Comparing conventional to industrialised building system construction costing : a case study of school building projects

Abstract

The Malaysia construction industry is undergoing a transitional change from a project based industry to a more systematic and mechanized product based technology which is Industrialised Building system (IBS). IBS construction method can increase productivity and quality of work through the use of systematic machinery, equipment, materials and extensive pre-project planning. However, cost impact appears to be major hindrance in preventing the contractor to use IBS. The perceived high cost of IBS solutions, unless balanced by an understanding of value, will result in a continued reluctance by the industry to be more fully embrace the approach. As such, good cost comparison data and a holistic and thorough valued-based comparative system is required by the industry to ascertain the true benefits of IBS for the particular project settings to support decision making in opting IBS over the conventional system. The construction cost of a building using IBS should be assessed in its overall context of product. There is saving in time. Also, if properly designed and executed, precast method can lead to much better quality of work. The overall cost impact of IBS construction, therefore, has to take all these factors into consideration. Therefore, the objectives of this study is to propose a comparative cost study of IBS versus conventional system of school building construction projects by using Elemental Cost Analysis technique. Then, study on the effectiveness of IBS school building projects in term of cost, time and improvement in construction productivity will be carried out. The data required for these case studies was generated through interviews. From the results of the case studies undertaken, it can be concluded that even though building cost of IBS school project is higher than conventional system but IBS offer better quality in term of improving productivity and quality, faster construction time for completion and occupation and manage to complete within cost of the projects. Hopefully, this research study help to support decision making in opting IBS over conventional method and to overcome the main barrier in increasing the use of IBS.