge gaps and future research directions. An integrated review method was used to carry out bibliometric analysis and in-depth qualitative content analysis based on selecting targeted articles. Results show that the identified knowledge gaps include: (1) OSC lacks suitable QC rules, (2) QC means for OSC is out of date, (3) QC information technology for OSC is immature, and (4) existing limitation connotation of QC for OSC. Finally, based on the identified knowledge gaps, corresponding future research directions were suggested, including quality risk transmission control for OSC, supply chain quality management for OSC projects, BIM-based quality data management for OSC, blockchain technology and quality traceability for OSC, and performance and assessment model of QC for OSC. This research contributes to an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of QC for OSC, which offers valuable implications for the quality improvement of the OSC industry.