Building our homes in a factory means that the weather never holds us up, our process and systems can be standardized, materials can be bulk purchased and optimized, and staff and trades can do a better quality job at a lower cost.
Wasted time in traditional construction.
Ever stopped to consider the amount of wasted time in the construction trades? Below are some examples although by no means exhaustive.
- Frequent visits during the day to the trade store to collect materials.
- Unable to work because of poor weather.
- Difficulty moving around the construction site due to sloping sites, scaffolding, materials, and crossover of trades.
- Travel to and from sites.
- Lack of consistency in design resulting in trades having to learn new things constantly
- Lack of flow from from job to job..
- Project and site managers working across multiple sites and struggling to effectively manage them.
Wasted materials in traditional construction
An astonishing amount of leftover materials goes to waste from the typical construction site. Below are some of the reasons why.
- Materials need to be calculated carefully and ordered for each job. Because it is better to have slightly too much than not enough, the purchaser will err on the up side, resulting in leftover materials. These rarely get used on another site and mostly go to landfill.
- Construction sites are typically messy and materials get lost, damaged or even stolen.
Quality Issues in traditional construction
Quality control is difficult and results in vastly varying results using traditional construction methods. The reasons for this are...
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Site managers are not as close to the direct trades and can't directly supervise staff regularly.
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The vast range of designs and materials means that trades are constantly learning new things.
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Builders may only repeat the same process a few times each year giving little opportunity to refine the process and improve both speed and quality.
How Prefab solves typical construction issues
Building in a factory resolves a lot of the traditional construction waste and quality issues.
- No weather delays
- Materials bulk purchased and held in stock. Leftover materials retained for use on the next project.
- Easy and safe to move materials around the building site.
- Processes and systems are standardized and trainable. At manor Build teams are structured around a part of the build process meaning that people repeat the cycle every few days. This results in much improved speed and quality.
- All the construction is in one place allowing for easy constant supervision.
- Materials are easy to store which results in less damage and loss.
- Work flows smoothly from job to job. Everyone knows what they're doing next, and how to do it, resulting in increased efficiency.
- Compliance and Inspections are standardized to reduce disruption.
- Site preparation can happen while the buildings are being built.
Customizable Options with Factory Built Buildings.
You may think that with all this standardization that it wouldn't be possible to make modifications to prefabricated homes, but you'd be wrong. Every home or building we build in our factory is tailored to suit the clients needs and the site that it is going to.
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Floor layout can be modified extensively from 1 bedroom up to 4 bedroom homes.
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Wide range of styles from classic country style homes, to Modern architecture.
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Custom material selections in a wide range of colours and specifications.
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Kitchen and bathroom design and specification including tiled wet areas.
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Windows and door locations and sizes can be modified to suit the site and facilitate indoor/outdoor flow.
Restrictions to Prefab Factory Builds
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Size - Buildings need to be able to be delivered on a truck which limits the size. Generally up to 160m2 with a max width of 8M. However it is possible to join units together on site to make a larger building.
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Height - Limited to 4.5M high approx for transport.
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Needs to have a timber floor construction on a timber pile foundation.
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Cladding choices limited, can't do stone or brick.
