ADAMSON UNIVERSITY

SAN MARCELINO, ERMITA MANILA

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT
OFFSITE CONSTRUCTION

SUBMITTED TO:

ARCH. LAURO F. ADOR

SUBMITTED BY:

DAROING, MARIA FARIAL L.

January 13, 2017

OFFSITE CONSTRUCTION

Off-site construction is the planning, design, fabrication and assembly of building

elements at a location other than their final point of assembly onsite. An
integrated planning and supply chain optimization strategy characterizes off-site
delivery.

From heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) duct fabrication to full

volumetric modules delivered to a site and assembled, off-site prefabrication in
the construction sector is growing and impacting projects at an increasing rate.

Offsite construction is made possible under controlled plant conditions, using the
same materials and designing to the same codes and standards as
conventionally built facilities but in about half the time. Buildings are produced
in modules that when put together on site, reflect the identical design intent
and specifications of the most sophisticated site-built facility without
compromise.

Off-site construction (like on-site construction) can be used for a variety of

purposes including residential, educational, health care and commercial
applications. Buildings can range from a few modular units to several hundred.
They can be arranged in architectural configurations and can be many stories
in height.

Overall, growth in off-site has been stymied by high costs, fluctuating demand
and the need for industry culture change in order to get the best of it.

The claim of those promoting off-site construction is that it offers faster build to a
higher quality with fewer defects. This is achieved by moving from a construction
to a manufacturing approach, using production-line techniques. In addition, its
proponents see it as a solution to the growing skills crisis, by replacing the need
for skilled tradesmen such as bricklayers and joiners with a much smaller number
of semi-skilled factory operatives.
OFFSITE CONSTRUCTION PROCESS AND MATERIALS

Prefabrication encompasses the construction of all building components that

are a part of a larger final assembly. Prefabrication is an offsite manufacturing
process that takes place at a specialized facility in which various materials and
building systems are joined to form a component or part of a larger final
installation.

PROCESS

The off-site industry has grown from primarily a re-locatable modular

manufacturing sector to a building delivery sector. This presents difficulty for
both manufacturers of panels and units and the traditional building industry that
do not understand off-site, its delivery process, and how to engage effectively in
that process.

Predesign: Does off-site aid in meeting the cost, time, labor, site and
programmatic goals for the project?

Design: Is the project designed in integration with stakeholders for off-site

manufacture, transport, assembly and disassembly if required?

Develop: Is the design of the project developed so that work is structured for
what is done on-site and what is manufactured in the factory?

Detail: Is detailing developed in collaboration with the design team, general

contractor, fabricator and installer?

Order: Are design changes reduced and are orders placed in a short time
frame to reduce cost?

Fabricate: Is fabrication performed with prototypes and lead times reduced in

coordination with the project team?

Deliver: Are site deliveries made just-in time, loaded and delivered to minimize
handling?

Assemble: Are assembly operations designed collaboratively and continuously

followed to ensure safety, quality, time and cost parameters are met?
 PROCESSED MATERIALS - are pre-cut structural or cladding materials custom
fabricated through a manufacturing process.

PREFABRICATED COMPONENTS - are simple building blocks that usually

involve a single building trade. The vast majority of buildings constructed
today use some form of prefabrication. Applications include timber frame
panels, precast panels, steel frame panels, structurally insulated panels,
building envelope/faade systems, composite panels, precast cladding,
Light Steel Frame Building Systems, pre-cast structural elements, insulating
concrete formwork, and tunnel form construction.

PANELIZED STRUCTURES - are an assembly of prefabricated components that

do not enclose usable space. They form a considerable percentage of the
final building envelope prior to shipment in compact form on a flatback
trailer.

MODULAR STRUCTURES - are volumetric offsite fabrications that form an

enclosed usable space. Modules are structurally independent and include
more than one building trade. This category can be broken down further
based on size. Larger modules are shipped by themselves and generally
comprise more than one room of the final building.

MATERIALS USED

Piping Concrete
Mechanical Insulation
Structural assemblies Carpeting
Equipment Finishes
Ironworks Furnishings
Instrumentation Masonry
Welding Roofing
Electrical Plastics
OFFSITE CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS

The quality and cost effectiveness of modular construction is dependent on a

coordinated design effort. Part of this is because additional communication
between all parties makes the transition between trades easier. That way,
responsibilities are defined and understood before work is passed along,
preventing overlaps in the work done by different parties. This is also because
the experience of manufacturers can be used to aid the design process.
Buildings can be productively value engineered cost effective construction
within the confines of the design intent with early design collaboration. The
problem is that a lengthy design development phase is not often built into
modular building projects because of the accelerated schedule. The architects
scope of work is identified in the written contract.

DESIGN-BID BUILD CONTRACT

A traditional design-bid-build contract is an arrangement in which the architect

is hired directly by the client to create a design for the client. The competitive
bidding process follows once a design is established where the architect and
the client search for a suitable modular manufacturer and onsite general
contractor. Such bidding offers the greatest cost savings, but increases the time
to completion and can compromise quality.

The gap between the selected manufacturers and general contractors is the
greatest in a design bid-build contract because they do not have a professional
relationship, so extra care is taken to define separate scopes. With the design-
build scenario, the client hires the architect, the manufacturer, and the general
contractor as a preassembled team (or one entity having capabilities for all
functions), who collectively assumes responsibility for both design and
construction. A collaborative design effort is typically preferred by modular
manufacturers because each has its own system for the design and
construction of modular frames. Building costs are more rigid since there is no
competitive bidding process involved.

The relationship of the architect, manufacturer, and general contractor is

established in previous projects making quality assurance predictable. The
design-build contract is most common when an established prototype design is
in place. Prototyping is done to allow the architect or the client to test a design
concept before a large volume of work is done. Prototyping in the factory can
replicate the anticipated production process and craftsmanship, permitting the
efficiency of the process to be critiqued as well.

NEGOTIATIED-BID CONTRACT

A negotiated bid contract combines the cost effectiveness of a design-bid-build

project with the quality of craft of a design-build project. It is a situation in which
the modular manufacturer is selected at the beginning of the project, making
them in charge of controlling the budget, hiring the architect and onsite general
contractor, and coordinating the design effort.

The inevitable challenge in defining scope of work is in balancing what

someone is good at and what is most cost effective also known as
procurement. A modular manufacturer will have more control over quality and
construction speed with more work done in the factory and components being
shipped as large finished modules. Adversely, some may argue that modular
construction takes away from the economic development of the local
community, and that the requirements for shop drawings will affect an
architects commission by lessening or eliminating the need for construction
documents.

Each contract structure has different advantages. For example, the needs for
custom projects differ significantly from standard, pre-designed projects. So at
the beginning of each project, the roles and responsibilities of all collaborating
parties must be carefully considered.

OFFSITE CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS

DRAWING DUPLICATION

Construction documents are the coordinated set of drawings agreed upon by

all trades including the architect, the structural engineer, and the Mechanical,
Electrical, Plumbing engineers (MEP). The drawings outline design intent and are
adequate for onsite construction, but are generally inadequate in a
manufacturing process. Shop drawings are created specifically for
manufacturing processes. They double as the set of commands handed to
builders and as the architects check of the work that is expected to be done.
The drawings are produced by the manufacturer and are developed to their
preferred format. When a preliminary set of drawings is first completed before a
manufacturer is brought onto a project, duplicate drawings are usually
produced.

SHOP DRAWINGS

Factory workers will manage all of the work for a particular task (walls, floor, roof,
structure, etc.) depending on the volume of work passing through the factory.
The shop drawings reflect the precise requirements of the task at hand. Theyre
additionally used for third-party approvals, and for a financial check,
representing expected material orders. Drawings issued on the factory floor are
limited to the individual activities performed (on sheet per station), preventing
time being wasted searching for the appropriate drawings. The best way to
prevent duplicate drawings from being produced in the shop drawings set and
the construction documents set requires early coordination and constant
dialogue throughout design development. Most architects are unaccustomed
to the detail required for shop drawings, and factory workers lack a familiarity
with different drawing formats. Drawing collaboration through BIM (Building
Information Modeling) provides distinct advantages in both regards. Three
dimensional screenshots and walkthroughs can be easily created for the clients
benefit, while pre-defined sheet layouts with dynamic dimensioning and
scheduling can appropriately capture the detail required for factory
production.

BIM/3D-CAD

BIM (Building Information Modeling) more specifically is the representation of a

design as parametric objects in five- dimensions. Objects are thereby defined as
parameters and relations to other objects, such that changes are made
consistently throughout each different view, requiring only a singular action. The
information accumulated with the building model including design data,
geospatial information, construction phasing, product information, financial and
legal data, mechanical, electrical, plumbing layouts, etc., serves as a shared
knowledge resource for information about a building, forming a reliable basis for
decisions throughout its lifecycle.

PAPERLESS PRODUCTION

The use of the BIM model on the factory floor as a supplement to the shop
drawings and for inspections of craftsmanship and accuracy raises the potential
for a completely paperless production process. This however requires more time
upfront to develop a comprehensive 3-D model, more so than the time required
for an accurate 2-D set. For instance, even if mechanical ducts and plumbing
lines are to be concealed within floor and ceiling plenums, time is still invested
into their representation in 3-dimensions so that workers can accurately judge
how and where systems cross mate lines. Another challenge is the legal
approval process because the shop drawings are currently the only documents
that will stand up in court as the argument for completed work. The dimensions
on the shop drawings are historically considered the commands for
construction; there is no model for the BIM model being a legally accountable
entity.

BENEFITS OF OFFSITE CONSTRUCTION

A SHORTENED CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE

Since the project is built off site in a controlled environment, there will be no
weather delays on the construction schedule. All materials are ordered and
stored in a dry warehouse so there is no material loss due to on-site damage or
theft. The biggest contributing factor for the shortened construction schedule is
that the site development occurs simultaneously while the building is being
constructed at the plant, cutting down the time to complete the project by as
much as 50%.

MINIMAL ON SITE DISTURBANCE

Having the building arrive on site up to 90% complete, will result in fewer
construction pollutants and better protection of the surrounding green space.
Reduced on-site activity also allows for a greater reduction in disruption to the
ongoing business, and to the surrounding neighbourhood. In the education
market, when there are students, teachers and parents present during the
construction process, less on site disturbance is not only a sustainable building
practice, but also allows for greater site safety.
LESS ON SITE VEHICULAR TRAFFIC

Building off-site brings greater control of many factors. There are fewer small
material deliveries to site because commodities such as drywall can be ordered
by the truckload and then stored in a warehouse until they are needed at the
plant. Running multiple construction projects at the same time in one plant
location significantly reduces workforce time and travel and when the building
does arrive at the site, its about 90% complete so travel to the site location is
further reduced.

REDUCE, RECYCLE, REUSE ARE INHERENT TO MODULAR CONSTRUCTION

Waste is reduced during construction by avoidance upstream and working in a

controlled, dry environment. Materials that may be left over from one project
are placed back in to inventory in the warehouse for reuse in another. The plant
has stringent recycle programs in place to manage diversion from any waste to
landfill. Finally, and what moves modular construction far ahead of its site built
counterparts, is the inherent ability to deconstruct, relocate and reconstruct an
entire structure, providing the optimal example of reuse.

IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION QUALITY

Theres no better way to ensure the quality of construction than to build in a

clean controlled environment with stringent Quality Assurance/Quality Control
programs.

BETTER SAFETY AND SECURITY

Compared to on-site construction, the reduced time and activity that occurs as
a result of the shortened construction schedule, and the fact that modules
arrive on site up to 90% complete, naturally improves site safety and security.
DISADVANTAGE OF OFFSITE CONSTRUCTION

COMMITMENT TO VOLUME AND CONTINUITY OF WORKLOAD

Use of small test sites by clients to reduce innovation risk increases the likelihood
that an Offsite construction pilot project will not deliver the expected benefits,
and will not be implemented on a wider basis.

NEED FOR PROJECT SPECIFIC RESEARCH

Market testing is a time-consuming process. Greater availability of information,

confirming the competitive position of alternative technologies, would enable
clients to proceed without having to undertake their own comparative studies.

PLANNING

Decisions by planners can act as a constraint by influencing the layout and

appearance of buildings, by extending the pre-construction period or by
introducing fluctuations in the demand for units.

CONFIDENCE IN THE PRODUCT AND PROCESS

While system certification is addressing concerns of insurers and funds, product

life and whole life performance continue to be major concerns.

DEVELOPMENT OF NEW SKILL SETS

Clients and project teams need to understand the properties and constraints of
the selected system and the revised project process. The whole project team
also needs the ability to collaborate effectively.