Ready-made problem solvers
Prefabricated parts being used to help developers fight global supply chain issues
When Deryl McKissack, the chief executive of the design and construction firm McKissack & McKissack in Washington, heard that electrical switch gear needed for the new Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport terminal was delayed because of supply chain issues, she knew the project would not come to a halt.
Thanks to a plan to build components requiring the gear off site for installation at the terminal later, a concept known as prefabrication, construction would proceed on schedule.
Working in parallel rather than sequentially “saved the project about six months’ time,” McKissack said.
Under conventional methods, basic materials are transported to a construction site, where they are assembled in a specific order. The prefabrication of parts like walls and staircases had been gaining momentum before the pandemic as a way to save money and time.
Now, shortages caused by global supply chain delays are accelerating the trend because building off site can prevent problems in one area from cascading through the whole project.
Factory prefabrication offers a more controlled environment, the opportunity to order parts more cheaply in bulk and the ability to gather workers with specific skills in one place with a consistent schedule. The specialist-made approach makes production faster and more precise, and technological advances have made it possible to create a variety of building elements like entire bathrooms with toilets and sinks and million-dollar HVAC and plumbing modules.
Prefabrication methods have long been used in the construction industry, but there are drawbacks, including high transportation costs and the public perception that the result can look homogenized. And there are other challenges, McKissack said. Planning and organization have to be done further in advance and must be more precise. It can be hard to finish the process on a construction site if adjustments have to be made.
But the benefits of prefabrication have become more apparent when the coronavirus pandemic and soaring inflation have snarled supply chains around the world, and a shortage of skilled workers has left manufacturers struggling to keep up with growing demand, said Alfonso Medina, CEO of the Madelon Group, a developer in the New York City borough of Brooklyn.
Standardization makes construction less expensive and more predictable, he said, adding that without it, “every time you build a building you are reinventing the wheel.”
Components built off site are typically complicated to make but straightforward to transport. For example, Overcast Innovations, a Seattle startup, manufactures ceiling appliances in a factory, then ships them to construction sites for installation. Making the rectangular panels can require expertise in up to 15 specialties, including electrical, plumbing, HVAC, lighting, internet and sensor devices, said Matt Wegworth, the company’s managing director.
“Buildings are getting more complicated all the time, and we want to see which parts we can deliver more efficiently,” he said.
Prefabrication also reduces waste created at a construction site because extra materials such as copper piping, electric wires or steel framing components can be used for other clients. At a site, it may not be cost-effective to return extra materials.