Investigating Prefabricated buildings and their contribution towards reduction of time overruns.

Abstract

The primary success parameters of every project are time, cost and quality. The need to control large quantities of waste is also an issue of great concern in the construction industry. The adoption of new technological advancement in the construction sector is seen as the way forward to achieving project success. Prefabrication has been adopted for construction project by many countries across the world. The aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of prefabricated buildings towards the reduction of time overruns. This was achieved by meeting the following objectives: To determine the general perception about prefabricated buildings; To investigate the extent of usage of prefabrication; and To investigate the benefits in adopting prefabrication. The research made use of literature review of existing work. Eighty nine (89) questionnaires were administered to respondents and desk study of selected stakeholders in the construction industry. The statistical tools used in the analysis comprised descriptive statistics and mean score ranking. Findings of the study indicated that project cost, quality, time are among some of the key benefits. The factors identified to promote future development of prefabrication were provision of direct financial grant, advancement of prefabrication skills in workers, incentive schemes to inspire the private sector and sustainability as a first priority. The results also indicated that, in spite of the difficulties in the adoption of prefabrication, stakeholders in the Ugandan construction industry believe in the need to explore its use. Prefabrication has the capacity to offer alternative choice of solutions and to further improve quality and value for money for construction projects.