As prefabricated buildings re-emerge in the Chinese market and become the focal point of the construction industry, many labels have been attached to them, such as “high-quality” assembly construction, “standardization,” and “green environmental protection.” But do construction clients truly prioritize these labels?
Only by understanding the real needs of clients can companies accurately enhance the core strengths of their service offerings. As more cities enforce prefabricated project mandates, has this shifted construction units’ priorities? In 2018, Xidian surveyed the top 50 large-scale developers across China. The results showed that cost and construction duration ranked highest in importance, at 39% and 38% respectively. Combined, 77% of client priorities directly relate to cost concerns.
In today’s fast-paced construction environment, cost remains the top priority for clients. The additional expenses associated with prefabricated buildings are often a source of resistance. To address this, the government introduced the “Consumption Quota for Prefabricated Building Projects” in 2016 to standardize pricing. Subsequently, provinces and cities implemented localized quota policies, helping to control regional prefabricated building costs.
The engineering consumption quota is based on the components required for various building structures, underscoring that prefabricated components are a core element of these buildings. Component factories vary by city in terms of layout, component categories, demand, and supply, making it essential to understand regional pricing for success.
When major cities began mandating prefabricated buildings, prefabricated construction became a prerequisite for construction units to acquire land. Consequently, construction firms gradually accepted the additional costs associated with prefabrication, adhering to regional quota standards. Simultaneously, stricter requirements on construction timelines emerged to ensure value and benefits.
We can view the construction period of prefabricated buildings through three perspectives: supporting capabilities, specialized construction experience, and construction management.
Supporting capabilities serve as a benchmark for prefabricated construction. With construction at its core, this includes design capabilities, component production, and the coordination of parts to deliver a complete service chain, significantly boosting overall construction efficiency.
Specialized construction experience usually refers to structural work, which, along with the construction site conditions, determines the length of the construction period and the ability to maximize value for clients. Xidian analyzed the average construction speeds of the three most common structural systems currently used in the market.
Beyond structural work, interior decoration is the next major phase. As cities implement refined decoration delivery, minimizing the construction period for mechanical, electrical, and fine decoration while maintaining quality has become a key demand. Efficient management of overlapping operations on site can accelerate construction and reduce timelines.
Overlapping operations refer to parallel construction through careful pre-planning. For example, different teams working independently on each floor without interference can speed up progress and improve efficiency.
Typically, fine decoration begins after the main structure is topped out, with delivery occurring about 14.5 months later. However, by overlapping tasks—allowing the decoration team to start when about two-thirds of the main construction is complete—the finishing work can be completed within 7 months post-topping out, saving 7 to 8 months overall.
Quality ranks third among client priorities and remains the primary concern for end users and construction units alike. To address this, we must ask: Have common issues in prefabricated buildings been solved? Do they meet users’ ultimate needs? Xidian has identified several common problems.
Once basic construction needs are met, clients also seek to enhance the end-user experience. Improving the completeness of building delivery, optimizing functionality, and boosting performance have become additional priorities.
Regarding building functionality, new national standards not only require fully decorated delivery but also specify six points for prefabricated pipeline separation in decoration and equipment subcategories. Meeting these criteria and optimizing building functionality has become a focus. The SI residential system effectively addresses pipeline separation challenges.
<< >>The SI residential system divides building components into S (Skeleton or Support), which is the fixed load-bearing framework, and I (Infill), which refers to the flexible, internal space. Originally proposed by Dutch architect Professor Haberecken in the 1960s and later researched in Japan, this system is gradually being introduced in China to improve building versatility and optimize functions.
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In terms of building performance, passive house technology has become a hot topic. While the SI residential system aligns with new evaluation standards for prefabricated buildings, passive house technology corresponds to green building standards. To better meet green building criteria, many parts of China are promoting passive house and ultra-low energy buildings.
Passive house technology is still emerging, and many remain uncertain about its definition. Typically, a passive house includes five key elements:
- A highly insulated opaque building envelope
- High-performance, airtight external windows
- Design and construction eliminating thermal bridges
- Overall high air tightness of the building
- An efficient fresh air heat recovery system
The success of passive housing hinges on meticulous design and construction. Below, we present a list of top-value passive housing technologies.
To capture greater market share, companies must first leverage their own strengths, meeting clients’ core demands for cost savings, speed, and quality. By offering superior products and services and breaking through the homogenization of offerings, they can carve out their own blue ocean market in prefabricated construction.
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