Chan, T K (2011) Comparison of precast construction costs: Case studies in Australia and Malaysia. In: Egbu, C and Lou, E C W (eds.) Proceedings of 27th Annual ARCOM Conference, 5-7 September 2011, Bristol, UK.
Abstract
In their efforts to bring about improvements in build quality and increasing construction productivity, many developing countries have suggested policies to increase mechanisation or prefabrication in their respective industries. This paper presents a strategy to optimise construction output by examining the relevant political, social and economic circumstances, and related constraints for the adoption of precast concrete technology. Case studies of precast concrete building costs in Melbourne, Australia and in Perak, Malaysia clearly illustrate the technological trade-off between capital and labour in the production function. The results indicate that the higher labour costs in Australia leads to a more economical precast solution whereas the low wages of migrant construction labour in Malaysia precludes the use of the more capital intensive precast technology. Current fiscal incentives for the adoption of industrialised building systems in Malaysia are clearly deficient. The impact of labour policy, employment of migrant labour, training, and technology is discussed to identify appropriate policies, reforms and incentives that could increase the adoption of prefabricated components into buildings and perhaps strengthen the construction industry in the long run.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Australia; developing countries; labour; Malaysia; precast concrete |
| Index terms: | precast concrete, construction labour, labour cost, prefabricated component, construction output, migrant labour, construction productivity, prefabrication, construction industry, case study, developing country, Malaysia, wages, Australia, construction cost, strategy, employment, industrialized building system |
| Subjects: | operations management, building materials, financial and cost management, data collection methods, design methods, building construction, demography, business economics, cost management, industry analysis, management, development economics, Geography |
| Topics: | Human Resources, International Construction, Design Practice, Urban Studies, Site Management, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Project Management, Construction Materials, Business Strategy, Cost Management, Procurement, Construction Technology |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here