The productivity of the U.S. construction market may be worse than that not only of other industries but of some other countries, as well.
According to a February 2017 McKinsey Global Institute report, labor productivity growth in the construction sector has averaged only 1% in the past two decades, versus 3.6% for manufacturing and 2.8% for the world economy.
At least the U.S. isn't alone in the poor showing. In a sample of countries McKinsey studied, less than 25% of construction companies in the past 10 years have equaled in productivity growth the pace attained in the overall economies of which they are a part. "There is a long tail of usually smaller players with very poor productivity, and many construction projects suffer from overruns in cost and time," notes the report.
And the gains for the sector could be enormous were construction productivity to improve, the report goes on to explain. "If construction sector productivity were to catch up with that of the total economy—and it can—this would boost the sector’s value added by an estimated $1.6 trillion, adding about 2 % to the global economy, or the equivalent of meeting about half of the world’s infrastructure need," its authors claim.
So, what to do? Prefabrication, multifamily professionals are beginning to understand, can significantly help solve the labor, and productivity, problem.
Cutting Delivery Time in Half
Many apartment developers are seeing firsthand the benefits of prefabrication.
“On the one hand, you [might] assume quick building means a final product of dubious quality,” says Ryan Jones, outreach assistant with MTX Contracts, a modular building company in the United Kingdom. “Speed in modular building isn't because the design is poor or the construction hurried, [however], but because the methods of construction and materials used vary from those of a traditional build.
“Within days, the outer walls of a modular building can be erected,” Jones continues. “Only a few days later, the interior walls and roofing frames can be complete. In fact, research shows that a modular build takes around half the time of a traditional building.”
With demand approaching 328,000 new apartments every year and current deliveries averaging only 214,000, new methods will need to be deployed to boost supply.
The focus of the 2017 Multifamily Executive Concept Community is to explore next-generation processes that are improving productivity in multifamily housing. The project evaluates the conventional-build construction time line versus the modular-build construction time line for four building types and has uncovered significant savings in modular in terms of both time and money, the details of which will be unveiled at the 2017 Multifamily Executive Conference, Sept. 18–20, in Las Vegas.
Easing Site Access
A critical element in scheduling and productivity is having easy access to a site. In many urban markets, this is a massive challenge, slowing down the construction time line and adding cost.
“With modular building, there are few worries of this nature, and tha's because the construction happens off-site,” Jones says. “This form of building also is friendly to the local community and businesses, as there's no heavy machinery pounding away, day after day, for months on end.”
Since so much of a prefabricated project is built mostly off-site, the on-site portion is condensed and requires less traffic, points out Gerard McCaughey, chief executive and chairman of Entekra, a company that provides fully integrated off-site solutions. Traffic is reduced because there are fewer materials deliveries and fewer on-site laborers.
Entekra recently completed a project in the Dublin, Ireland, city center, which has very narrow streets. The company completed a four-story hotel by delivering panels quickly and efficiently during night hours to allow work to continue during the day, without causing any real disruption to normal daily traffic. The project also was completed months ahead of the traditional on-site building time line.
Speed Doesn’t Mean Sacrificing Quality
From design to completion and delivery, to style and aesthetic appeal, most everything about modular building is attractive, not the least of which is quality.
"Since most of the structural elements of the building are manufactured under strict factory-controlled conditions, the quality of construction is enhanced," McCaughey says. "The quality-control procedures in a factory environment ensure much tighter tolerances than can be achieved under normal, [on-site] conditions."
Prefabrication even defies foul weather, normally a major issue in construction scheduling, especially during the winter months. Integrated off-site manufacturers can make all the structural components necessary in a dry, factory environment to ensure that a project can continue regardless of the conditions outdoors.
To learn more about how prefabrication will drive the future of multifamily construction, visit www.multifamilyexecutive.com/mfe-concept-community.
