State of prefab practice in the electrical construction industry: Qualitative assessment

To overcome productivity challenges encountered in construction projects, electrical contractors often apply reactive measures such as overtime and shiftwork. This paper recommends that electrical contractors use prefabrication (prefab) as a proactive measure to enhance their projects' performance. Current advancements in information technology have made it feasible for contractors to adopt nonconventional construction methods and to incorporate preplanned and preassembled components within their projects. Because there is limited information available on the current state of prefab use in the electrical construction industry, qualitative data from 142 electrical contractors in the United States and Canada were collected. The qualitative data were analyzed to understand the impact of prefab use on project performance as perceived by electrical contractors. The examined data revealed that prefab use has significantly increased over the last decade and electrical contractors perceive that it offers a competitive advantage in the market. Prefab use enables contractors to reduce labor wages and expedite the construction process by performing more activities in parallel. Findings within this paper indicate that prefab can be widely used in multiple electrical activities and its implementation often results in cost and schedule savings and increased labor efficiency. In addition, it was found that prefab use usually results in project quality improvements. Finally, future trends indicate that prefab users are planning to invest more effort in improving prefab practices within their companies by developing training programs for personnel and establishing protocols for working with suppliers and vendors.