In the construction industry, we often find ourselves at the mercy of Mother Nature. One significant benefit of modular Off-Site Construction (OSC) is that fabrication and assembly occur inside a climate-controlled environment. We’ve shared in the past how that certainty is a benefit when attracting and retaining skilled tradespeople, and that’s a plus for the OSC process.
But another – and perhaps more significant – benefit of OSC may be the reduction of risk for projects in areas prone to hurricanes, wildfires, flooding, and other natural disasters. The nature of OSC inherently reduces schedule risk as projects are less impacted by weather, since the typical OSC project removes 90% of the site labor otherwise required. Modular units can be shipped to arrive on schedule, and the assembly and commissioning timelines are compressed due to pre-assembly QA checks at the manufacturing facility.
If weather-related events impact shipping or on-site assembly, the scheduling risk with OSC is significantly less, as any missed time is usually made up in days vs. weeks, compared to traditional construction. When weather delays occur, it’s usually because of site prep work that must be completed, and since OSC deliveries are generally timed with that dependency in mind, impact on the overall project is minimized.
And if the job site is in jeopardy due to an anticipated weather event, the modular units can be staged in a safe area that is relatively close to the job site – ready to be deployed as soon as the site can accept them. Again, this leads to reduced impacts on schedules.
Off-site construction is an approach that has many benefits; reducing the scheduling risks in disaster-prone areas is just one of them. Contact Epsilon today to discuss if our approach is right for your next project.
