Designers' and General Contractors' Perceptions of Offsite Construction Techniques in the United State Construction Industry

This study examines the current use of offsite construction techniques in the building sector of the U.S. construction industry, discusses the perceptions of experienced industry practitioners regarding the benefits and barriers of using these techniques, and also identifies the top three reasons and challenges of using offsite construction techniques. The findings indicate that offsite construction techniques have not been widely used in the U.S. construction industry in 2005. The benefits of using offsite construction techniques include: 1) reducing project schedules, 2) reducing the need for skilled craft workers, 3) reducing the negative environmental impacts of construction operations, and 4) increasing the safety performance onsite. The top three reasons for using these techniques were identified as reducing: 1) the construction duration, 2) overall project schedule, and 3) the effect of incremental weather conditions. The top three challenges of using these techniques were: 1) inability to make changes in the field, 2) transportation constraints, and 3) limited design options. This study also discovers a strong, positive linear relationship between the architects/engineers' satisfaction level with offsite preassembly with the percentage of its use.