The prefabricated building has been proven to be an effective approach for enhancing the sustainability of the construction industry. In recent years, the Chinese government has promulgated a series of policy documents to promote the advancement of prefabricated buildings. However, in practice, there are still numerous problems related to design, production, and construction, as well as the coordination between various stages. This study aimed to fill the gap in research regarding the application of EPC (Engineering–Procurement–Construction) in prefabricated buildings in China. As most of the risks of projects are borne by general contractors in the EPC mode, the risks faced by prefabricated building projects using EPC were systematically analyzed in this study from the perspective of general contractors. After learning about the risks of assembly construction in different countries, this study conducted a questionnaire survey to establish an evaluation system, and a comprehensive evaluation method was put forward to determine the weight of each indicator. Furthermore, an evaluation model based on grey–fuzzy theory was developed in this study, which was applied to a real project in Nanjing, China. The results indicated the applicability of the established evaluation system and model and determined the risk level of the project. Additionally, in this case study, it was found that construction and design were the major factors determining the risk level of the project. This study contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the integration of EPC in prefabricated buildings, which has practical application value for general contractors when conducting risk assessments.
The quality of prefabricated building construction is facing problems that are affected by various factors, compared with traditional cast-in-place buildings. To systematically identify these factors, this study attempts to develop an evaluation method using structural equation modeling to measure their impacts on prefabricated buildings. Forty factors are identified based on previous studies and then revised and supplemented via expert interviews. Among them, 25 factors are finalized from three stages, including production, transportation and storage, and lifting. Subsequently, a single-factor measurement model (SFMM) of each stage is established and modified. The improved SFMM is integrated into a first-order confirmatory factor analysis model to reveal the relevance of these stages. The fitting result of this model indicates that some higherorder common factor may exist. Hence, a second-order confirmatory factor analysis model (SOCFAM) is made and further analyzed. With the results of the SOCFAM, the weights of each stage and each factor can be calculated. The weight of the transportation and storage stage is 0.3358, ranking the first. The respective weight of the production stage and lifting stage is 0.3321. They indicate that the transportation and storage stage has the greatest impact on the quality of precast components, followed by the production and lifting stages. Additionally, it can also be found that R14, R4, and R21 are the dominant factors in these three stages to affect quality. Through evaluating the impact, critical factors can be identified, which can provide a reference for practitioners to carry out quality management in assembly construction.
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