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

Abstract

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.

Capital Cost Optimization for Prefabrication: A Factor Analysis Evaluation Model

“…As for machines, the larger lifting weight of tower crane on-site was usually acquired by the larger dimensions of PC, thus resulting in high mechanical cost [11]. Moreover, the special construction technology was added to prefabrication, such as steam curing and storage of PC, which increased the production cost of PC [29]. The deepening design cost was also increased in the prefabrication method due to the separation between the design and production processes.…”

“…Design diversity, aesthetics, maintenance complexity and quality impression also affect the initial cost [12,29,30]. Meanwhile, supply chain issues and lack of codes and standards contributed to high cost [10,12,29]. Chua et al revealed the cost of mold usage and replacement had an impact on prefabrication cost [31].…”

“…Chen et al [24] proposed that construction methods affected the long-term cost, such as durability, maintenance cost and the whole life cycle costs (WLCC). Also, capacity of professional workers of on-site and off-site has an impact on the cost as high labor costs [29]. As for machines, the larger lifting weight of tower crane on-site was usually acquired by the larger dimensions of PC, thus resulting in high mechanical cost [11].…”

“…Mao et al proposed that some unknown techniques contributed to the high capital cost, which decreased construction costs but increased effectiveness [11]. Design diversity, aesthetics, maintenance complexity and quality impression also affect the initial cost [12,29,30]. Meanwhile, supply chain issues and lack of codes and standards contributed to high cost [10,12,29].…”

“…The process of prefabrication was usually divided into three parts: design, PC production, including off-site production and transportation, on-site installation [43]. To perform a more accurate and reasonable analysis of the capital cost increment, this study ignored the items that are not different between traditional on-site construction and prefabrication, such as inflation, land acquisition cost, commission and hand-over cost, capital management cost and capital overheads [29]. Hence, the crucial capital cost of prefabrication (C) consists of the design cost (Cd), the production cost (Cp)-which includes the precast component cost (Cpc) and transportation costs (Ct)-and on-site installation costs (Ci) (Equation (1)) at the category level.…”